Marmot Women's Featherless Component Jacket

Not a good outdoors (wo)man's coat.

I like three-in-one jackets. It's cold enough to need a winter coat where I live, but often wet and sloppy. And hiking and biking, I like just the outer coat as a sturdy windbreaker.

And someone stole the shell to my old coat, and I needed one in a hurry, and I got this as the best available. But it's not very good. It is nowhere near as good as the one it replaced (house brand of an outdoor retailer) and certainly not better in quality—and less good in design and fit, for me—than the lower-level, knock-off brand that I got to replace this.

The good

• Water Resistance: It is waterproof. Even the liner coat is pretty water resistant—half an hour in a steady rain was no problem.
• Warmth: It is warm. Warmer than these coats usually are.
• Construction and Durability: Workmanship seems good. The shell is lined, so I cannot see the inside of the seams, which are said to be taped. They certainly didn't leak at first. The hood detatchs, which I like.

The not-so-good.

• Fit & Comfort/Layering: To get it big enough over the shoulders, especially with a sweater on, means it's pretty long in the arms and big around the middle. Part of this I think is just the fashion, and this coat is cut looser than coats intended specifically for downhill skiing, but shall I say the fit was not perfect. The previous (stolen) coat and the replacement for this one—two different brands, in the same size—fit much better.
• Adjustability/Function/Breathability: This is where this coat really fails to deliver:
  --Front zipper. This is a small-toothed zipper, more like what is usually seen on a light sweater or skirt than on an coat. Unless the layers of the coat are perfectly flat, it snags on the lining. It is not a two-way zipper. This seems odd on a general outdoors coat—don't people sit down? There is no flap over the zipper. The coat I replaced this one with doesn't have a two-way zip either, but it does have a flap that velcroes down at intervals, allowing the wearer to sit with the jacket closed across the chest.
  --No zips under the arms.
  --Cuffs have velcro closure, kind of skimpy—no better than on any other coat.
  --Draw cord at waist.
  --POCKETS. What pockets? Two at the waist for the hands. One inside chest pocket, not accessible with the liner in.

None of these is a big issue by itself. Together, they certainly made the coat not worth it for me, and I took it back.