Jon Westfall
06-13-2007, 04:00 PM
<img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/westfall-sev07review-performance-pullover-front.jpg><br /><br /><b>Product Category:</b> Technology Enabled Clothing<br /><b>Manufacturer:</b> <a href="http://www.scottevest.com">SCOTTEVEST</a><br /><b>Where to Buy:</b> SeV Online Store (<a href="http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/polo.shtml">Polo</a> or <a href="http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/pullover_zip.shtml">Pullover</a>)<br /><b>Price:</b> $44.99 USD (Polo), $59.99 USD (Pullover)<br /><br /><b>Pros:</b><br /><li>Light & moisture-drawing fabric;<li>Vertical device pocket;<li>Exercise in style.<br /><br /><b>Cons:</b><br /><li>May not be business casual (Polo);<li>Usages limited beyond athletics;<li>Side pocket missing (Polo).<br /><br /><b>Summary:</b><br />Exercising with technology is a risky proposition. From stories of iPods shaken to death by jogging valley girls to LCD destruction from excess moisture to the horror felt by anyone who has watched their device tumble from a breast pocket, the number of potential dangers for devices seems endless. However, SCOTTEVEST (SeV) has decided that exercising shouldn't be the time of the day when you may sacrifice the health of your device to boost your own. With their two newest performance pieces, the Performance Polo and the Performance Pullover 1/4 Zip, SeV intends to help you exercise worry free. But do they stand up to the test?<br /><br />Read on for the full review!<!><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Technology-Enabled?</b></span><br />SCOTTEVEST prides themselves on producing "Technology-Enabled Clothing" (heck, they even trademarked the phrase). Their products, if you aren't familiar with them, are designed to allow you to carefully stow your devices without looking like a geeky batman or über-nerd (unless you want that look...). Starting out with vests and outerwear, their focus over the last year has been on performance wear - products designed to be worn while engaging in athletics or exercise. Their Performance t-shirt, which I reviewed last summer, was a great aide to me while cutting the grass at my home - drawing moisture out and being ultra-light on my sweating body (it's visuals like "Jon's Sweating Body" that are better left un-augmented by photos, hence the use in this review of SCOTTEVEST's high quality images). This year SeV has offered the Performance Pullover 1/4 Zip and the Performance Polo up for review.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/westfall-sev07review-performance-polo-xray.jpg><br /><i>Figure 1: The x-ray view of the Performance Polo, showing the embedded pocket that is connected to the Personal Area Network (PAN).</i><br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/westfall-sev07review-performance-polo-collar.jpg><br /><i>Figure 2: The polo and pullover both contain earbud loops. Earbuds may be routed internally through the PAN to your device, carefully stowed in a pocket.</i><br /><br />Both the Performance Polo and the Pullover 1/4 Zip offer SCOTTEVEST's signature PAN (Personal Area Network). This system of carefully placed openings allows you to route wires internally (e.g. between your body and the shirt) to your device(s). Most often this is used for headphones, however, with performance wear the possibilities are endless. Heartbeat monitors, GPS devices connected to tracking devices to chart progress, and other exercise gizmos can all be wired up. Removal of the shirt generally does not pull the wires out so you can hit the showers quickly and un-wire your shirt later.<br /><br />In that last paragraph I avoided the word "hole" to describe the PAN openings because calling it a hole really sounds like they just cut a chunk out of the lining and left it at that. In reality, it took me around 5 minutes with the performance pullover to find the breast pocket "hole" - it was concealed nicely within the lining and just big enough to route a wire through. This attention to detail is what makes the PAN on the performance products useful beyond normal exercise wear.<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Pockets Galore</b></span><br />The SCOTTEVEST Performance Polo has one breast pocket, while the Pullover 1/4 Zip has a breast pocket and 2 side pockets along the right-side seam (sorry lefties, it's an 85% right-handed world you live in...). One side pocket opens to the front of the pullover, one opens to the back.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/westfall-sev07review-performance-polo-vert-pocket.jpg><br /><i>Figure 3: The breast pocket on the Polo and Pullover are similar. Vertical and embedded into the shirt.</i><br /><br />There are two things that jump out at you as you look at the pockets. First thing is that it's probably the first breast pocket you've ever seen that's vertical rather than horizontal. This seems counter-intuitive at first, as most of our devices are vertical and are easier to slide down into a pocket than slide-left into a pocket. However, the use of a zipper necessitates the vertical design. In my tests, I found the up-down zipper much easier to use than the side-to-side zipper I have on a fleece pullover made by another company. The side-to-side simply doesn't flow well with the natural lines of the shirt, causing the shirt to shift and requiring you to hold one side still while zipping. As a shirt has a natural anchor point at your neck, the up-down zipper works without requiring you to hold the shirt to stabilize it.