The North Face Free Thinker II Jacket - Men's - 2009 BCS

been a pro-guide in Alaska's backcountry for years. Thank you for letting the guides put input into the free-thinker jacket. A little tweeking is still needed though. The usual places,( elbows, shoulders ) my chief complaint still is waterproofing. It seems after 1 good season the waterproofing goes to Sh--...

I recently bought this jacket after returning an Arc'teryx Theta AR... reason being the TNF just has more features. Not only does the Free Thinker feel bombproof, but it looks great too, with the contrasting zippers and two tone fabric. My only complaint is that the goggle pocket is a little small, but having the other pockets makes up for that. I wanted to like Arc'teryx, but there minimalist aproach just didnt work for me. The Free Thinker isnt cheap, but its replacing my old TNF Mountain Guide which lasted me 5 years so far. Like one of the other reviews said, when you go with TNF Gore-tex you are getting a great product.

I recently had a chance to check out this jacket, and was pretty impressed. This jacket is water tight, no question. I just have an issue with a few design oddities for a jacket. The hood is attached. Not removeable, not stowable, although it IS 3 way adjustable. All inside pockets are on the right side, accessible with the left hand. Lefties rejoice, but most people are right handed. The sleeves seem extra roomy, Popeye would have no problems stuffing his abnormal forarms in them. There are many things to like as well: The material does seem rugged, it isn't going to tear easily, and has a slight sheen to it. A few patches of microfleece added on each shoulder, around the back of the collar, on the back of the neck and at the chin add some comfort with negligible affect on wieght. All external zippers including pitzips are water tight. The hand pockets are huge - ample storage, but not lined. Without having really tested it in rugged conditions yet, this is more a review on function than performance. I'm not worried about it's performance, but can't get over wondering why they put ALL the inside pockets on the "wrong" side.

Bomb proof jacket- 3 layers of ProShell and there's no way you're getting wet in this thing. Note it's just a shell like the other reviews say, so you'll have to layer underneath. I've used it skiing a few times and never had a problem getting wet. Pant-a-lock is a really nice system too- will keep the powder out for sure. One thing- it's cut a bit boxy, so if your slender it may be a little big.

I've had a free thinker jacket for ~5 years (pre off-kiltered zipper). This jacket is awesome. I have abused this jacket and it still doesnt show wear, simply bombproof. I've hit evergreen branches in the breckenridge, rub rock at snowbird, snagged a sharp tree limbs at snowmass. I have the black/grey color and wish they sold it with some color. Apparently, i blend right in with the masses and am hard to pick out. The hood fits over my helmet, the powder skirt is great, the goretex is still hanging tough.
My model did have some 'stripping' on it for aesthetic purposes, which started to come off. I sent it back to NF in the offseason and they fixed for free. I have nothing bad to say about this jacket.

Love this jacket. It's SOO waterproof. Love the GoreTex Pro shell. Fantastic. All kinds of places to store stuff. Like the goggle pocket, phone pocket, and being ear-bud ready. Fit is good. I'm pretty barrel-chested and amusually an XL in most jackets. I'm a Large in this one. Like others have said, it's cut a bit different than most shells like this that I've had/worn. Once you get used to it, you'll like it. Plenty of room in the arms, length is good. I like my jackets a little long and that's the cut of this one. The place where you'll have the most 'getting used to' is in the upper chest and under the arms. It's a little snug, but like I was saying there's no restriction in the arm movement. I would absolutely recomend it to friends, just wish it wasn't so dang expensive. ;-P

I bought this jacket for the yearly snowtrip with a pair of arc'teryx theta sv bib pants. I wore underarmour top and bottoms, a layer of thermal top and bottoms, a northface denali jacket, then the theta and freethinker 2 jacket. I was absolutely warm and completely 100% dry even after sliding on my backside all the way down a black diamond. Well worth the money not to be wet. I stayed out from lifts open to lifts closed. If you want to have a good time, stay dry. If you want to stay dry, buy this jacket and the arcteryx bib pants.

This jacket stops the "top-of-the-mountain", bone chilling wind like very few jackets can. I've even worn it in freezing rain and it still kept me dry. It could stop a bullet. I can't say enough about it. The price tag is high for a reason. To be sure TNF makes less expensive ski jackets--for casual skiers and other demographics (street clothes for hip hop fans?), but this one is the real deal and is worth every cent. Layer as needed and you are good to go. I generally take a Men's Large, but in this jacket Medium was better. Backcountry swapped it for me--no problems.

I'm 5'8 165lbs, I usually wear Medium but Small fits perfectly with enough space for layers. with the price, I expected 3-way adjustable hood but it's only 2-way. This jacket is best for ski or snowboard, if you want a nice 3 layer gore tex mountaineering jacket, you might want to consider Arc'teryx Alpha or theta.

I love this jacket. All the reviews lauding its light weight, waterproof/breathability performance, packability, features, etc. are spot on. There are a ton of pockets and room for everything, while maintaining a fairly trim fit. It also looks totally sweet.

One unfortunate and major issue is the construction. I washed it in my machine on a delicate cycle with Nikwax Tech Wash and when I took it out, the seam tape was coming off inside under the left armpit. This was highly disappointing. I'm going to contact TNF to see if they will fix it, but I really hope that this doesn't happen with the rest of the jacket. I've worn the jacket a total of 20 days, if that much.

Otherwise, this jacket is great.

Well, i went for the Arc'teryx Alpha LT Jacket because the color, fit, feel, was better. I also like the minimalist approach. The free thinker has some really cool features but it kinda over kill for me. I do a lot more than snow board and this jacket is geared for that...