If you’re reading this,
INTRODUCTION
it’s likely that you not only have an interest in
mobile tech, but that you also have some of it.
Many of us have a gadget bag that we carry to
support our mobile tech, for me, it lives in my
briefcase. Go ahead, admit it, it’s the first
step to recovery. My solution works fairly
well, the cables, chargers, etc that I use with my
mobile gear travel with me and that works well for
back and forth to the office as well as on my
frequent travels. There are often times
however that I want to take some of it with me, but
I don’t want to take my briefcase with me, such as wandering
around a new city or even around town. I’m not
going to wear a waist belt/fanny pack, I’ve seen it
done, but it’s not for me. Sometimes I can
stuff the pockets of a sport coat, that works in a
pinch, but it’s certainly not optimal. Most of
us know of SCOTTEVEST (SeV) clothing by now (we’ve reviewed several of their products), but for many,
these jacket/vest hybrids have been synonymous with
the Uber Geek (in a good way). That was of
course, until now. With the introduction of
the Milan and the Rodeo, SCOTTEVEST has
introduced new jackets that continue with the SeV
tradition of functionality, but with a new look and
fashionable style. Maybe you won’t need that
gadget bag after all. Let’s take a closer look
at the SeV Rodeo and see what we think.
WHAT’S HOT
- Stylish looking
- 39 Pockets
- Unique
wire/cable management
Ok,
SETUP
a setup section in a review of a jacket? Yup. You see, when you first
pull the jacket out of the package, you’ll see a nice looking jacket,
but as you look at it closer, you’ll see pockets everywhere. That’s an
understatement, they’re even inside other pockets.
(all images link to higher resolution)
As you start to
explore the pockets, you’ll find little cards in most of the pockets
with hints as to what that pocket might be good for. There are a lot
of pockets, so finding the right setup for you may take some
experimenting. As you use the jacket, you may also discover other
pockets that you hadn’t even noticed before.
PRODUCT FEATURES
As I first took the jacket out of the package, I
was surprised at two things, the first was how light the jacket is, and
second was the microsuede fabric. From the SCOTTEVEST website, I
had thought that the Rodeo looked a little drab in color, but I
couldn’t have been more wrong. Let’s take a look at the makeup
of the jacket, then we’ll dive into the sea of pockets.
The Fabric – The outside fabric is a very soft Microsuede, making the jacket
feel already broken in the first time you put it on. It’s thin,
light and has no stiffness to it whatsoever. The look is similar
to that of brushed leather. As for color, the Rodeo comes in only
one, Walnut. I cannot think of a better description of the color
except to say, rich. I didn’t think I’d like it from the pictures
on the SCOTTEVEST website, the pictures do not do it justice, it’s
very nice.
liner is a silky nylon fabric decorated with the SCOTTEVEST logo.
I tend to not like liners like that, as they’re usually chilly to
put on. This fabric warms up quickly and has a nice feel to it, I
quickly got over my aversion. Like the outside fabric, this liner
has absolutely no stiffness to it. You may be wondering why I
mentioned the stiffness of both the outer fabric and of the liner.
The reason is
that the soft supple nature of the fabrics combine to make an instantly
comfortable jacket. You really have to feel it to appreciate the
sensory goodness that comes with the Rodeo.
The Fit, Cut and Lines – In the past, I’ve been disappointed in the fit of some SeV
products. I suspect that Scott heard this from others, as the
Rodeo addresses this issue. The jacket has a more fitted cut,
which makes for a much more slender appearance and better overall look.
This fitted look is further enhanced by the lines of this
jacket, which all work together to create a nice crisp look.
It is clear that while not forgetting about the SeV
functionality, attention to style was never forgotten during the design
of this jacket. Many people have complimented it’s look.
Before I get to my first gripe, which is something I
absolutely hate, I’ll tell you something I absolutely love on this
jacket, the Collar. The collar is fairly typical of SeV products,
a medium height stand up collar, nothing too different here in terms of
styling, but it looks good and feels great in the microsuede.
