Travel Vests?

Frank,

"Personally I think they are kind of silly looking"

HEY, I resemble that remark! My venerable Tilley Vest is one of my most useful (and used) items of travel clothing.

While it's not strictly designed as a "Photographer's Vest", it works quite well in that function. I can comfortably carry one or two extra Lenses (with Hoods), a P&S Camera, spare Memory Cards, a GPS unit, a bottle of water and if necessary an Umbrella or Rain cover. When my present Vest wears out, I'll purchase another one!

I carry my dSLR "in the open" most of the time, however if I'm going to be on the Metro or whatever, I tuck it into the bottom of the Vest so it's not quite so visible.

Cheers!

Depends on when you're going. They get really hot when the pockets are full of stuff. Depending on the fit, a lot of weight gets bothersome on the back of your neck.

For flights, when I have more junk than I should have, I use the really big pockets of a gortex rain jacket and repack the mess into a small nylon stuff-sack afterwards.

Personally I think they are kind of silly looking (photographer style vests) and I don't think they are useful unless you have a lot of small stuff to carry. Cannot say that I have seen a lot of usage other than in the photography world. We actually take two day bags. A small one for days with min stuff and a little bigger one when we may need rain gear or more bulky items.

If you mean ScottEVest, my wife and I both have the Essentials travel jacket, they don't look silly, they look like normal lightweight jackets. I tested mine out on a flight around new years with it pretty well loaded down with stuff (much more than I would normally take in it) and it worked very well. You really can't tell that there the pockets are full.

They are having a sale this week, 40% off several items, some appear to be going to be discontinued. We ordered a pair of the tropical jackets yesterday for warmer weather.

There are youtube postings of extreme examples of the capacity of the jackets.

It is basically a free extra carry-on. Ours will even hold a 10" netbook (NOT in the larger back pocket, but in the 'pub' pocket which they show holding magazines online)

I would also add that it could also be useful to hinder pickpockets, as all the interior pockets are zippered, and you have to know where they are, some are very deep. You can distribute your pocket cash between them.

I wouldn't consider it a replacement to a moneybelt.

I easily carried a 10mp pocket digital camera, ipod touch, ipod nano (square version), digital audio recorder, flip-style cell phone, portable 2.5" hard drive, a couple usb thumb drives, small flashlight (about size of 35mm film canister), 1/2 liter water bottle, hard shell eyeglass case, sunglasses (not in case), and noise cancelling headphones (not earbuds).
Except for the headphones, no bulging anywhere.

We will be using them for various items on our upcoming trip to UK and Ireland.

Thanks everyone for the quick response! yes I meant the Scottevest (not the SteveVest! hah)...

I considered the jacket but being a goretex junkie I have a lot or alpine/hiking ones and like to make sure each piece i use is multifunction- so i ordered the vest (black) and thought a light goretex over will cover me for rain if encountered.

I plan to use it in Italy North - in April/May not too hot yet (65-45deg). I have a D90 nikon in a "Crumpler" bag but wanted to carry a spare lens and all the other personal electrics (iphone etc) and RS book on the plane. Sound like you who have one do that and more!

Thanks!