Awesome Functional Vest

By Justin Buckles Ranked #27 - Men's Vests July 8, 2009

After reading alot of the reviews for the trooper vest, I was pretty skeptical myself and hesitated to buy it. Nevertheless, I kept comparing it to many other vests like the Mountain Hardwear Sub-Zero, Marmot Guide's Vest, and other North Face down vests, and just didn't like the looks and specs on them as well so I ordered the trooper. I'm glad I went with my gut feeling because so far I've been very impressed with this vest. It functions quite a bit differently than a lot of other down vests. I really like the fact that it is a pullover because it eliminates those cold spots that run along the zipper of front-zip vests for starters. It has 2 zippers on each side which is also nice if you start to get warm, you can release some of that heat by unzipping part of the vest rather than the whole thing. Even though this vest is 550 fill down, the pullover design heats me up very quickly and retains body heat. The neck zip is a nice feature as well to release or retain more heat depending on the circumstances as well, zippered pockets function well as hand-warmers. So far, some people have complained about the fit of this vest saying it runs large. I typically wear a large in North Face gear, and the large on the trooper vest fits me perfectly; Quite honestly, I couldn't ask for a better fit. I can see however how the fit could be a little off depending on your build, especially since the bottom of the vest is tapered to your waist size. For this reason, I might advise purchasing according to waist size because if the vest is too loose around the waist, you won't retain much body heat, but if it is too tight, you won't be able to zip the side panels, the chest is a snug fit, but that's exactly what I want in a down vest. Last but not least, the trooper is very compact and looks nice, so if you don't like looking like the stay-puffed marshmallow man from Ghostbusters, this is a slim, trim, and functionally warm way to go. The trooper gets 5 stars from me!

View Details: The North Face Trooper Down Vest - Men's

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