It’s just really really comfortable, gotta love it. It’s
also got some really useful features, but we’ll get to those later.
And now for the part of the jacket I hate so much, the
shoulders. The shoulders attach to the sleeves like a suit coat,
which makes for a square/hard angle where they attach. This can
create a pointed corner on your shoulders, my shoulders aren’t pointed.
This also limits the freedom of movement significantly, and
annoyingly. If you try to reach your arms up, you’ll feel the
bottom of the sleeve pull hard against where it is attached to the side of
the jacket (under your arm). Most of my other jackets have the
shoulder come down and actually form part of the sleeve, and allow for
full arm movement. The way the sleeves attach in this jacket is
the same as one would use in a Vest/Jacket convertible, which is what
most of the SeV products are. For the convertible SeV products,
this makes perfect sense (as you need to unzip the sleeves), but for a
dedicated jacket like the rodeo I find it a disappointment.
The Craftsmanship – On the exterior, the Rodeo has a clean and well finished
appearance. Reaching inside some of the pockets is a different
story. Most coats and jackets have their pockets sewn such that
the sewing and threads are on the other side of where you put your
hands, so when you put your hands in, you just feel the finished
portion of the pocket, not flaps of cloth and stitching.
Not always
so with the Rodeo. Reaching into the side hand warmer pockets,
you’ll feel not only the pocket, but also edges of the exterior fabric,
stitching and multiple flaps of cloth. In our review jacket,
there were also many threads that got caught in the zippers, and
tangled with my keys. Overall, this is not a major gripe, but for
a $200 jacket, it seems out of place and not up to the fit and finish
of the rest of the jacket.
Another area
that seems lacking is the slight reinforcing of edges such as the
collar, cuffs and the main zipper. Most jackets have a slightly
heavier weight in these areas, either internally stiffened, or have
additional layers of fabric or backing added. I just went through my closet
and checked my other similar weight jackets, and they all do this.
The Rodeo however, does
not, which would help give it form and keep it’s crisp lines.
Again, not a major gripe, but seems lacking for a $200 jacket.
The Temperature Rating -
The Rodeo is a lightweight jacket, so it’s not going to be your
winter wear. The jacket is warm enough for cool fall mornings and
evenings, and forgiving enough to wear during the day when it’s warmer.
The range will get you many months of use per year. While
comfortable on cool days, it has a serious weakness, wind. If
you’re stuck out in a breezy or windy day, you’ll feel it, the fabric
is not a good windbreaker. This is probably a good trade off,
adding to the overall comfort of the jacket in most situations.
Sometimes windbreakers can be a bit stuffy, this jacket is not. To
extend the wearable season for this jacket, I’ve been wearing a fleece
pullover under it, and it’s quite comfortable. Hey Scott, how
about a removable liner for the Rodeo?
A Place for Everything – Ok, now that we’ve discussed the general makeup of the jacket,
let’s see what makes a SeV product so unique. In a
nutshell, a place for everything.
General SeV Features
- Personal Area Network (PAN) – Improved
- Weight Management System
- Hanging Pockets & Deep Pockets
Rodeo Features
- Collar Features (Wire conduit, earbud nets, earbud hoops and clips)
- Chest Pockets
- Hand Warmer Pockets, Pocket in Pocket, change pockets, key holder, bottle holder
- 2-way Main Zipper
- Side Seam Zippers
- Back Pocket
- DCC+ Detachable Cargo Cache Pockets
- Pen/Stylus Pockets
- Battery Holders
- Memory Pockets
Personal Area Network (PAN) – Improved – The Rodeo, like most other SeV products supports what is called the Personal Area Network (PAN), but boasts that it’s improved over previous products on this jacket. The PAN allows the user to channel wires through the lining of the jacket to various devices. In the past, there were flaps to help guide the wires through the SeV products, but with the Rodeo, there are simply access holes in most of the pockets to allow you to insert a wire through the pocket and into the area between the liner and the exterior of the jacket. This new system is more versatile and allows for a great deal of freedom in routing your wires, but it does not do as well at managing them as the previous flap based PAN. With everything, there are trade offs.
