Travel vest opinions

[Damselfish]

I've been thinking for awhile of getting one, was just looking at these 4-

Magellan's Travel Vest
Voyager Vest
Royal Robbins' Field Guide Vest
Scottevest

Anybody have one of these or another that they particularly like or dislike?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

http://www.adorama.com/images/Product/HUVCBM.jpg

If you are looking to cut down on luggage and want the vest to stuff a bunch of things in, a photographers vest like this really can't be beat. Plenty of pockets, designed to actually carry gear, and much more useful. Maybe not a sleek but what are you looking for, function or style?

 

[Damselfish]

Yikes, seaching for "vest" on Adorama gets me 382 results! :shocked2: They return each size and color as a different result. Interesting idea though.

I care about cool/comfortable and no bulkier than necessary and yeah not ugly. Hey I'm a girl, I have to care at least a little about style. Though my husband might go for a photographers vest, then he can stuff in all the crap that doesn't fit in his photographers backpack...

I'm looking more to carry a lot of the stuff I usually have in the backpack I'm always fishing out from under the seat. Assorted electronics, papers, random toiletries for the trip, misc little crap, maybe snacks or reading.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Understand. Being a guy except for the electronics like my crackberry and ID all that other stuff I'd get from the hotel front desk. The magazines behind the seats are good enough and I read and write reports all day long at work. If it's a dive trip don't need anything to read. And I just found one of the aps on my new Storm II will let me download books to read later! It's got 16 gig of memory.

 

[vfox]

My husband swears by the ScottEVest and has a couple different styles/colors. I'll ask him to jump in later to give his expert opinion, but I can say that he can load up more pockets/gadgets and things than anyone I know and the vest doesn't seem to be too bulky on him at all.

One other thing I thought was neat was that at least one that he owns has zip on sleeves, just in case you need a little more covering but don't want to move all your "supplies".

 

[palmfox]

My husband swears by the ScottEVest and has a couple different styles/colors. I'll ask him to jump in later to give his expert opinion, but I can say that he can load up more pockets/gadgets and things than anyone I know and the vest doesn't seem to be too bulky on him at all.

One other thing I thought was neat was that at least one that he owns has zip on sleeves, just in case you need a little more covering but don't want to move all your "supplies".

That would be my wife above.. I do swear by scottevest. If you are just using it for travel, and want a light weight vest which doesn't bulk up a lot you should try their tropics vest. Light nylon, with 18 pockets, most of them inside.. or the travel vest deigned for women.. the cut is made for a woman's contours... both have removable sleeves as well. The electronic pockets are touch sensitive which means you don't have to pull the device out when you need to turn it on. ( Such as an Iphone screen)..The great thing about the vest, I can load it up, and then remove it and put it in the TSA bucket with all the gear firmly attached and zipped up. Easy on and easy off.

One of my concerns that scottevest met, was the fact that I didn't show a lot of stuff in outside pockets.. most of the pockets are on the inside, where stuff stays hidden. Also, the scottevest has a liner that you can pass wires through. I can keep my ipod/iphone in a pocket near my waist, yet run the headphones up the liner, out the collar and into the earphone loops built into the collar. Other vests I looked at tended to have pockets outside, which I didn't care for.

Finally I have always been impressed with scottevest customer service. The very few times I have had an issue with a product, they have stood behind it... even beyond the warranty period.

Hope this helps you in your decision.

 

[RonFrank]

I have a Domke photo vest, and it has PLENTY of pockets for misc junk.

domke photography vests

What is lacks is a good way to carry heavy lenses close to the body in a comfortable fashion. That is best left to bags. For the photography who travels light, or anyone who needs lots of pockets, these things are awesome.

The Domke has a lot of mesh involved... most of the upper back, upper shoulders, etc. These things can get hot fast over even just a T.

They don't really cut down on luggage IMO. If you were to fill it up so to speak, then you end up with a very heavy vest full of stuff. If you use this as carry-on, then you have to pull everything out of the pockets to go through airport security.

The problem I have with these is I don't use them enough to have a system for where everything goes. I end up stuffing things in pockets, and then have to look for them.

I think if I used it more often, I'd get a system down, but I find carrying a camera bag necessary, and so I leave most equipment in the bag, and carry the bag. I also had a filter break in a pocket (my fault), so there is that!