I have two of these coats for the last 20, years, still wearing one of them and gave the older one to homeless recently. I decided to get another one in a different color from the others, hinted around and my bride got me a new one for Christmas. I had ordered a size smaller first with a different lining and realized it was too small and I still needed to get an Extra Large and liked the wool lining better. The folks at L.L. Bean took great care of me again and made the swap. Plan to wear my new coat for the first time tonight at our Church's CHRISTMAS EVE service. Merry Christmas to the folks at L.L. Bean!
This coat is exactly what I wanted - plenty warmth with lots of room to reach and move. I'm 6' so I got the tall, and it was the correct choice for me. The button-out wool liner is great. It has the "old world" feel I was looking for. I rarely rate anything, but this coat is superb so I felt I should.
I bought this same jacket about twenty years ago but lost the liner. I finally got tired of waiting for the jacket to go on sale so I bought another one. The jacket is great but the changes have not been for the best... The exterior pockets are different and my Mini-iPad won't stay in the outside pockets anymore. The smaller "handwarmer pockets" barely hold my sunglasses.
Being resourceful, I have solved my problems by removing the liner from the new jacket sand buttoning it into the old, faded, and frayed jacket. Now I have a winter coat that is warm but looks like the horses used it for tug-of-war and a brand new jacket that will probably be great for late spring and early fall.
By the way, they won't sell just a liner or I would have gone in that direction.
... so I consider myself to have a qualified opinion about it. It's pretty good overall but it could be better.
1# Three buttons in the front #four if you count the neck) is not enough; there needs to be four available for everyday use in order to keep the chill at bay. 2) The front outside buttons need to be of better quality; all of these buttons on my coat have begun to chip and crack. 3) The backside of the buttons on the inside of the coat need to be secured with more than a small piece of fabric. Normal use of the buttons on my coat caused one of them to eventually pull through, creating a hole in the coat material. I just spent an hour replacing the buttons and secured them with small buttons on the inside so that further damage to the fabric won't occur. 4) The button holes that hold the liner in place need more reinforcement.
