Onyx Kayak Fishing Life Jacket

This jacket is the real deal. Worth every penny.Great fit, comfortable, lightweight, tons of pockets for gear and phone. It’s a steal for the price. Very sharp looking. It’s nicer the some of my regular life jackets I’ve paid over 100.00 for for my bass tournaments on my Ranger bass boat. I’ll be wearing this on the bass boat now.The zipper is quick and easy.Well. Amazing jacket. It does not disappoint!!!!

Extremely comfortable, useful, and affordable. The wide arm holes make a huge difference and make it so you want to keep this thing on while out on the water.

Amazing life jacket! The pockets are great!

I haven't tested this life jackets yet. I got this to wear in my fishing kayak, hopefully it will float me. I wish the back was just a little higher, it sometimes fills uncomfortable against my high back seat. I can see why some people complained about the jacket riding up when you're in the water,not sure what you'd do about it with this style of big arm hole jacket.It's comfortable while fishing all day. I have a peddle kayak, so don't paddle much, but seems to work fine when I do have to paddle.I've only used it for one season, but workmanship seems to be holding up so far.

Fits really well. I am short but chubby and I still only needed the regular size. It was easy to paddle in

Look at this beautiful vest. It has pockets, gidgets and gadgets, it's perfect for the outdoorsman on the water. Save your life and store your goods. Lets go baby

Very important I have this type of tool with you it could save your life

I tried on at least a dozen PFD's locally. Only about 3 were tolerable enough to buy. But I also didn't want to spend $90+ on a PFD as I'm just getting into kayaking. I use my sit on top kayak for fishing and wanted a PFD with several pockets to hold some lures, pliers, safety whistle, etc. This seem to fit the bill. My local sporting goods store had other ONYX PFD's but not this model, so I could verify the quality of the brand.Advice:A friend advised me to get the best quality PFD I could afford, or I would regret kayaking with it. He suggested I buy one with adjustable shoulder straps and to make sure it had a pocket to hold a safety whistle. He also suggested a mesh lower back for the high seat I have on my Yak. After trying some on, I could tell his advise was sound. - I also found that adjustable shoulder straps are almost exclusively found on the better PFD's.Sizing:I'm 5'-8" and about 198 pounds, and I found most PFD's fit so small, I could barely get them on. With the ONYX brand, the "Large-XL" size fit fine in the store, but unfortunately, this PFD does not follow the same sizing conventions. The "Universal" size fit's chests from 30" - 52" and the "Oversize" fits 40" - 60" - I have about 46-48" chest so according to their chart, could have bought either one. But based on my experience with how small PFD's seem to run, I opted for the "Oversize". I'm happy to report that this fits me perfect! Their's plenty of strap left to fit MUCH larger people. I have no idea if the padded portion is actually larger between the two sizes, or just the length of straps. Wish the local stores had them so I could compare.Pricing:I bought this for $55 and felt it was a bargain based on what I saw locally and the overall quality and functionality. This is easily as nice as the best PFD's I saw locally in the $90-$110 price range.Usability:I've used my PFD a few times now and love it! It has all the pockets I need, and is so comfortable, I forget I'm wearing it. I used it for fishing today and bought a Plano Pocket Stowaway 5 Compartment Utility Box which fits perfectly in the drop down panel on the left side of the PFD. If you don't fish, you can store a huge phone in that pocket. I have an iPhone 6+ and it fit fine there. It's also really easy to access there. The drop down has two different stretch material holders. One is like a pocket, the other like a strap. The drop down panel works really well and it's like having a little table to set your gear on while switching up your lures. On the right side of the PFD, I stored my whistle in the top pocket, and pliers in one of the two bottom pockets. The arm cutouts are so large that nothing rubs while paddling or casting. The half-sized back pad is up high enough that it doesn't interfere with my seat back.Another feature of this PFD is that it has felt lined "hand pockets" much like a jacket (albeit a bit on the small side). I haven't used them yet, but someday if it's chilly out, I'm sure I will. I did not come across any other PFD with this feature.Conclusion:I can't recommend this PFD enough. Even if you don't use it for fishing, you'll likely find other things to use the pockets for. The overall quality rivals other PFD's that are twice the price. The colors even look good. This is by far the best PFD I've seen in my limited experience, but feel I'll use this for a long, long time.