Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket-full Travel Vest

Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket-full Travel Vest

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scottevest travel vest review rating Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel Vest
  • Scottevest Travel Vest

  • SCS Rating: 5

  • Colors available: Men's — olive, khaki, black, navy. Women's — gray, red, black, green

  • Price: US$125
  • Reviewed by:
  • On
  • Last modified:29 January 2013

Not many articles of clothing come with instructions on how to wear it. And even fewer come with instructions on how to wear it that you’d actually want to read. In fact, we can only think of one: The Scottevest Travel Vest.

Simply putting on the Travel Vest doesn’t require reading the instructions, of course. And you’ll probably be able to find all of the Travel Vest’s pockets, if you have enough time and patience to hunt them all down. But knowing what each pocket is designed for so you can make optimal use of them — until you do that you can’t realize just how cool a piece of travel clothing the Scottevest Travel Vest is.

So let’s delve into that by checking out the vest’s pocket maps:

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lightgrey Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel Vest
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The Scottevest Travel Vest comes in separate men’s and women’s versions.

Scottevest Travel Vest External Pockets — Men’s

The men’s version of the Scottevest Travel Vest has 24 (!) pockets in all, including four on the front and one in back.

The two front vertical chest pockets aren’t so useful in our opinion, though one of them (the left one) has a little sleeve inside that could be used to keep coins or subway tokens.

travel vest review mens exterior Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel Vest follow me on pinterest button Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel Vest

As for the two so-called handwarmer pockets, they are are superb. The name is a bit of a misnomer — the pockets aren’t lined with fleece or otherwise particularly warm. But they are deep enough such that nothing would fall out even if you left them open. Not that you could leave them completely open — magnets keep them at least somewhat closed. Each also have zippers if you’d like to close them more securely.

Our favorite feature: The right handwarmer pocket has both an extendable key holder and a loop for securing a water bottle. (The fact that a water bottle can fit in the pocket at all tells you something about how large these pockets are).

In the back, there’s another pocket that extends half-way down the entire vest. Though you could store things in this pocket (a water bladder for a long hike maybe?), we can’t see ever doing so. The purpose of this pocket is more to act as a vent (see Pros, Cons & Our Verdict, below).

Note that Scottevest’s “pocket map” shows two change pockets in the bottom front of the vest. Our review unit either didn’t have these pockets or had them so well hidden we couldn’t find them.

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Scottevest Travel Vest External Pockets — Women’s

The women’s The Scottevest Travel Vest has an appropriately different fit from the men’s version. The cut is flattering in a way a unisex vest could never achieve.

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In terms of the pockets, the women’s Travel Vest doesn’t have the vertical chest pockets of the men’s — just as well since we aren’t fans of these pockets anyway. In exchange, women get a lipstick holder pocket (or lip balm holder, if you prefer) towards the bottom of the vest. The handwarmer pockets on the women’s vest are the same — which is to say, every bit as wonderful — as they are on the men’s vest.

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Scottevest Travel Vest Internal Pockets — Men’s

The interior of the men’s The Scottevest Travel Vest is chock full of pockets. Most of them have a little icon tag sewn next to them, to help you remember which pocket is which. Most of the pockets are also self explanatory, though we thought it worth while relaying some notes on a few of them:

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The travel documents pocket is tall enough for a passport and wide for a boarding pass. But when Spot Cool Stuff travels with our Travel Vest, we sometimes use this pocket more to store our 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, for which the pocket happens to be perfectly sized. Most 7-inch tablet computers would presumably fit too.

scottevest travel vest id pocket Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel VestThe ID pocket has a “Clear Touch” window; it’s transparent enough to make out what’s inside but not enough to read all the details. We use it to store business cards but it’s also great for keeping a drivers license when going through airport security. A little red pull tab (pic to right) makes opening this pocket easy. (Little touches like that are why we love the Travel Vest).

Inside the digital camera pocket there’s a separate memory card pocket. This thrills us. We often travel with multiple memory cards (and multiple SIM cards too) but often don’t have a safe place to store them.

There are two smartphone pockets with translucent “Clear Touch” windows through which you can operate a touch screen. Having two of these pockets seems a bit superfluous to us. (Scottevest intended one to be used for a phone, the other for an MP3 player, but these days most phones are MP3 players). The pockets have a side zip that slides down about half way, making it easy to reach inside the vest in pull something out. For that reason, we like using one of these pockets for a smartphone and the other for small but important items we want quick access to — event tickets, for example.

Scottevest’s Personal Area Network is a series of loops and pockets designed to discretely guide the ear bud wires from one of the smartphone pockets to an ear bud storage areas in the collar. There are actually two ways of guiding the wires, one is harder to install but more hidden, the other the opposite. If you travel with ear buds a lot, you’ll find the PAN incredibly cool.

The “PadPocket” was supposedly designed to store an Apple iPad. This pocket, though, is a little wider than the 3rd generation iPad’s 7.3-inch frame — wide enough and deep enough to store an Apple MacBook Air! It is also a great pocket for carrying a map and/or travel guidebook.

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Scottevest Travel Vest Internal Pockets — Women’s

The interior pockets of the women’s Scottevest Travel Vest are the same as the men’s with two exceptions:

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The women’s Travel Vest has only one smartphone pocket. As explained above, the second smartphone pocket seems unnecessary to us anyway.

