A good race vest?

flammee

Barefooters
Mar 11, 2012
268
296
63
45
Finland, Oulu
I have been looking something to carry a little water and little bit of stuff, it seems that race vests are what I'm looking for - bottle belts just don't work for me and I don't need much carrying capacity to need bigger pack. I have camelbak LR, but it's bottle pocket is not so fluently used (I keep small bottle in bladder compartment, it's reachable on running, but not quite easily), it does all that I want, but there's no good place for fivefingers, it's mesh pocket is too small to put them entirely in, just half of them fits in. It's not exactly hard to attach them, but it takes bit too much time. Camelbak LR is not bad, I'm just looking for better, more minimal.. ;) I prefer bottles over hydration bladders..

Basically, what I want is:
-one 300-400 ml bottle on easily reachable non-bouncy place, no need to stop while running
-one zipper closed reachable pocket for cellphone
-one zipper closed pocket for keys and wallet
-place to stuff a little bit of clothes, like light jacket, shirt etc.
-place to stuff fivefingers fast and securely (a lot of mosquitos at summers, so I don't want to stop for any prolonged moments)..
-secure strapping - at least two horizontal straps at front. Spry with it's one horizontal strap just didn't work too well. Ultraspire's revolution would look very close to perfection, but with just one front strap I don't believe that it could work. I also considered quite a while ultraspire's alpha as it has 7-8 on run reachable pockets, but none of them are zipped.

So, I have narrowed the choice to two options - nathan minimist (2013 version) and mountain hardwear fluid vest.

Nathan minimist looks more comfortable, it has two horizontal straps on front and lower of them seems to be comfortably low. it has zippered back pocket for valuable stuff and also mesh pocket. At the front it has zippered pocket for cell, two small pockets and one mesh pocket that is supposed (according to amazon) to be able to hold one 600ml bottle, but it sure doesn't like that. Only video review I could find about it, said that the mesh pocket is good for id. So does anyone here have experience with minimist, is there mesh pocket on front that would be usable to hold something like nathan's 300 ml quickshot bottles? Also, minimist doesn't have any cinching straps, so I wonder if mesh pockets are useful only for just right size of things.. That mesh pocket at front for bottle is quite low, which I also like - I had ultraspire spry and didn't much like having stuff at breast level on front of me. Felt kinda itchy up there.. And how big is minimist's back pocket, does vffs fit entirely in?
5003NOD_Minimist_TangoRed_Front.jpg

5003NOD_Minimist_TangoRed_Back.jpg



Mountain hardwear fluid vest looks interesting, it has good cinching cord at the back, two adjustable straps on front and all the critical pockets on front. Placement of bottle holding mesh pocket is bit questionable though - don't look like comfortable place.
Mountain-Hardwear-Fluid-Race-Vest-300x300.jpg

fluid_race_vest_back.jpg



Any other recommendations?
 
i'm not a gear head so i can't help with a back pack choice but can make a suggestion. try putting some little carbines clips on your vff to hook it to your pack if the pocket isn't big enough. if they flop around too much ad some velcro to your pack if your shoes already have it. just some ideas to help the search.
 
Okay, I got first ultraspire alpha, then nathan minimist. Alpha is otherwise quite okay, but mesh pocket at the back is too tight, it's bit hard to fit fivefingers there. And too hard or impossible with vb ultra. But it's actually quite good.

But minimist is better. It has bigger mesh pocket at the back, and even vb ultras fit there and shoes don't bounce, not even huaraches. Well, front mesh pocket that was supposed to be big enough for 600 ml water bottle is barely big enough for 148 ml salomon soft flask. But that's pretty much enough for my runs for now. My size EU45/US11, fivefingers fit completely into mesh pocket, so there's no worry that they would drop out. And I like over the shoulder straps of minimist, they are narrow, so they don't start feeling hot and can be pushed bit to sides. Alpha's over the shoulder straps were bit too wide and it had mesh straps (with useless pockets) at the sides too, so it felt bit too warm.