“When I first saw this product being offered by American Tall in conjunction with the relatively popular brand Point Zero, which I have fond memories of their clothing from Sears over the years, I was intrigued, but not yet willing to buy it.
But after the success of the Long Johns And Sons bomber jacket and the American Tall rain jacket (despite the horrid smell that took a week of airing out and multiple washes to remove), I read through all the review comments, and decided to buy it during the recent awesome last chance deal that it was on for.
Just arrived a few days ago and so I inspected it and then tried it on.
Based on the review comments I knew to be wary of the zipper, which is plastic, appears to be two way, definitely is finicky and can take some patience and tender loving care to do up, but I have faith that it will work out.
Then I tested out the thumb holes and while I can get my thumb in, the placement is just a little off so unless I can stretch it out enough to make them useable, which I will try to do, then chances are that I will probably just wear it without using those.
Then I tested out the pockets, the hood and the neck. The pockets are deep but are a bit small for my very long basketball player hands but I'm sure that they will be fine and good for storage like the rest of the pockets. The hood can go over my head completely without issue and the neck can do up just fine too, so that's good.
Then upon doing everything up as I was in an air conditioned place, I moved around in it, stretched it out, and tested the warmth.
While it's has not been tested in fall or winter temperatures, upon simply putting it on and doing it up over a short sleeved shirt in an air conditioned room, the jacket did start to warm me up quite quickly, so I am looking forward to testing it out in our Northern Ontario winters.
Additionally, when it came to sizing, I remembered point zero usual being a slimmer fit way back when, and American Tall usually is too, so, since I gained 25lbs, going from 150lbs to 175lbs, I am definitely glad that I sized up from the Medium Extra Tall (MXT) that my two other coats were/are and went with the Large Extra Tall (LXT) instead. While it probably would have fit, I don't think any thick or heavy sweaters or similar layers would have fit under a Medium Extra Tall (MXT), so Large Extra Tall (LXT) for the win.
Chances are I'll put in an additional review after I have worn it on a blistering cold winter day, but until then, I am glad that I read the reviews to heed their warnings, but overall more glad that I have purchased this wonderful coat.
Update to the review a few months later:
After having worn the coat quite regularly, I can confirm that the thumb holes are for decoration as they are a couple inches short from where they need to be for me, that the front zipper can be challenging and lead one to button up only at times, but that the zippers on the pockets are excellent, that it's nice to have lots of pockets, the faux furry hood is good too, and the coat gets extra points for making my wife chuckle and think of and compare this coat to the coat worn by Clark Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
American Tall awesomeness for the win.
Thanks again American Tall.
Stay safe and stay awesome. ✌️”
“Seems like a very well made parka, I need to test it this winter yet (I live in Winnipeg, MB, Canada) but it seems pretty warm. This is the first jacket I've owned with thumb holes I can actually use! I'm 6'-5" with monkey arms so I got the extra tall and it's kinda amazing. Good pockets, for gloves and warming your hands too.”
“Great coat. Warm lining and well designed details to make it really watertight. Fitting is a bit wider than expected. It would be helpful to have more detailed measurements for each garment instead of the somewhat general size tables because sizes do not seem aligned between the several brands that are on offer. I usually need large, but in this case medium would have fitted better.”