Also, unlike the men’s Travel Vest, the women’s has a secret pocket inside the PadPocket. Basically, it’s a place you can stealthfully store a few bills.

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Pros, Cons & Our Verdict

Besides the myriad of specialized pockets, here’s the coolest feature of the Scottevest Travel Vest: It doesn’t look like it has a myriad of pockets. This is not your grandfather’s photographer’s vest with bulges everywhere. Somehow — we can not figure out how, and not for lack of trying — Scottevest has designed the pockets so they barely bulge even when stuffed full.

Case in point: Below are two photos of a man wearing the identical Travel Vest. In one photo, the pockets of the vest are empty. In the other photo, the vest is holding an iPhone, ear buds, a Kindle eBook reader, Sony RX100 point-and-shoot camera, recent edition of Lonely Planet: Scandinavia, map of Sweden, inflatable travel pillow, Apple MacBook Air laptop (!), passport, wallet and car keys — virtually everything you might carry onto an airplane and probably more than you’d walk around with when touring a foreign city. Can you immediately tell which Travel Vest has its pockets full? Can you tell even after examining the photos carefully?

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In addition to liking the non bulging pockets, we are fans of how the Travel Vest looks. It’s also lightweight, which, combined with the mesh lining and the back vent pocket that creates air flow, makes the Travel Vest very wearable in hot climes.

scottevest travel vest review rating Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel Vest

  • Scottevest Travel Vest

  • Rating: 5
  • Colors available: Men's — olive, khaki, black, navy. Women's — gray, red, black, green
  • Price: US$125
  • Reviewed by:
  • On
  • Last modified:29 January 2013

At US$125, the Scottevest Travel Vest is more expensive than your typical item of travel clothing. But that’s really the product’s only downside — and we think the cost is totally worth it. Though the vest is clearly designed with air travel in mind (the help it provides getting through airport security is nearly worth the price by itself), the Travel Vest is more of an everyday item than the name suggests. We’ve worn ours for walks, shopping trips, outdoor events — anywhere we might want to bring a lot of stuff in our pockets. We’ve spoken with lots of women who often prefer wearing their vest than carrying a purse.

Men’s Travel Vests are available in khaki, olive, black and navy. The women’s comes in a more interesting selection: gray, red, black and hunter green. Whichever color you choose, the instruction book will be included. You might even want to read it.

published: 17 Oct 2012
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  The photo depicting the Travel Vest with full pockets is the one on the left. Had we taken the photo without packing the MacBook Air, which pokes out slightly out on the left side of the photo, you might have have been able to tell at all.

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scottevest travel vest review fb 575x483 Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel Vest follow me on pinterest button Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel Vest

Other travel gear reviews from Spot Cool Stuff:

The Ultra-Lightweight Osprey Ozone Wheeled Carry-On
ExOfficio: Travel a Whole Week Wearing One Pair of Underwear?
Samsonite’s Cool Micro Scooter-Bag Hybrid
The Best Tablet Computers for Travel

space Scottevest Designs the Ultimate, Pocket full Travel Vest


Responses

  1. Emmi Buck says:

    Awesome article, thanks for the review! For those saying they aren’t into vests – check out scottevest.com to see our over 50 travel products for men and women! My personal favorite is the SCOTTEVEST Lola.

    [Reply to this comment]

  2. mark thomas says:

    I have got to get one of these…what a cool idea…what would Ryanair say to this
    mark thomas recently posted..The early years of life in Dubrovnik – life in a goldfish bowlMy Profile

    [Reply to this comment]

  3. Peter Szabo says:

    Wow! Such a unique design! I really like these kind of outdoor wear, pure functionalism supported with resistant, durable and hight-tech smart materials – designed for the active people of the 21st century! A must have one for me:)
    Peter Szabo recently posted..Einführung ins 3D-DruckenMy Profile

    [Reply to this comment]

  4. Joe says:

    This vest looks awesome! I always carry a lot of stuff with me wherever I go so this would be perfect. It actually looks good to which is nice since I don’t want to look too nerdy. Thanks for the great write up.

    [Reply to this comment]

  5. D.B. says:

    that red women’s vest is so geeky chic, i love it! too bad it has only one smart phone pocket. where i’m from, everybody has two phones. but i want this vest anyway. question: how much does it weigh empty?

    [Reply to this comment]

  6. Thomas says:

    Does it available in Malaysia? Love to have one.

    [Reply to this comment]

    Spot Cool Travel Stuff Reply:

    Thomas,

    If it isn’t available in Malaysia, I believe they’ll ship there.

    ~ scs

    [Reply to this comment]

  7. Greg Gadd says:

    I intend to in’vest’ in one. Being an International Traveler with at least four trips a year, I can find that this in’vest’ment is a sound purchase. The security aspect of the vest makes it a good buy. Looking forward to receiving it within a reasonable time, as I am off again for o/s at Christmas.

    [Reply to this comment]

  8. Trevor says:

    I’m not normally a vest person but this really does look cool

    [Reply to this comment]

  9. SCOTTEVEST, Inc says:

    Thank you for the great review! We love how you can’t tell when the vest is loaded up with everything you had! Great shots.

    [Reply to this comment]

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