Posted this mini-preliminary review on British Blades, and then thought people here might want to read it too...
I just received one of these from Surplus and Adventure and thought I'd say how pleased I was with it. I bought it on a whim as part of a larger order, intending to live in it on Glastonbury evenings...
Here are some stock photos (my camera's borked)
The jacket is quite heavy (which I'm pleased about). It seems really robustly constructed, and the zips and press studs are solid.
The main pockets are slightly bellowed so they are quite large, and should hold everything I need, although they have velcro fastenings which I find annoying - I prefer to have my pockets either open all the time, or sealed, not have them seal themselves...
There are two zipped outer chest pockets which are pretty small. These should be good for stuff like my ticket.
There's one unsealable inner pocket which looks fairly useless, but I'd rather have it than not.
The two drawstrings (around the waist and the bottom of the jacket) are simple but they work. SWMBO pointed out this made the jacket far more presentable.
With regard the colours - I'm always in favour of army surplus stuff since manufacturing standards are usually high, but I try to avoid looking too paramilitary - so for me the grey and orange are a good non-army look.
Fit-wise, I went for a large, and it fit my 44 inch chest, and gorilla too-long-for-my-body arms well. This was a big bonus as this style of jacket often comes up too short in the arm for my liking.
All in all I'm really pleased, and for £15 I don't think you can go wrong. I think it's gonna become a good doss jacket which I can abuse without concern...
I just received one of these from Surplus and Adventure and thought I'd say how pleased I was with it. I bought it on a whim as part of a larger order, intending to live in it on Glastonbury evenings...
Here are some stock photos (my camera's borked)
The jacket is quite heavy (which I'm pleased about). It seems really robustly constructed, and the zips and press studs are solid.
The main pockets are slightly bellowed so they are quite large, and should hold everything I need, although they have velcro fastenings which I find annoying - I prefer to have my pockets either open all the time, or sealed, not have them seal themselves...
There are two zipped outer chest pockets which are pretty small. These should be good for stuff like my ticket.
There's one unsealable inner pocket which looks fairly useless, but I'd rather have it than not.
The two drawstrings (around the waist and the bottom of the jacket) are simple but they work. SWMBO pointed out this made the jacket far more presentable.
With regard the colours - I'm always in favour of army surplus stuff since manufacturing standards are usually high, but I try to avoid looking too paramilitary - so for me the grey and orange are a good non-army look.
Fit-wise, I went for a large, and it fit my 44 inch chest, and gorilla too-long-for-my-body arms well. This was a big bonus as this style of jacket often comes up too short in the arm for my liking.
All in all I'm really pleased, and for £15 I don't think you can go wrong. I think it's gonna become a good doss jacket which I can abuse without concern...