While Personal Area Network and Wire Conduits all sound very technical, the reality of the situation is that the PAN is implemented in a very simple manner. The pockets that are connected to the PAN have a hole, basically a button hole sewn into them. This allows you to run wires through into or out of the pockets. Where do they go? There are no channels or guides for the wires, they simply float in the space between the liner and the outer shell of the jacket. You normally don’t see this part of a normal jacket unless you wear a hole in a pocket, The Rodeo comes with the holes already added for you. It’s very basic, but it works well.
Weight Management System (WMS) - The Rodeo, again like most other SeV products has an integral Weight Management System, that claims to have a special fabric used in the shoulder areas to help evenly distribute the weight of the items you’re carrying in the pockets. Why would this be important? Easy, because you can put a lot of things in all those pockets, and of course I did. I resisted the urge to dissect the jacket to see what there is to this WMS, but I can tell you that the jacket bears your pocket contents very well. I put quite a lot of items in my pockets, and the jacket not only kept it’s shape well, but didn’t feel overly weighted down.
Hanging Pockets & Deep Pockets & Magnetic Closures – Many of the pockets hang internally, connected only at the top. This allows the pockets to hang freely inside the liner, and since they are not connected to the exterior of the jacket, they can carry objects with less visibility. This allows the jacket to maintain it’s clean lines on the exterior, with minimal bulges or lumps, even though you’re carrying all your tech gear inside. The other aspect that this enables is Deep Pockets. According to the SeV website, these pockets are designed "so items can’t fall out, even if you forget to zip it closed." Some of these Deep Pockets have openings on the sides, so even upside down, it’s unlikely much if anything will fall out. The website does say, "can’t fall out." Can’t? Hmmmmm, a challenge. Ok, it took some doing, but should one find yourself almost upside down, while tipping to the side, you can get things to fall out. What did it take? A game of Twister! Can’t? Ha! I suppose this would be a good place to tell you another feature, used on some of the larger pockets, Magnets. Yup, you guessed it, some pockets have magnetic closures. So, if you forget to zip it up, it’ll close itself up for you with it’s quite powerful magnets. Can you appreciate the extent it took to get something to fall out of the pockets now?
Ok, that covers the major general features, that by the way, are common to most of the SeV products. Now, let’s look at the specific features on the Rodeo, and I’ll show you where these general features are applied. Remember those 39 pockets I mentioned above? There are a lot of pockets, some better hidden than others, so it’s very easy to forget where exactly you put something. Let’s start at the top and work our way down.
The Collar: (with internal wire conduit) - I’ve already mentioned how much I like the collar for it’s comfort, but I didn’t mention it’s features yet. The collar (and the area near the collar) has a myriad of features to help with your gear, primarily for headphones or phone headsets. There are loops and clips to keep your wired earbuds in place. The loops work best for wired earbuds you wish to leave in your jacket. The clips work well for things you want to often take with you after you take your jacket off. Also nearby, is a mesh net on both sides to give your earbuds a home when they’re not in use. If you recall my review of the i.Tech bluetooth stereo headset you’ll note that I complained that I needed someplace to put the earbuds, not anymore. At the base of the collar, there are access holes to the PAN which will allow you to route wires up from any number of pockets that are PAN connected. As if that all were not enough, there is also a wire conduit inside the collar itself, which works great for stereo headphones. Wire them through the collar instead of wrapping them behind your neck, makes for a nice neat solution. If you look at the picture with the collar closed, you’ll notice that none of this is even visible to others.