<br /><br />The second thing about SeV pockets you don't normally see is that the pockets are not only embedded into the fabric (as opposed to being sewn on) they are also anchored inside the shirt. You can actually feel where the pocket is anchored into the shirt if you run your hand along the back of it (it feels like the pocket was strategically pinned down). This stops the dreaded "fabric bunch-up" that most clothing is susceptible to and allows you to push your device in easier, which is specially helpful since pushing the device in to the left rather than down is unnatural for most of us veteran t-shirt wearers. <br /><br />The Performance Pullover 1/4 Zip adds two seam pockets to the right side of the garment. It's nice to have the ability to carry a slim wallet, a few keys, a few cards, etc... while on the go. I can see this as especially helpful for those of you who don't like combination locks for your gym locker and, at the same time, don't want scratches on your beloved PDA from a key rattling around in your pocket! The two pockets share a common zipper, which I found my larger-than-average hand had a bit of a problem easily fitting into. However I'd imagine in regular use you wouldn't be in that pocket too often in a given setting. I would have loved to see this pocket added to the Performance Polo as well. As it is fairly unobtrusive, the extra pocket would have only added to the Polo's value, in my opinion.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/westfall-sev07review-performance-pullover-inseam-pocket.jpg><br /><i>Figure 4: The Pullover In-seam pocket</i><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Moisture-Loving Fabric</b></span><br />As I mentioned in my previous review, the performance products in SCOTTEVEST's line include a fabric that "wicks" moisture away from the wearer. This feature is very interesting to experience. As you sweat, the moisture is absorbed by the fabric. The fabric, however, does not keep the moisture locked in (thus weighing down the shirt) but leaves it on the surface of the fabric. As you move, you can feel the moisture land back on your skin which, in my case, caused a cooling sensation (as the moisture had cooled from laying on the fabric rather than on my skin - the fabric is very breathable, so the outside air caused the cooling action in this case). At the end of my activities, I pulled off the shirt and was surprisingly dry. <br /><br /><span><b>Usage Scenarios</b></span><br />If there is a fault in the Performance Polo and Pullover it is that you probably can't get away with using them for more than just athletics or exercise. While the polo does look very nice, I suspect it may be a bit more form-fitting than many of us would like for "business-casual" dress. However, if you're coming from the gym to an informal meeting with colleagues and you wear the polo, you'll probably only get compliments. Still, with the word "performance" in the title, you're probably shouldn't buy with the impression that this is casual wear!<br /><br /><span><b>Keeping Technology Safe</b></span><br />I figured that ending this review with a few exercise-technology safety tips might not be a bad idea. Obviously your own safety comes first whenever exercising, but if at all possible, I'm pretty sure you want your device to remain in one operating piece at the end of the workout session as well. In talking with people and in my own experience, I've found the following 2 problems are common to technology exercisers:<br /><br /><i>Shaking The Hard Drive To Death</i><br />A friend of mine who works at a major retailer in their service center (think large price tag logo) told me a few years ago that he was seeing quite a few college-aged girls coming in with broken iPods. The iPods would be recognized by iTunes but showed a "frowny-face", and wouldn't sync, play, or charge. The cause? Jogging with the iPod in the palm of the hand. As the girl jogged, she would pump her arms (as most of us do) causing a jarring sensation to the internal hard drive. Repeat this a few times and the iPod dies.<br /><br />A solution? Well for conventional users an upper-arm strap and case can help. However, these can easily start slipping forcing you to stop and re-adjust periodically. With the internal breast pocket and PAN of the Performance Polo and Pullover, the movement is minimized (thanks to the anchoring of the pocket) and the device is considerably safer.<br /><br /><i>Moisture Kills!</i><br />Another friend of mine recently told me that she killed the LCD display of her MP3 player in a rather interesting way. As she jogged, she would place the MP3 player inside her sports bra to keep it safe. However, after a few months the moisture build-up had caused her LCD to stop displaying (however, the device still worked). In other cases that I've heard of, the moisture didn't stop at the LCD, and the device was toast. If she had a SeV performance pullover, the device could have sat nicely within a pocket made of fabric that didn't absorb sweat, so the device would have been safe.<br /><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />In conclusion, I am very enthusiastic about the possibilities that the SCOTTEVEST Performance Polo and Performance Pullover 1/4 Zip offer to mobile enthusiasts that are or should be more active. The superb material and innovative design are sure to help keep your device safe while you get into shape. While they aren't exactly every-day or every-where wear, they do their job well. The products aren't exactly low-priced, but I feel they are worth their price tag - especially if they help prevent the need to replace a device costing 5 or 6 times their price!<br /><br /><i>Jon Westfall does a lot of things in his life. Recently finishing his Master's thesis, he now looks forward to trying to figure out what to write a doctoral dissertation on. In his spare time he updates <a href="http://www.jonwestfall.com">JonWestfall.Com</a> and relaxes in Marblehead, Ohio with his family.</i>