It's a nice light puffy jacket, this one has heating elements in the neck, chest, and pockets. There are only the side pockets but they are large enough to hold hats and such.
The weighty battery and pocket are nicely designed right to the bottom heam of the jacket, sits to the left side on the hip, so it doesn't droop the jacket material and keeps out of your way with the jacket pockets.
Don't feel you're missing out with no elements in the arms, the arms are very warm due to the elastic cuffs. As well, the jacket even without elements turned on is very warm in -12C windchill as a windbreaker. Just wearing a tshirt and thin long sleeve sweater and I didn't notice it at all. Haven't experiened any rain so haven't tested that.
For a jacket that's concerned with heat, that's actually a problem when indoors, as there's no method of releasing that heat in the arms, merely opening the front zipper isn't enough. I would recommend adding both velco cuffs along with armpit zippers "pit zips" to open up the air flow. That would go a long way to using this as a insulating layer, especially if you're wearing a backpack.
Without that air management this jacket has a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a thermal layer or is it its own winter coat?
The puffy jacket itself isn't made of rugged denier material and could be subject to tears versus a different material, so that points to it being better used as a thermal layer. But without consideration to air ciculation, not just heat capturing, I can only use it as a main jacket.
Thus it's use is really as a winter jacket, one that can pack down very small and probably even more if you can remove the air in a bag would be very travel friendly. Just watch out for snags. Packs down smaller than a hoodie.
Some other minor issues. One more pocket would be nice, like an outside side zipper chest pocket. Also while the main zipper flows easily enough back and forth, that cannot be said of the side pocket zippers. Great to open but you need two hands to close them. Either make the zippers the same size as the main jacket zipper or the sides will need more reinforcement to be able to close one-handed. With such thin shell material I don't want to be forcing the zippers due to concerns about durability.
Another idea along with the velcro wrists and pit zips is to add inside suspenders so I can wear it on my shoulders without taking it completely off. This removes the hassle of lugging the jacket around when indoors because of overheating.
Overall for a non-hooded winter jacket this is very comfortable and I would still recommend it, but just note the above on heat management.
Hope this helps! If you'd like me to test and return more 3XL products I'm happy to give you an honest review.
Cheers
Walter
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