User Review: Mountain Hardwear Torque Jacket

Mountain Hardwear Torque Jacket
Above: The current Torque Jacket, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed February 28, 2007 by BCG

Rating:
Fabric: Nylon
Fill: PrimaLoft
Price Paid: $175

Good, solid MH product for skiing and other winter activities. Just enough insulation to eliminate a layer. Trim, athletic fit with short waist. Long sleeves means it doesn't ride up when you reach up. Welded pit-zips are low bulk and slide quite smoothly for water resistant type. I'm not sure what to use the little pocket on the sleeve for, perhaps I'll think of something. Upper chest pocket good for camera. I like the standard location for the main pockets, not up under your armpits like other MH products for climbing. I-pod type pocket with holes for the wire to the earphones inside. Water bottle and sunglass pocket on inside, too. Removable snow skirt has unfathomable snap arrangement. The hem has the usual elastic cord to snug it and there is a second one about 6 inches higher. It only pulls on the liner so it doesn't pull on the outer fabric, a nice touch, unless you prefer the 1950's gathered waist look (I don't).

On the downside the lining fabric doesn't quite match the very high quality of the other fabrics. Seems a little cheap. Outer fabrics are quite nice and the stitching is excellent. The external seam taping is just for looks, but has a nice appearance.

There are two things that they left out that I am very glad they did. One is they left the velcro off the hand warmer pockets flaps. So many jackets have a 1 or 2 inch strip of velcro at the opening that is just a pain. There is, of course, a good quality zipper on each pocket and a fleece lining. The other thing they left off is the double zipper pull on the main zipper. I have yet to zip up the top zipper and then raise the lower one. There is no greater nuisance than trying to line up to two zipper pulls when it's 0 degrees outside and you have bare hands. Thank you MH for the nice single pull zipper! I am sure that I am going to enjoy this jacket for many ski seasons to come.