The Chest Pockets - There are 4 chest pockets, one horizontal and one vertical on both sides of the chest. The horizontal pockets are relatively shallow and are suitable for business cards, or other small items. I tended not to use them much since the zippers were difficult to open while wearing the jacket. Perhaps that will change as the jacket is used more. The vertical pockets are deeper, have magnetic closures and have a significant amount of room inside. I used one for my wallet, to keep it easily accessible and I used the other for my i-mate PDA2K PocketPC Phone Edition. These pockets also are hanging, so when I had my hands in the hand warmer pockets, I could actually reach up and use the controls to control music playback on my PocketPC. Of course, all 4 of these chest pockets is PAN connected, which simply means that there is a button hole sewn into them to route your wires through. I used this to connect stereo headphones to my PocketPC. Nice.
The Hand Warmer Pockets – One would think that when reaching into the side Hand Warmer pockets (visible in previous pictures), there would just be pockets right? No, of course not. Inside you’ll find that the main compartment is separated into two large pockets by a Zipper. The front half contains an elastic loop which can hold a water bottle, or more appropriately, a small thermos for your coffee. Under the elastic strap is a small change pocket, which closes by velcro. With the zipper up, creating two compartments, the hand warmer pockets are completely and utterly uncomfortable to put your hands in. First thing to do, unzip it. This now combines the two already large pockets into a very large pocket, that is now comfortable to rest your hands in. The size of the pocket is made larger by the fact that there is no top to the pocket. If you reach up, you’ll feel the hanging pockets from the chest and other inside pockets, yup right up into the liner. This took a little getting used to, but it allows you to put tall items into these pockets, such as that thermos of coffee. There is also no real back to these pockets. There is a small back to the pockets, about 3 inches tall to keep things in place, but above that small back, you can reach into the back of the jacket, into a huge area that you could store a magazine if you wanted. This is an area inside the liner and the exterior of the shell, not sure if it’s intended to be a pocket or not, but it’s there. I used it for maps while wandering about and it worked well. The hand warmer pockets are the same on both sides, with the exception of the right side which includes a key holder. Our review jacket didn’t include the key holder, but I suspect that any retail version would include it. The zipper to break up the hand warmer pockets was a good idea, but doesn’t really work that well. The zipper doesn’t go all the way to the base of the pockets, so things tend to migrate on their own between the two sections, or worse, get stuck under the zipper. I would have preferred that the zipper not be there at all, things are often getting stuck under it, making it difficult to retrieve them.
It’s here that I have to bring up some quality concerns with the jacket. I’ve already mentioned some of the issues above, so I won’t recap them again, but here’s more. On our review jacket, the velcro sewn into the change pockets was not sewn correctly on either of the side pockets. The sewing is pulling out and the velcro is not even sewn on all four sides of the little squares. Numerous threads dangle inside these hand warmer pockets, which often got caught in zippers or tangled with my keys. Not what I’d expect on a jacket as expensive as this, and certainly not what I’d expect from SeV.
Sleeve Pockets - On the right sleeve, there is a single pocket just behind the cuff. The left sleeve also has this same pocket, but adds to it another just below the shoulder on the outside of the arm. The two wrist pockets are connected to the PAN, but the one on the upper arm is not. These pockets have been among my favorite. They are thin since they live on the outside of your arm, but they’re deeper than one would expect. You can store anything from business cards to some electronics in them. I use the left wrist pocket to hold my RFID company badge, so opening the parking lot or office door is simply passing my arm by. I’ve also used the wrist pockets to hold those nasty thruway toll tickets, and I often use the upper arm pocket for my Freedom Bluetooth Mini Keyboard.
Two-Way Main Zipper – Since the Rodeo is a more fitted design, you might want to loosen it a bit for driving or other times when you’re sitting. The main zipper is a two-way design so you can simply unzip the bottom up and give yourself some room without completely unzipping and letting all the cold air in. The other advantage of the zipper is that it helps you access all those pockets on the inside. Nothing huge here, but a nice feature that more coats should adopt.
2 Side Seam Zippers - I’m not sure exactly what the side seam zippers offer, I’ve never used them. I suppose they would give you more breathing room when sitting if the jacket is tight fitting on you, but that can also be accomplished with the single main zipper. Probably a nice touch for some.
