My Favorite Carhartt Jacket Of All Time (Many Decades Worth)
I've been wearing Carhartt garments since Ms. Valade was in high school. This one is my favorite. It is a great jacket. The Full Swing feature is fantastic. The large hood is very convenient, as it holds my hard hat to my head. The water-repellant coating has remained for months, despite repeated washings, snow showers & rain showers. And, it is warm, but not hot, in a very wide range of temperatures.
Regarding temperatures, I can wear this with a tee shirt from abut 60-F to 30-F. Below 30-F, I add a flannel shirt or denim shirt. Below about 10-F, a tee shirt & sweatshirt are fine. Below about (-)5-F, I wear the Carhartt Ranch Coat. I never am too hot, nor too cold. It's a great wind stopper, too.
Fit is different than my other Carhartt jackets & coats. This one has very long sleeves. But, the lower portion is free of the shell, so I tuck those inside. It's got plenty roomy for swinging- hence the name. I'd change the inside pockets, eliminating the goofy, angled inside pocket for another junk-bucket pocket. But that is purely opinion.
The outside phone pocket fits even my giant phone in a me-proof case. No other jackets have fit it yet.
The main zipper works well, but it will fail, as do all Carhartt zippers made since the 1990's. They are the one weak point. And, they're inexpensive to replace.
What is my favorite feature? The cuffs and lower back (tail) are covered with Cordura, a "forever" fabric. They will never, ever wear out. You can't abrade your way through if you tried- as we did on some samples. (I've had to junk jackets due to cuff & tail wear-through.)
My least favorite features- The Velcro type closure on the inside pocket. It is hard to pull open & the stitching failed the first week because the Velcro type stuff is stronger than the threads. And, I'm not a fan of the little zipper pull on the phone pocket. It gets lost in the zipper cover. I put a tiny keyring on the pull & the problem is solved.
Neither of the problems are worth taking away a star. I hope they continue to make this jacket so others can benefit from it's durability & design. I won't have to because it's made so well that the jacket will out live me.