“quest for a hard shell”

“It was time to replace my 12 year old [...] goretex hard shell which I loved. The current trend in rain shells is for them to have a trim fit and to be short. I wanted something that would accomodate layers and cover my derrier and this turned out to be very hard to find. This jacket is well designed in terms of lots of pockets, a well-designed hood, it is soft and lightweight, although I actually prefer the stiffer old fashined goretex because it felt a little warmer and windproof. Figuring out a size felt crazy because customers reviewed it as running small AND running large. I am 5'2", 125 lbs. I ordered a medium and a large. The large was the better fit because I found the medium too tight in the torso to accomodate a fleece or winter sweater. I've never worn a large before in my life. The sleeves ended up being too long but they still aren't as long as the super-long sleeves on Patagonia products. The back of the jacket is curved and longer than the front which is good for coverage but I find it not attractive for everday use, i.e. it looks "technical". However, in Seattle we can get away with wearing practical looking rainwear given the weather.This is a well made product although I never would have paid [$] for it. As for the zipper that others mentioned, part of the problem is that the pull is on the left side and most jackets have the pull on the right so if you're right handed it feels awkward. Also the zipper is very petite compared to other jackets so it feels more awkward to get it seated properly in the track and the two way zipper parts lined up. It's a little annoying but I think they did it for the sake of weight and maybe Scandinavians use left handed zippers!”