That pretty much covers the exterior features, let’s go to the interior and see where most of the pockets live. Here is the interior on the left side of the jacket. As you can see, there are -MANY- pockets. To make it easier to find, I’ve numbered them.
Left side Interior Pockets:
#’s 2 – 6: Pen/Stylus Holders – Yup, 5 on this side alone… more on the other side too.
#’s 7 – 10: Memory Pockets – Useful for Flash memory cards, like Compact Flash, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, etc. The pockets are a little small, so getting fingers into them to get the cards can be a challenge. Zipper closures make sure your cards don’t go anywhere. Also useful for chapstick.
#11: General Purpose Flap Pocket – Nice deep pocket for various objects, I keep my Freedom Bluetooth Mini Keyboard in this pocket. A velcro flap secures the pocket and makes sure it’s easy to get to when you need.
#12: Large two compartment Pocket – If you draw a frame around pockets 6-11, you’ll have the outline of pocket number 12. As you can see, it’s a rather large pocket, and is composed of two compartments that are separated by velcro. This means that if you need, you can turn it into a single large pocket. A zipper closure ensures nothing spills out.
#13: Left side DCC+ Pocket & Battery Holders – The Detachable Cargo Cache pocket is a very large pocket that starts where I’ve numbered it "13" and goes all the way down to the base of the jacket. It is easily large enough to hold magazines, or other large objects.
The DCC+ consists of a large velcro patch with which you can stick something large. If I was carrying a side arm, this would be the place. The pocket is secured on the front with a large zipper, and on the top with two magnetic closures. This means that you can leave it unzipped and it’ll remain closed via the magnets, making for an easy grab of that side arm. It works equally well for a stashing a map for quick access while wandering around new places.
Toward the bottom of the DCC+ Pocket are two battery holders. Great idea and feature, but once again we hit a quality issue. If you look closely at the loops in the picture, you’ll notice that they’re all different sizes. Of the 5 loops here for batteries, I was able to insert AAA batteries into only 3. Great feature, but the quality of the execution needs to be improved.
#14: Semi Hidden Pocket – This pocket I call the semi-hidden pocket because if it didn’t have a zipper pull, you might miss it entirely. It’s entry way is aligned with a seam and the only thing giving you a clue it’s there is the small zipper pull for it’s closure. I expected a small pocket when I first opened this, but it is surprisingly large inside, similar to the horizontal chest pockets in size. This makes it very useful for any number of things. The zipper secures any of the contents from falling out.
Right Side Interior Pockets:
#1: Right side Pocket for EarBuds – Same as the other side, a place for your earbuds.
#’s 2-5: Pen/Stylus Holders – 4 more, can’t have too many. (That’s a total of 9!)
#6: Name Card – For the unlikely event that if someone finds this, they would return it to you.
#7: Large Pocket – This is a large pocket that in use has turned out to be one of the most useful pockets on the jacket. It’s large enough to hold larger items, but not so large that things get lost in it. At one point, I was carrying a Think Outside Bluetooth Stowaway Keyboard in this pocket with ease. A top side zipper makes sure your contents are secure.
#8: Right side DCC+ Pocket & Battery Holders – Just like the left side described above. Again, we run into quality problems, but this time, different ones.
#9: Small Pocket – This is a small pocket, relatively deep for it’s size which sometimes makes getting things out of it a challenge. The pocket opening is on the top, and has no closure, so you won’t want to put valuable items in it. I kept business cards in it. Inside this pocket is the zipper closure to pocket number 10, the hidden pocket.
#10: Hidden and difficult to access pocket – This pocket is an oddity, I believe the intent was to make it hidden. In reality, it’s quite obvious there is a pocket there, but what is not obvious is where the entrance might be. The entry to this pocket is not on top, as it the case with #9 (although the two pockets are nearly identical in size and position), but on the side. The seam separating pockets 9 and 10 is a zipper, that can only be accessed from inside pocket 9. This is not initially obvious, and certainly not easy to use. It’s hard to work the zipper from the narrow entrance provided by pocket 9.
