“tl;dr Great jacket, strong recommendation. I advise that you SIZE UP when you order.
This thing is nuts. Damn, it's got some really cool features.
For one, the pockets. They're huge and many. Calls to mind the modern Swedish army trousers. You can store so much stuff.
The material is thick cotton, and well stitched. There were some loose threads, but not in the sense that they had come undone, rather that they were leftover from manufacture. No worries. The pockets have sturdy metal fasteners holding them closed, two or three per pocket, and they have even more fastening points, I guess the "male" part of the button, so you can have it fastened tighter or looser depending on how full the pocket is.
The hood is massive, and can be tightened with a drawcord. The top of the hood can be buttoned higher or lower to create more of a peaked profile, like a visor kind of. I guess to keep it out of your eyes while you wear it. It's kind of cool, and the hood itself can be buttoned down to the jacket body to keep it from blowing around if that's a concern.
They have weird plastic reinforcement on the elbows, in the same TAZ 83 pattern. I'm not a huge fan of it personally, but you could just unstitch it if it bothers you.
I will say the only cons for this thing, which is in all other respects a great buy that you should definitely consider, is the sizing.
I'm 5'11", with an arm span of 6'2". In other words, I have long monkey arms. The arms on the M70 are for some reason deliberately short. I sized up, and this was definitely a good idea, even though the sleeves are still too short for me. I'd also recommend sizing up for your chest. Measure yourself with any potential midlayers on, rather than your actual chest size. The jacket's sizing doesn't really accommodate for midlayers. I'm glad I sized up for this reason too.
To summarise re: sizing, I'm 5'11, with 6'2 arms. My normal chest is about 96cm. I bought the LARGE size, and I think that was the right choice. The arms are still kinda short on me, but with a jumper or a liner underneath it won't be a problem.
Great jacket. I really like it.”
