I purchased this jacket to keep me dry no matter where I am, running around town, walking my two dogs or on the trail. I love it, the under arm vents are great and the colors are fun! The only downside is the sleeves are a little short (but with long arms I can’t ever seem to find sleeves long enough). A great jacket for the price.
I bought this during a trip to Maine with a stop at the LL Bean in Freeport. I splurged on this jacket as my souvenir from the trip. A year (and only a handful of times worn) later, the lining is fraying above and below the waterproof seams around the neck. As others have said, it is a shorter jacket. I think that the waterproof aspect of it keeps you warmer than a traditional spring jacket, but I would definitely not consider it a warm jacket. Since I live in Minnesota, it gets relatively little use on rainy summer days.
I am normally famous for refusing to buy things at full price and more often can brag about buying a jacket for $4 instead of bragging about the brand. But with this, I thought it would be best to go with "the real thing" because I wanted a lightweight, packable raincoat.
This jacket fit me great, and was quite comfortable. As a woman, I loved that it as the black felt on the top corners of the zipper so my face covered in make-up wouldn't turn the otherwise white part brown.
Anyways, this is a great jacket to protect against wind. I've brought it with me on a small speedboat as well as a cruise ship and both circumstances had me grateful for it. However, this past weekend I discovered it doesn't actually do what it's supposed to in the elements. I was in the rain for roughly 3 hours. When I was done, I took my jacket off and certain areas of my sweatshirt underneath were wet! And there was just a thin layer of water in the inside of the whole jacket. Normally I'd contribute this to condensation just from being hot and not too breathable, but this particular day it was very cool...There's no question it was rain water that seeped in.
It's comical that rainwater seeped through when the zippers are all waterproof lines and everything. Good Effort LLBean, but this jacket is certainly not worth $100. Great to cut against cold winds, but useless in keeping your dry!
I was concerned about layering and comments about short length, so ordered a regular small, not a petite. It was way too tight to layer anything. I don't know about others, but where I live it's often cold when it rains. I'd love to imagine myself waltzing through a tropical downpour, but alas that is not the climate I'm faced with. Also, the line of stitching you can see if you zoom went right across my chest in a most unflattering way. Overall length way too short. From photo it's clear that that is the intended length. I don't think a medium would help, unfortunately, so I gave up and did not try to order a larger size.
C'mon, LLBean, longtime customers want a raincoat that is waterproof, covers at least half of our behinds, and is roomy enough to layer. That does not seem that difficult to me. I sent it back and maybe will tough it out with my way too big 15 year old Goretex parka...