#11: Semi-Hidden Pocket – The right side semi-hidden pocket is not as large as it’s counterpart on the left side, and it’s position is slightly different as well. This pocket is much smaller and thus cannot hold as much, but I found it to be quite useful. It is a bit awkward to get into while wearing the jacket, so it’s best utilized for small items that you don’t need quick access to. I found it useful and well suited to hold my iTrek Bluetooth GPS. The GPS could easily see through the jacket to get satellite signals, and the moving map software on my PocketPC Phone make a good combination allowing me to use GPS/mapping software while not quite looking like a tourist with a large folding map on the street. A zipper closure makes sure you won’t lose things in this pocket.
The Back Pocket – The rear of the jacket has a single pocket on it, which is accessed by a large zipper which cuts across the back of the jacket horizontally. The pocket is deep and large enough for magazines and can be used for many larger items. I personally never used this pocket, preferring instead to make use of the interior pockets.
Continue On: Bugs and Wishes / Pros and Cons / Conclusion . . .
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PAGE 2
HELP SUPPORT
Not too much needed here. The little cards in the pockets help give ideas on how to use the pockets.
OPTIONS
A missing option would be a removable liner for cooler temperatures.
BUGS AND WISHES
There
are a few areas that I feel could help to improve this product.
The jacket is lightweight, which is very nice, but even cool fall
days might be too cold for it. A removable liner would be a great
addition, extending the wearable season significantly. Making the
jacket more windproof would also help. Some of the zippers
are very difficult to open, due to firm pulling zippers but also
because the jacket itself doesn’t offer much support behind it.
When you pull on the zipper, sometimes the jacket just bunches up
behind the zipper pull (think of pushing a rope). A little
backing behind the zipper pulls would be helpful. The magnetic
closures, are both a good thing and a pain at the same time. They
can be annoying sometimes, but in the end they’re a good thing to have.
Adding some backing to the cuffs, collar and main zipper would
help the jacket to keep it’s shape, many other jackets do this.
And lastly, some of the finish on the jacket could be cleaned up,
the loose threads in many of the pockets are one example. The
finish is generally good, but there are too many exceptions to ignore
in a garment in this price category.
PURCHASING
The SeV Rodeo can be purchased over at SCOTTEVEST for an special price of $199.99 – click here
to purchase. SCOTTEVEST clothing is popping up in new stores
such as Magellan’s so keep your eyes open and you might be able to find it elsewhere as
well. If you find a better deal at a different site, please
contact us and we’ll post your find.
PROS
Lots of Pockets
Extremely Comfortable
PAN wiring enabled
- A place for everything…
CONS
Cost
Arms restrict freedom of movement
- Could benefit from a removable liner
- Needs some quality control in manufacture to ensure garment lives up to its great design
- You sometimes have to take it off
| Value |  |
| Ease of Use |
|
| Features |  |
Overall |
|
OVERALL IMPRESSION
Overall, the
Rodeo is a great jacket and certainly one of my favorites. The
plethora of pockets are very functional, and the PAN
wiring, albeit low tech, works well. The jacket is extremely
comfortable, surprisingly so, and for that alone I’d recommend it.
The price is a little steep for a jacket, but if you consider all
the work that went into making it, the numerous seams, zippers,
pockets, etc that are all added to this, that most jackets simply do
not have, you can understand some of the expense. I would have
given it a higher mark on the ‘Value’ rating above if it had not been
for the quality issues noted. I have a
concern
around the longevity of the microsuede fabric, it’s very thin and I
wonder how it’ll hold up over time, but I’ve been wearing it for almost
a month exclusively and it’s holding up well. I really don’t like
the restricted arm movement (this is an understatement), but I’ve come
to live with that and it may not bother you as much (I’ve been told I’m
very picky), maybe SCOTTEVEST will
rev the next version to address this. So go ahead, lose that
gadget bag for a Rodeo. Now which pocket did I put my
camera in?
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