****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I haven't had a chance to wear it outside yet, so I will update my review once I get to wear it for a few weeks. I ordered this on Cyber Monday and just got it earlier today. I took it out of the box and immediately tried it on. I got a 2x since I wasn't sure what size I needed, and I wanted it to be on the larger side so I could fit a hoodie on underneath. I wear them daily, and last year skipped a winter coat just using thick pullover hoodies instead (paired with a Columbia rain jacket when needed). I figured this year I should get a real winter jacket.The 2x was loose on me, but not in a bad way. Some jackets when they are loose just look BAD, this one does not. I have a weird shaped body, medium C/D cups, smaller waist, then big hips and thighs/butt. Jackets that are fitted to a body aren't always a good thing as they become too tight in the hips, ride up more, or just make me look even more like an hourglass shape than I want to. I also find that many end up being too tight in the armpits/upper arm sleeves even if it fits with arms down at sides. This jacket (with the size I got) has a perfect fit for what I wanted. Room to move in it, never once feeling tight. Doesn't look horrible in the spots that are slightly more loose than the other parts. I wasn't sure how it would fit with the hoodie underneath when I first tried it on with a t-shirt. I though it might be just too tight. Nope, I put on my hoodie, then the jacket and did the test again. Move arms up, stretch them around. Still had enough room and while it looked a little bulkier on me, it still looked great. I have tried on other puffy jackets in stores and they were all much puffier with just a t-shirt underneath.I love the inner sleeve cuffs with the thumb holes. I hate wearing gloves as I like to use my fingers bare, and this helps cover my hands more while leaving fingers free. The collar is nice, the fuzzy texture will be great when out in the cold. The only thing missing is a hood. What can I say, I love jackets with hoods. The omni-heat lining is nice. I put this jacket on and within minutes I was getting hot and ready to tear it off. But I also liked it so much, that I wanted to keep it on! I live in San Francisco, so the weather never gets too cold here in the winter. This will definitely be enough especially if I pair it with my hoody, though I can see that I will probably be wearing the hoody under it a lot less than I was thinking I might. I am hoping that the outer (omni-dry?) layer will help keep me dry during average rain. My other rain jacket is large enough that I will be able to fit it over this at any time for heavier rains.Just for comparison, I was looking at another comparable jacket from Eddie Bauer (In my experience, jackets like this tend to be more fitted, with hourglass or princess shaping, which just doesn't work on this older plus-sized woman. This jacket is relatively thin (compared to down) and lightweight and has a drawcord hem so I can make it more apple-shaped. (Tried the I really like this jacket and I am happy I ordered it out of all the jackets I was evaluating. It is surprisingly warm for how thin it is. I wore it in low-40 degree weather without much underneath and I was toasty. I thought the price was good too.The only real problem is that it is not very water-repellant. Basically, it is only slightly more water-repellant than a dry sponge. I had read too much into the Columbia description "water-repellant" as well as one of the reviews on here who went skiing and had no problem. I was overly optimistic. Instead, I was in a light drizzle for 20 to 30 minutes and it was soaked!On the good side, the jacket dried out (under the direct heat from a car vent) in no time flat. However, if you were camping in it and did not have access to a way to dry it - I would think about throwing a windbreaker over it.Another nice plus of the jacket is that it didn't shed feathers like my friend's new Patagonia jacket did. So far (over a month) I have not seen any feathers from it.One note that I would make, I think this jacket runs true to size. I am usually a medium but because of some reviews that said it ran small and a too-small medium jacket from Patagonia that I had to return, I ordered a large to be safe. It is too big and I am convinced a medium would have been fine.
