Customer Reviews

Carhartt Men's Extremes Arctic-Quilt Lined Coat, Black, Large Tall

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, heres the deal... I am from California... not very cold where I was living and also I would dance back and forth from Hawaii often, not to much snow there either. I got this jacket literally scared of winter cold. In Montreal here. So, it gets cold here and I have to say. This is the strangest experience for me. I wear the jacket and my face is cold. It is cold outside and yet it feels like there is an electric heater inside this thing. The rain beeds off easy and it is just warm. Cold outside but I am in my little cacoon as I walk around. I bought the hood for this thing too. You MUST get the hood with this... so another twenty bucks for that. Now for the quality. Whenever I search for clothes for me... it is hard to find my size. Carhartt has my size! So, no freak feelings here with that. Quality... mannnn, really, the zippers are heavy duty and big. The material is like Rhino skin. What surprises me... well, I am old school. If it is going to be warm it has got to be Thick and Heavy! Otherwise it will not keep you warm. Well, this is light and it is not really thick at all. I would say just like a regular normal weight thick jacket. Nothing that would stand out. The only complaint and it is really not that because I don't care is that the jacket is stiff because of this material it is made of but I am sure in time it will soften up and get more pliable but for now... you are a little bit of a tin man. When it is COLD outside... I will take tin man any day... So, summary. Put the jacket on and I am confident to go outside... this is with a tshirt on. If I did a long sleeve T and a t shirt over that... and then God forbid a sweater over that... I could go see igloos in this thing then. Too hot. Couple T's or T and a sweater and you are good to go -40. Tis all... take it that and run with it... Very nice jacket. I will never buy anything other than Carhartt now. Quality is too good!!!

So I've only had this jacket a few days but I certainly can tell you that the carhartt legendary ruggedness is not lost with the modernizing of this coat. 14 years ago I bought my first Carhartt. 14 Years of construction work, county living chores, and rolling in the snow working on cars. My 14 year old coat has no holes or tears. My 14 year old coat still has a perfectly functioning zipper. 14 long northern MN winters and it still serves its purpose perfectly.

This coat seems to be no different, with the exception of being new and therefore stiff as a board. I have inspected every aspect of this coat. With great confidence I can say this one will last just as long. The only reason I am retiring the old coat is because of comments from the wife: "when are you going to get rid of that ugly jacket?" It is green and obviously never intended to impress from a visual stand point.

The fit of carhartt coats has been obviously misunderstood from many reviewers here and elsewhere. Carhartts run big, deliberately, I assume. When working at a laborious task in cold temps before you start you will be colder than after you've been swinging a hammer or using a shovel for a little while. So the experienced worker understands the need of wearing layers. Carhartt isn't designing coats and jackets for those with "beer bellies". They are designing for those that will in all likelihood be wearing a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and zip-up fleece all under the jacket. In this region, that is how you dress if you are doing any sort of physical work for the 8-10 hours of sunlight you get in the winter. So bear this in mind when ordering, particularly if its for the extremes line of coats, they will be big, especially in the chest. This is workwear, not recreational gear, layers are anticipated.

About the stiffness that most notice and comment on. At first it is severe, but it does indeed go away in a season or two with regular washing. after three or four winters the canvas like material will be about as stiff as new jeans. After 14 years it makes down jackets seem stiff and restricting. It's very close to how denim works, lil odd at first but after a while it seems tailored for you.

I have the corresponding bibs that are entering their 5th winter. They are absolutely outstanding. Not completely wind proof but very rugged and warm without ever getting really sweaty like most varieties of snow pants will if used for working outdoors. They also have an odd ability to remain dry, or at least feel dry. Once I had to wear regular nylon snow pants to work, by lunch they were like went sponges. Next day it was slushier at the worksite and my legs felt quite dry by comparison. How this is possible I don't know, but it is what it is.

The material of this jacket is slightly different from the 14 year old one. As I noticed when I first got the bibs. It seems just as rugged, with the difference largely being in the weight. This new material is significantly lighter. There is a trade off, however. It is slightly less abrasion resistant. It is however, still incredibly puncture resistant.

All the pockets are large and useful. The hand pockets of the bottom front are not insulated and honestly I do not believe these pockets are intended to keep hands warm so much as a place to shove hats and gloves when not in use. The external chest pockets are good sized with 2 well stitched velco closures per pocket. Pocket-flap roll up shouldn't become an much of an issue there. The two internal pockets are nicely sized and planned as well with the one on the left using a single piece of velcro for a closure as it will be accessed with the right hand, and therefore accessed more often. The other inside pocket utilizes a zipper to make certain of its contents security.

The zipper of this jacket is metal and super heavy duty. It even seems to be slightly heavier duty than the zipper that I've used through 14 winters. no worries there. There is a design change here though. One the old coat there was no storm flap on the inside for the zipper. The new coat indeed has an internal zipper storm flap. Furthermore, the old brass snaps that used to be used on the external storm flap have been replaced with velcro. I will say it makes a nice clean line, but i can see the automatic nature of velcro and its potential for collecting lint being kind of a pain here. Oh and If you don't know, these coats use a two-zips-one-zipper type. One zipper pulls up to zip the coat, the other allows you to unzip from the bottom up, useful for writing your name in the snow...

