Helikon-Tex Urban Tactical Hoodie

This is obviously a quality product - it's true that you get what you pay for. It's very warm. It's very well put together and has loads of pockets - very useful. Only reason I've not given five stars is the price.

The grey one was so cool I bought the Melange andI just love it. Really like this Helikon gear. 1st class customer service again from Marie and delivered before time too. Thanks team.

Really pleased with this grey hoodie a perfect fit and very well made. Better than expected. Buying the melange one now! Excellent service from the team at Hennie. Thank you

So after having this tactical hoodie for just over 3 months I feel I can write a fair review on it's good and bad points. Firstly, the hoodie is 100% polyester, which not everyone will like. I was not too keen on to begin with but have grown to like it more than I thought I would. I still feel that cotton, or even a blend of cotton and polyester would be better however. On the plus side, the black colour of the hoodie is very black, and is unlikely to fade much from what I can tell so far, it does have a bit of a sheen to it compared to cotton. It's also plenty warm so that's good. It doesn't seem to absorb rain as much as a cotton hoodie would either. The pockets you get which is obviously one of the main selling points for a tactical style hoodie are really good, the inside chest pockets are great, but they do seem to be a bit visible from the outside if you have the hoodie unzipped. This could be fixed if they update it I'm sure. The 'hidden' pockets on the shoulder area of the arms under the morel patch area are fairly well hidden, the zip is about as small as it can be and still function, and when done up are very hard to notice unless close up. They're big enough for banknotes, a small notebook, plasters, a slim phone and other simularly sized objects. The hidden pockets located in the traditional hoodie pockets at the front and bottom of the hoodie are particularly good IMO, as they make great places to store valubles, I keep my slimline wallet in one and even if its half zipped open it's still very safe from anything falling out, these hidden pockets are virtually impossible to see from the outside, even close up. the contents can be visible if you open up the hoodie though as they are a mesh type construction like the inside chest pockets. Now onto my main gripes with the hoodie... The hood is too small. Far to small. I have had a friend with a small head try it on and it's small on him as well as me, and does not come down over your forehead enough to keep out rain reliably you would perhaps need an XXXL version to have a hood of a normal size. On the back of the hood is a hook & loop patch to allow moral patches and such to be stuck on, I don't quite know why you would want one on the back of your head however. Secondly it seems to be made a bit long, I'm an average/muscular build and went for a medium, which is still has plenty of room, it's noticeably longer than other hoddies I have in medium, which concidering the hood is small seems odd. It was made in Vietnam so perhaps that could have something to do with that? Who knows. I have contacted Helikon-Tex about the size issues but not heard back, hopefully they can address the issues of thise otherwise great tactical hoodie. Overall I would give it 4.5 / 5 as I do really like the features, I just feel the design could be improved in the next itteration, hopefully this review helps someone.