jacket

Just like the standard version, the 5.11 Tactical Fleece-Lined Packable Jacket provides a rain-proof, lightweight outer shell that can be easily packed into a large pocket or small go-bag – this time with the added warmth of fleece.

The outer layer does a great job at keeping rain and wind out, too good of a job for this jacket to be practical active wear. On a 2-hour hike I found it much more comfortable with the original Packable Jacket and an entirely separate fleece jacket for warmth, that way I could remove the outer during the dry portions of the hike where I could have used a little extra cooling airflow. However, think of this as an emergency jacket instead of active wear and it is built just right. There is even fleece lining on the outer wall of the pockets so you can keep your hands warm if you don’t have gloves.

In addition to the two fleece-lined pockets there is one document pocket on the outside, and one smaller pocket on the inside that is sized just right for a 4×6″ notepad.

There is still no option for a hood, which seems like it would be at home on a rain-proof, packable jacket and really wouldn’t make the packed size any bigger. Also, the sleeves are not fleece-lined like the rest of the jacket, but they feel like they are triple-layered. This seems odd at first, but after hiking with it a while it provides just the right amount of warmth and actually balances the temperature inside the jacket quite well.