FIELD USE

Renée has been wearing this jacket every day in which weather seemed to require (or at least suggest) a shell which would afford a degree of protection against wind or rain (or other forms of precipitation). This has included running around on the playground, walking or bicycling to town, to kindergarden and elsewhere, dayhiking with Dad, and every actual "hike" we've undertaken. The latter include our first overnighter, a 30 km (19 mi) trip from our place to my parents' place over Halloween 2005. More recently, the jacket served her well for our overnight expedition to the "Löwenburg" (Lion Castle) in Mid-October 2006.

FIT

The jacket arrived when my daughter (tall for her age, or so I'm told) was three and a half years old. Nevertheless, she started wearing it immediately. It hung down nearly to her knees and the sleeves, if not securely fastened around her wrists around her gloves, would often slide over her hands. Yet it did not hang off her like a scarecrow, nor did it billow sail-like in a crossbreeze. Layering was not a problem, but there also did not seem to be an excessive amount of space.

My daughter is a little over five years old now and is still wearing the jacket. It now appears to be fitting just right. The jacket still covers her butt when walking, though she no longer sits on the jacket when using a wet trailside bench (or the playground slide). The sleeves no longer cover her hands, but also do not slide way up her lower arms when she reaches for something. On our last overnighter, she was still able to wear it over a long sleeved base layer, a sweatshirt, a fleece jacket and a thermal vest (it was a bit chilly in the morning) - without looking quite like a miniature Michelin woman.


The hood fits around her head pretty well. It will accommodate the hood of her fleece jacket underneath. I've had reason to adjust the hood (using the hook-and-loop tabs on the rear) occasionally, to reduce the inside volume of the hood. This has also had the effect of pulling the top rim back a little, exposing the face more. While I prefer my daughter to be well covered, this additional exposure has sometimes made the difference in that my daughter would stop pulling the hood off her head all the time.

WEATHER PROTECTION

The primary purpose of this jacket, of course, is to protect my daughter from inclement weather. To see whether this jacket would live up to our expectations, we tested it after its arrival by the expedient of going "puddle-jumping" (this activity also requires waterproof pants and boots). This meant taking it out into heavy rain and fooling around in it with the aim of maximum exposure (of the jacket). This showed that the jacket is indeed waterproof and was also a lot of fun - we've gone puddle-jumping often since that first time.

Our overnight hike to my parent's place on Halloween 2005 would have had to have been aborted without a jacket as wind- and waterproof as this one. It was cold and wet on the morning of our second day, and there was a fierce wind blowing as we exited the woods for the most boring stretch of that hike - several km (marginally fewer mi) across perfectly flat terrain, walking on asphalt through orchards of thousands of identical-looking, leafless little trees stretching in orderly rows towards the forbidding volcanic hills which promised the only reprieve from the monotony. It's a bad stretch even on a good day, and the day in question looked about as bad as it gets. The temperature only a few degrees above freezing, strong wind with rain in it. My daughter was wearing every piece of her clothing we had with us (and I was doing the same with mine). I let her borrow (forced on her, really) my gloves and scarf, but it was the hard shell of the Ventana jacket between her and the wet, chilling wind which made me assume that we'd be able to make it. Which we did.

Ever since, I've stopped worrying about wind and precipitation - the jacket comes along just in case. This frees my mind to worry about temperature and the requisite insulation layers.

"BREATHABILITY" (WATER VAPOUR PERMEABILITY)

My daughter has never complained about sweating in the jacket. I've never noticed her sweating under that jacket (of course, she tends to strip off her top layer before I think it's advisable to do so). But she has been wearing it for extended periods in summer rain (wearing only a base layer underneath) and that seemed to work well for her.

COMFORT

The jacket is what is often referred to as a "hard shell". This means that it feels somewhat stiff to the touch and is a bit noisy. My daughter has never complained about the feel of it when wearing it, but indicated that she did not consider it an effective pillow when folded under her head. The zipper is fairly large and my daughter is now able to open and close the jacket herself. It does not appear to come unzipped on its own, and the zippers on the pockets have securely protected my daughter's accumulated "treasures" from loss (and occasionally even from my wrath, for I sometimes failed to notice how much weight the jacket had gained when I stuffed it back into my pack).

DURABILITY

The jacket's been through quite a bit so far, and still looks very nearly new. The zippers aren't missing any teeth, no seams are fraying, there are no tears or holes in evidence. My daughter can be rough on clothes, be it by running too fast (and falling down) or climbing trees, rocks, walls etc. This jacket has not been babied, nor will it be babied in the future. Yet I expect my baby daughter to inherit it from her older sister and give it another go. The fact that I got the jacket second-hand (with a name written on the tag bearing testimony that it's seen use before) makes it appear as though the jacket is good for three lifetimes. Probably tougher than it strictly needs to be from a lightweight packer perspective, but reassuring from a parent perspective. I consider that good value.

SUMMARY

I've tried interviewing my daughter about the jacket but no quotable statements were forthcoming. For her, the jacket works, and that's it. For me, there's not a thing about the jacket that I dislike. It has one function in my mind, which is to shield my daughter from wind and rain so she can enjoy the outdoors with me, and it's been doing that ever since we got it. My younger daughter will take it over once my older one has definitely and indubitably outgrown it (I know she won't let go of it any earlier). I'd buy the next size or the one after that for her if there was a REI nearby (as it is, the next one is a few thousand km - a lot of mi - away). With shipping and customs charges coming into the equation, it's getting to be an expensive proposition. But I guess I'll jump off that bridge when I get to it. Until then, it will continue to provide some peace of mind to me (and my wife!) when my daughter and I take to the roads less travelled in the shoulder season.

Reviews > Clothing > Childrens Clothing > REI Kids Ventana Jacket > Owner Review by Andre Corterier