Review: The TAD Gear Talisman Jacket

So Triple Aught Design had their big warehouse store sale thing this past weekend. Hung over and praying a bit for death, I made the trek out to the Dogpatch and went there wondering what sorts of deals I'd find. I was mainly looking for a good deal on their Talisman Jacket, as the weather's been a bit chilly of late and I like the look of it.

As fortune would have it, I found one in exactly my size for a ridiculously-good discount. Given it's a goddamn expensive garment, I didn't hesitate. I made a beeline straight for the cash register. And saw the line.

In all, it took me roughly a minute to find what I wanted and an hour and ten minutes to get through the winding line to pay TAD Gear for the garment.

Halfway through the line, I discovered why the jacket was discounted so steeply: the zipper holding the hood in the collar was stuck. Not just stuck, but completely un-budging.

I bit the bullet and bought the jacket anyway. I briefly tried to loosen the zipper with my Leatherman in line but that wasn't working. I got home and tried two pairs of pliers. Wouldn't budge. I tried all the little online tricks for a fixed zipper (pencil, Windex, etc.). The goddamn thing wasn't budging.

It's not raining, so I said "fuck it" and wore it anyway. Today, while fussing with the zipper during a meeting at work, I popped the zipper off then re-fed it through the teeth.

I now have a rocking warm jacket with lots of pockets that works perfectly.

Takes the edge off the rest of Monday's challenges, which I most certainly am not complaining about.

The Talisman is warm, comfortable garment with a cool, kind of retro, look to it. It comes with four large, button-flap pockets on the front and an interior pocket for small stuff (a wallet or a phone and maybe some packs of gum). It's made of the same kind of material as the lighter Sentinel Field Jacket but is an overall warmer coat.

Compared with the Sentinel, I find the pocket capacity a bit lacking. The Sentinel just has a lot of capacity. Still, when I don't want to layer too much, I'm finding the Talisman pretty nice. It's certainly going to be a nice winter coat for the Bay Area's mild weather.