Rothco Special Ops Softshell Jacket Review (same as Condor's Summit)

[kilo_64]

Alright, this review is specifically to highlight the features of this softshell which other reviews do not.

 

Let's get some background information going first. This softshell (Rothco Special Ops Softshell) and the Condor Summit Softshell jackets are exactly the same from the same manufacturer. It is just rebranded for different companies, just like Hatch-Corp, Condor, and many other glove companies coming from the same manufacturer (I know because I know the CEO of the company that manufactures for them). This review is to bridge the gap between the Condor Summit Softshell and the Rothco Special Ops Softshell eventhough they are the same thing.

 

One main difference that sets this review apart from the others is the crappy phone-quality pictures taken by a colleague (thanks though!) and that this review is of the latest version of the softshell jacket. There are several noticeable difference which I will be going over later in the review.

 

Jacket:

Company: Rothco

Size: Medium

Color: Black

Purchase Date: End of January

 

The main difference with this latest version and the old versions is that the sizing is correct (yes, they corrected this soon after the initial release of the first version) and the hood is removable (why yes it is).

 

When I've worn the jacket:

- I have worn this softshell jacket for almost two months now in a city that is known for housing one of the U.S.'s most polluted water source, its

bipolar weather, amount of snow, salt industry, and its high crime rate compared to the nation's.

- Temperature ranged from 10?F all the way to 60?F (benefits of living in a city that has the most bipolar weather in the United States)

- Weather ranged from nothing to hail, and everything in between with wind from 0 miles per hour to 50 miles per hour

- Exposure to the elements ranged from minimum of half an hour to maximum of about 3 hours

- Worn with and without a pack

- Worn while static or low activity to active situations

 

From my experience, if you will be semi active and wearing more than just the softshell, be prepared to be warmed up and sweating quickly regardless of temperature and weather. When wearing this jacket with a pack at about 15?F and winds of about 25 miles per hour, My back, where it contacts the pack, was starting to feel warm just after about 10 minutes walking at a slow pace of about 3 miles per hour. The inside of my arms near the inside of the elbow was starting to feel warm. When I amped up my pace, those hot spots soon started to feel sticky just before sweating. When wearing this at temperatures above 45?F, I had to keep my jacket half zipped, and pitzips opened. At temperatures above 50?F, I pretty much had to keep the jacket unzipped the whole time. But my arm became drenched in sweat effectively soaking up the interior fleece.

 

My size (hahaha funny):

Height: 5 feet 5 inches or 165.1 centimeters

Weight: 175 pounds or 79.5 kilograms

Pants size: 32 x 30

Shirt size: Medium

Neck size: 15 inches

Chest measurement: 40 inches under the armpit

 

Hood:

You can run this softshell with the hood rolled into the collar or with it removed. With the hood rolled in and the jacket fully zipped, it literally becomes a neck brace. With the jacket 3/4 zipped, it becomes a comfortable make-shift pillow for when you have to take a nap at work or something. The hood is removed by unzipping the bottom of the hood from the inside of the collar and pulling the bungee out from the inside of the jacket near the top through the eyelits.

 

Removing the hood from the collar:

 

Hood by itself:

 

Ventilation:

The main ventilation of this jacket is the pitzips as most people know. But there are two other ventilaion sections that most people do not know because most people do not put it into their review. One is the back pocket which when unzipped, becomes a ventilation point. This is because the pocket is made of mesh for this purpose. You can put stuff in there as a pocket, or you can unzip it and use it as a ventilation point.

The second one is the angled, armor/pack compatible chest pockets. Again, this pocket is made of mesh on the inside so when it is unzipped, it provides another ventilation point.

 

Inside of the jacket showing the back pocket/ventilation point:

 

Under the inside chest pocket showing the mesh lined chest pockets:

 

Pockets:

One thing you see in Condor's picture is the phone/itouch in the main pocket. Lots of people think that one of the interior smaller pouches inside the chest pocket is intended for that. But it is not. In both chest pockets, there's a d-ring and 2 smaller pouches. The pouches are only about 2 inches deep. The larger of the two pouches is big enough to fit a standard sized ID card perfectly about 3/4 of the way while the pen smaller of the two pouches is big enough to fit 1/3 of any pen.

 

The inside of the chest pockets with an ID card and pen pushed completely into the pouches:

 

The bicep pocket goes from the stitching about an inch below the velcro patch all the way to the shoulder seam. Pretty big eh? That's what she said. Anyways, it's big enough to fit a small 3x5 Rite in the Rain pads. The opening is about 4 nches.

 

The forearm pocket is so small that this picture speaks for itself:

 

The interior pocket is about 6.5 by 4, and 6.5 by 3.5 on the bottom and top edge where the pocket's tapered corner is.

 

Cuff:

The cuffs are elastic and can be cinched futher by an adjustable tab. The "hook" side is on the molded piece and the loop side is on the non-elstic part of the cuff. The "hook" on the molded piece is not the usual velcro hook like the older versions. It is molded onto the piece as small triangular hooks.I guess this was their solution to the adhesive from the hook velcro coming off of the molded piece. This is not the best solution because the molded triangular "hooks" do not hook onto the loop velcro like the hook velcro would. It comes off easier and can become undone from heavy activities. It can be "hooked" onto the loop in a certain way to prevent it from coming off. And it is to "hook" it by sliding it parallel to the loop velcro untilit catches on. Regular hook vecro can be slapped onto the loop velcro and it'll be attached, but not this molded triangular "hook".

 

The molded triangular "hooks":

 

The molded triangular "'hooks" on top of regular hook velcro:

 

Quality:

The polyester outershell provides a smooth and soft outer layer that feels rugged enough to withstand a limited amount of harsh punishment such as constant abrasions. The middle laminated layer definitely provides the weather protection that the outer layer does not. You can hear the laminated layer whenever you move, its sounds exactly like goretex whenever you are moving in it. Yes I do wear goretex often enough to know how it sounds like. The inner layer is a layer of microfleece that provides adequate warmth for temperatures below 25?F. The stitching is good, most seams are double stiched, nothing is off or crooked, overall pretty good. They also cleaned up the edges and stitching of the interior pockets where it was one of the quality problems of the earlier versions. One thing I would recommend for ultimate weather proofing is to DWR coat this softshell. If you do, the outer layer feels to be softer and it becomes completely waterproof until the DWR coating wears off. The coating will still maintain its breathability though.

 

The following series of pictures shows the jacket in multiple configurations and the flexibility of the arms and how it fits on me.

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First picture: my body figure

 

Second picture: hood rolled up, arms down, fully zipped and zipped 3/4

 

Third picture: hood out, 1 arm up, fully zipped

 

Fourth picture: hood on, 1 arm out, fully zipped

 

Fifth picture: hood removed, 1 arm in front, fully zipped

 

As you can see, this latest version of this softshell jacket is exceptionally better than the older versions with various improvements.

 

Hope this review provided an insight into this jacket for those of you interested in it.

Edited March 15, 2012 by kilo_64