Tactical Jackets in the Outdoors? - what are all those pockets for?!?

C_Claycomb

C_Claycomb

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Dec 11, 2000
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A few years back a friend of mine pointed me to a company called Helikon-tex making tactical clothing. He really liked their gear and uses their pants, fleeces and jackets for his travels. I ended up buying some of their pants, and one of their Trooper softshells.

7e42c334-63ab-49c5-b705-57da5758b4f9_zps7iymazzm.jpg


The jacket style is one that I have seen other companies offer and I am curious if anyone here likes this type of jacket and whether they use one in the field. So far I have only used mine to go to work and for short day-hikes this spring. I certainly want to like it, :cool: and its been fine for what I have used it for but I am having doubts about it for over night trips and longer.

My biggest gripe and puzzle is what all the pockets are meant to be for. Does anyone know? They seem to be a really weird layout, but its one that I see repeated in other similar jackets by other companies so there must be a need or purpose to them.
Pockets on both upper arms, one on the left wrist, a long through pocket at butt level and really long front slash pockets on the chest. :confused:

Thanks :)

Chris
 
The pockets on the arms are for if you are wearing a plate carrier, you can easily access maps and other items. Its patterned for military use and companies like to imitate it.
 
Slash pockets on the chest are to vent, long one on the back is a modern take on a poacher's pocket.
 
Depending on the size of the left wrist pocket its either for a notebook or gps. As was said by Jollygreen the upper arms are for easy access when wearing a plate carrier. The long back pocket is just like Danke said a poacher's pocket.
 
Okay, that makes sense for the upper arm pockets....but does anyone use them who isn't burdened with a plate carrier? If so, what do you put in there? I have yet to figure out anything I would want to carry up there, other than maybe a small FAK.

If the large slash chest pockets are for venting, that is dumb. There is no mesh lining so no way for anything to vent from inside. The height of the opening makes them rather poor for keeping hands warm/out of the wind.

The poachers pocket might be for ventilation since it does have a mesh lining. Just mesh between the contents and the seat of your pants. Still don't know what you are intended to put in there. About the only things I have carried back there have been gloves/hat/Buff.

Has anyone actually owned something like this and did they like it?
 
the large slash pockets are there so when you are in a plate carrier, you can still reach in your pockets.

the plates are only covering your chest in a small carrier, that doesn't have all the reg Army extra Kevlar.

the back pocket is easy to get to as well, I hear some people kept gloves or another shemagh in there for extra support on long drives. I just kept my gloves and a fleece beanie in mine.

I kept smokes in my bottom left sleeve pocket.

Some use to have a clear plastic cover on the left upper sleeve for an ID, don't see that anymore.
 
I've got a rain-coat that has similar chest slash pockets, not pass-throughs. They are somewhat mostly useless. The only thing I can think of is for something like a map or other similar flat object. I wonder if they are intending the poachers pocket to act as a mag-dump?
 
C_Claycomb said:
The jacket style is one that I have seen other companies offer and I am curious if anyone here likes this type of jacket and whether they use one in the field. So far I have only used mine to go to work and for short day-hikes this spring. I certainly want to like it, :cool: and its been fine for what I have used it for but I am having doubts about it for over night trips and longer.
Click to expand...
Im not too impressed with the Helikon quality. Seams one some items of clothing just doesnt seem to be styrdy enough.

Ive owned a number of soft shells over the years. Archeteryx use to be okay but is of course priced ridiculously these days in regards to what it is today.

TadGear makes some of the nicest shells - I have a few - and they are very very nice and certainly amongst the best, but the prices are silly.

Patagonia also makes nice stuff.

North Face is almost a kliche but my NF shells are old and have kept up wonderfully. One in particular has been on my travels for years and have seen much rough use and to this day still looks nice. Nothing has come apart and apart from slight scruffing on the velcro band on one cuff still looks as new as the day it was bought. It has been with me in many parts of the the world and have been to the wars several times over. Im very impressed.

It doesnt have to be very expensive or even medium expensive to work though. Ive had a Snugpak Proximity Elite for a couple of years and that is a no frills shell, which works just fine.

I dont have an OpsGear shell but they look to be fine for the price point.




C_Claycomb said:
My biggest gripe and puzzle is what all the pockets are meant to be for. Does anyone know? They seem to be a really weird layout, but its one that I see repeated in other similar jackets by other companies so there must be a need or purpose to them.
Pockets on both upper arms, one on the left wrist, a long through pocket at butt level and really long front slash pockets on the chest. :confused:
Click to expand...

Im tempted to believe the multi pocket craze started with the War time German parachutists jump smock or 'Knochensack,' as the German nickname was/is.

This evolved into the British Denison smock which had a number of pockets and details which changed over time.