As a final note to this overly lengthy review, I should comment on use. If you are shopping for a cool looking coat to wear to and from your indoor job, this isn't it. If you are looking for a coat to wear while snowmobiling, this isn't it. Skiing? Nope. Camping in the rockies? probably not. If you are looking for a near indestructible coat that is needed because your work and lifestyle demand you to function in absurdly cold temps and anything else (including knock-offs) will fall apart and fail in under a week, then this is your coat. This coat and most all carhartt outerwear is made for work, not going to work, but working. ..something to keep in mind.

Any ?'s ..I'll try to respond

Thank you for your time and happy Amazon-ing!

-CH

I can not express fully the wonders of this coat. I ordered it for the winter season to visit my family in Iowa and Nebraska. With wind chills between NEGATIVE TWELVE (-12) to NEGATIVE TWENTY-THREE (-23) Fahrenheit (!!!!!), I was sweating in this coat. It blocks the wind, blocks the cold, and provided more than enough comfort and room to help my sister-in-law move! This coat MAY seem to be expensive, but is worth every last cent if you are dealing with sub-zero temperatures or wind chills!!

I got X Large. It is slightly too big. It has tons of great and large pockets. Its WARM! A bit too stiff, but to be expected because of durability.

I am from Northern Montana. and I'm Working in Canada. this coat is very warm i was fiddling around working on my car for like 20minutes temp was -20F, all i had on under the coat was a short sleeve T-shirt, and i was still plenty warm. I am pretty cold tolerant but still i am very happy with this coat. I like the tough New nylon outer skin it seems to be very effective at keeping me dry and very work tough. it however is quite stiff and was rubbing my neck a little raw, but is getting better as it wares. this is a warm coat but i would not recommend it for something like snowmobiling.

This coat is exactly as expected. This is the second one my husband has had of the extreme series. He has the bibs also. It is very warm and the wind does not blow through it. He rides his 4-wheeler to work even on snowy days and never gets cold with this coat on. The coat is very well made and holds up well for a person who can be hard on clothes. It is hard to beat Carhartt.

***NOTE: When ordering the optional hood, the correct hood is the "Carhartt A113 Mens Extremes® Hood/Arctic-Quilt Lined". Note the A113 model number. I ordered the A02 hood thinking it would fit but it definitely does not, the buttons aren't spaced correctly. I wish Amazon would show this in the description when mentioning the optional hood so other people wouldn't make the same mistake!***

I'm a big guy and have a heck of a time finding coats that fit me. For guys like me, wandering into a store like REI is ridiculous, they carry nothing more than an XL that looks like it's meant to fit a 12 year old boy with an eating disorder. I wear a 2X in shirts, but when it comes to coats I have to order a 4x due to the breadth of my shoulders and the size of my ribcage. I ordered another well known brand of coat in 4x size and while it zipped up over my chest and stomach easily the shoulders were so narrow I could hardly reach the steering wheel while driving and had to return it.

This is odd to me, because I have older jackets in smaller sizes that fit fine. My theory is that the manufacturers are trying to save money by cutting out the slack in coats and other clothing. I've noticed the same thing in underclothes; I recently had to return some boxers that were replacing some older ones by the same manufacturer in the exact same size listed on the package that "magically" didn't fit like the old ones did. When you cut an inch or two out of the back of a jacket or the leg holes in a pair of boxers then make 100,000 of them, it adds up in lower materials costs and thus increases profits. Never mind that people who were on the large end of a medium now have to buy a large to get the same fit!

As a result of all this out of desperation I ordered this coat after reading reviews that they "run big". When I put it on I was amazed as I could actually put my arms out in front of me without the fear of ripping the seams across the back wide open. I can zip the coat up and not feel like I'm being strangled!

On the downside, it doesn't have all the fancy features (special synthetic insulation, zip-out liners, etc) of the other brands, but it's definitely built like a tank. As others have said the material is stiff to the point of annoyance in some situations like climbing in and out of cars. Hopefully it loosens up a little as it breaks in. Thus far it's plenty warm and the wind resistance is phenomenal, but there is a lack of ventilation in the arms that can lead to your arms getting sweaty in warmer conditions. I wish the drawstring in the lower part of the jacket was lower as well, using the current drawstring can leave taller guys with a cold lower stomach in windy conditions.

In short, thank you Carhartt for making clothing that fits men who are taller than 5'10" and aren't built like Edward Cullen from "Twilight".

My son destroyed 2 coats in one month when it got cold and these where not cheep ones(OR and North Face) This coat survived the rest of winter and looks no worse for wear. When it got very cold a hoodie and a scarf made it in -60F. Best coat for a ruff and tumble child to be found.

Got this coat for Christmas. It will keep you warm.

Cons: The zipper is a wee bit tough to deal with, especially if you get the size that I wear. It could be just me and the fact that zippers not get along.

Otherwise, it's a fine, that is made very well. I highly recommend it.

-Chuck

very nice jacket, very well made, runs a little big because a medium fit my son who normally wears a large.