Review: Scottevest Transformer Jacket

Boasting more secret compartments than a drug mule's Suburban, Scottevest's apparel is made to turn you into a walking home office. The company's new Transformer takes one of its famously geek-friendly jackets and turns it into a drop-top – the sleeves are removable, and they come off easily, without fuss, since they're held in place using only magnets.

This isn't one of those zippered convertibles where you need to take the whole jacket off to remove the sleeves. The one-piece arms-and-shoulders assembly attaches via a series of magnets sewn into the cuffs around the shoulders. You can pull off and reattach the sleeves in seconds, all without taking off the vest. It comes in handy if you want to cool off a bit, but you don't want to ditch the $1,500 worth of gear stashed in your jacket.

And yes, you really can stash a huge hardware payload in here. The Transformer Jacket sports Scottevest's trademark myriad pockets: dual touchscreen-friendly smartphone pockets, secure ID pockets, a side pocket with a water bottle holder, a tablet (a freaking tablet!) compartment, a camera pocket, a sunglasses pocket with cleaning cloth (deep breath), a keychain clip, a cord management system and a stuff sack for the sleeves. There are so many pockets, the jacket comes with a map outlining the location and intended use of each pocket.

All Scottevests can be used as covert tech smugglers, but the Transformer's removable sleeves are a feature unique to this new jacket. If it starts getting too warm, just pop the sleeves off and stuff them into the designated interior pocket (still got that map?). You can either pull the sleeves off from the front, tugging the upper arms toward the wrists, or you can reach back, grab onto the flap of material between the shoulders, and pull forward over your head. To put the sleeves back on, there's no need to try to line everything up carefully. The magnets are placed well and the sleeves seem to find their way home without much help, snapping right on.

I was first skeptical about the need for a vest like this. Or, more accurately, whether any normal human has enough devices to warrant all those pockets. But I do hate having to cram my jeans with my wallet, my keys, my iPhone and other necessities when I'm traveling. It turns out the internal pocket system is very well-thought-out, and that the cord management system is excellent. When you listen to your MP3 player or the iPad in your pocket, the cords run through a series of loops up to a felt-lined collar that folds down over the cords and keeps everything from tangling up. And when you're done listening to whatever, there are even individual bud pockets on the inside of the jacket, just below the ears, to stash your earpieces.

I was able to walk around carrying my iPhone, iPad, wallet, sunglasses, a GoPro HD Hero camera, spare SD cards, my keys and my travel docs in my jacket, all at once. I loved the earbud feature – it pretty much eliminated the untangling and earbud wrangling that I loathe.

My one main complaint is that when the jacket is fully loaded, it looks pretty bulky, and it feels that way, too. It's hard to ignore an iPad digging into your liver when you bend over to tie your shoes. That said, I am pretty eager to see if Scottevest will ever put a MacBook Air pocket somewhere in there.

WIRED Zillions of pockets allow you to carry everything short of a desktop in your jacket. Just about renders backpacks obsolete. Converts from a jacket to a vest and back with ease.

TIRED Otherwise-handsome gear junkies might not look good in a vest. May send jocks into a rage when they see what a nerd you are.

Photos by Ariel Zambelich/Wired