The idea with jump smocks and regular army smocks for that matter, is that one can carry ammo and gear in various pockets and have it readily available instead of carrying it all in pouches and or bags etc.

The smock was of course also at some point designed as a kind of 'over jacket,' which one would wear over ones regular uniform in order to either/or not get tangled in equipment when jumping and in order to have a windproof garment offering some measure against the elements depending on your function and/or task.

The oversized smock-type of jacket changed into a more fitted model over time. Today a smock is still bulky and a far cry from a soft shell but anyway, the smock was one of the first garments to sport a multitude of pockets.

A smock with big pockets are still a very British army thing and a proper smock is a wonderful thing to wear when out and about in inclement weather.
I have a British issue DP smock and its great over my relatively bulky Buffalo fleece.

So, the above might be an explanation here as to where the multi pocket craze originated.

German Knochensack
https://www.google.dk/search?q=wwii...ved=0ahUKEwjP8qm5hLnMAhVBCpoKHd04CscQ_AUIBigB

British Denison Smock
https://www.google.dk/search?q=wwii...AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=WWII+british+denison+smock

They might not be sexy, but they work - British Army smock
https://www.google.dk/search?q=wwii...04CscQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=+british+army+smock
 
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I've had the TAD one for a few years and it's solid; other than the prices spiraling out of control because of reasons.

The only downside is people asking about what the Velcro is for. Violent Little Machine shop helped me out with that.
 
Danke42 said:
I've had the TAD one for a few years and it's solid; other than the prices spiraling out of control because of reasons.

The only downside is people asking about what the Velcro is for. Violent Little Machine shop helped me out with that.
Click to expand...

my first TAD was under 150. now the price is way to high to even think about buying another.

I did have a Condor fleece that was pretty nice but the prices have gone up and from what I've heard the quality has gone down.

I've seen a few (TAD) on the auction site, but have seen to many knockoffs to buy one.
 
Cheers guys. That has helped me understand a lot better. I reckon that it is a much more specialist design than I had originally thought; its one thing to see the features in a photo, but another to discover that they can be rather annoying to live with. Generally I love pockets, wish I could wear my 5.11 shirt more often, think the Helikon Urban Tactical Pants are great in an urban environment, and get a lot of use from a Kifaru Tailgunner+organiser...but those jacket pockets baffled me. I think that the chief reason that I have persisted in using this softshell is that the two other lighter weight shells that I have have fewer and possibly more useless pockets! Paramo Velez Lite smock and Furera wind smock. Good quality, great hoods, light and handle the weather well, but no where useful to safely stow so much as your car keys and phone.

So far I haven't been disappointed by the Helikon quality, but I don't have many similar items to compare with. My buddy who put me on to their stuff is HARD on his gear, not for want of care, just because of where he takes it. He's coming back to the UK in a month of so, so I will have to ask how he is getting on with it. A while back he mentioned that he often found that quality varied across companies' ranges, for instance he thought the 5.11 shirts (when we were talking about 4 years ago) were fantastic, but he really didn't rate their pants. He still reckons that the best value, most durable pants are the Craghopper Kiwi design, but last time I looked he was still decked out in Helikon while in the field.

Looked at the TAD gear and Arc'teryx in catalogs, but too expensive is too expensive. Might be different if one could get to try a bunch on and pick through them, hands on, but only being able to buy them mail-order is a bit of a deal breaker even if I had that kind of spare cash.

I keep thinking about taking the velcro off. No one has asked about it at work and it was suggested to me that it would be a really good place for sticking reflective patches if I needed to be more visible at night. Haven't needed to do anything like that, but am too lazy to go un-picking the stuff if I don't have to.

Chris
 
before you go unpicking threads, make sure that they are not taped on the back, its a good indicator that the hole punched will be pretty large, which will give a bit of a ratty look to the jacket.

As for prices on clothes, I think we've gotten a little spoiled, since most clothing is made overseas. Once you pay the workers a living wage, the cost will go way up. Also some of the tech fabrics, membranes and coatings are very toxic, so doing it the right way will be expensive. Its just the reality of buying quality, someone has to pay for it.
 
They were designed with plate carriers in mind.
The wrist pocket is mostly useless. I keep some sani wipes and chapstick in it.
The chest ones are nice for handwarmers or keeping maps/keys in it.
Arm pockets, maps, notepad etc
Butt pocket/poachers pouch is a real nice one. I keep my cap/gloves, etc in it.

If you're going for that style jacket, i'd go with a TAD or Arc'Teryx all the clones I have found to be immensely subpar (tried them before I got the real deal)
Outside of "tactical" use, I prefer the british smock (or at least my arktis version) as it has a more practical daily application.
 
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