San Francisco isn't all sunshine and cable cars. We experience torrential rain, blazing heat, an occasional hailstorm and tempestuous winds, often all before lunch.
This makes the JakPak — an unassuming jacket capable of transforming into a fold-out sleeping bag and a single-serving tent — a particularly alluring piece of techno-fashion.
Unfortunately, while the idea looks great on paper, the version we tested needs a lot more work.
We ventured outdoors on a particularly wet and blustery day with this green, mighty-morphing power jacket. Our high hopes were washed away quicker than dog poo on the sidewalks.
While the coat itself proves adequate against torrential rains, once we deployed its hidden goodies, things literally started to fall apart. Two of the Velcro straps tore while detaching the interior leg sack. We also discovered there's no way to remove the leg sack without taking the jacket off. If it's raining, that means you'll get soaked.
Making matters worse, once you've set up your personal tent, you're left with what is essentially an unsolvable waterproof puzzle. An orgy of straps, dangling pockets and zippers makes reassembly of the JakPak an exercise in bodhisattva-like patience. On this particular day, we grew frustrated and simply unzipped the extras and walked home ... wet.
It gets worse. Once inside your personal shelter, you'll be greeted with a pungent urethane smell and another disconcerting realization: There's no way to keep your hands dry. Yes, the only shielding your mitts get (unless you stick them in your pockets) is the flimsy mosquito netting from the top of the tent (again, not much help in a downpour).
In the end, the JakPak is simply a bulky, 3-pound raincoat that costs twice as much as other waterproof jackets and isn't of much use, even to a hobo. We will say: It works fantastically well as a $250 tarp for our woodpile.