How to Choose the Right PFD (Life Jacket)

hey guys thank you for tuning into MooMoo outdoors today I'm here at the headwaters kayak shop in Lodi to pick up on you fishing PFD come by and check out some life jackets today yes hey guys I'm here a head was bike shop in Lodi and I hear Stan he's gonna help me because right PFD for me people we get today so a lot of people ask me for recommendation of PFD and what I've been telling them is go to the local shop make try them all and get what they feel comfortable with right was it the wave advice yeah for the most part I mean I think a video like this can be helpful too because a lot of people don't necessarily have a local shop with all these different yeah this way but what we like to do is have you tried the jacket on sit down and make sure it feels comfortable make sure it's not riding up ideally if we have your boat here we'll actually put it on the ground set you in and let you try it that way but hopefully this will give you guys some insight the first thing I like to do is ask okay like what are you going to be doing with this in your kayak what sort of waters are you gonna be and what sort of having you to do how do you you know stow your gear and then I sort of narrow down and have you try on a few different ones that'll work for your needs okay so what do you think what are we gonna be doing with it you know me multi-species you know problem remover to relate to ocean so so somewhere you can maybe carry a VHF radio do you have like do you like to carry your phone on your lifejacket yes okay what about tools and tackle what do you I don't usually care too much to so tackle my lobster dive check it okay so so basically just some electronics yeah probably it away with a fairly simple setup yeah okay well let's um let's look it through some price points so what you try someone and see what works best for okay all right let's do it start so we carry basically three major brands we carry coke ITAT stole quest and interacts and each one was popular ones definitely the interests from the store is a little bit higher in but it's also probably the most comfortable a lot of people buy that too so you get to play Goldilocks but let's start with the interruption Oak Offshore which is a brand new life jacket for this year it comes in a couple colors like this hive is orange as well as the new black and red combo I'm saying the offshore for you because it's got the VHF radio pocket a nice spot for your cell phone I know you don't use a lot of tools but it does have a spot for a little river and I have like one tip river not most of the life jackets we sell will have a spot for one of these guys and then in the back it actually has a couple tabs if you wanted to put like a strobe on there for launching before dawn so let's have you try this one on and see I think you probably would small/medium let's try that interactions around a little bit big so even there small/medium is kind of like a medium/large if you ask me the other thing is about color preference you want to be right out there right out there you want if you want to go for something visible what I like to do first is loosen up the straps so it's just way too loose and then you go ahead and zip it up and then some of our jackets will either have a chest strap or they'll have a buckle underneath the idea with the buckle that runs underneath you can see that like right here do you do with that is it keeps it cinched around your ribcage so it doesn't want to ride out so it's the first thing we do is get that yeah and then we'll get the back of the lifejacket turn around for me get the back of the lifejacket sitting high up on the shoulder blades and then we'll go from the bottom and work our way up with the cinch straps and then turn around here down so what I like about the new interaction hook is it the chest area is pretty flat you notice that it doesn't have a whole lot of bull and then it's got a couple of cuts in the foam right here and right here you gotta help sit sort of wrap around your so it's not like you're trying to fit flat panels and squish them against your chest I definitely someone feels much more comfortable than the the previous model yeah I agree I think if they cut out a lot of the bulk and redistributed the foam so it just sits flat against your body yeah so let's just talk a little bit about features this vest has a lot one of the things you're multi-species guys so you may use this you can put the butter on here and the tip your rod here so for retying and stuff like that a lot of guys are using these for a bank fishing or maybe they're floating the river and taking out of different spots so having a way to instead of like holding your rod and you can put it up against you yeah it's got a couple of caps again you can put your knife here you have another one here if you wanted to run a knife there a deep narrow pocket which fits a VHF radio perfectly that's one of the things about the old Chinook is it was kind of awkward to put a VHF radio especially if you had it in a dry bag so this gives you a little nicer space there these pockets right here fold flat you have another zipper pocket to keep your stuff inside if you want to keep your keys it has a little spot to lash them off you using my fishing license a couple of little pockets inside to procure but I usually keep that one for my cellphone and I like the fact that it it doesn't go all the way up it stays nice and flat so if you needed to tie something up and you were worried about dropping it same thing over here just a little smaller pocket the standard tuna would have two big pockets the offshore is gonna have the little or full down pocket on there in the VHF we'll also notice on the offshore its gets reflected piping so up here on the shoulders as well as on the back it has a couple of pieces of reflective piping and again that little tab where you can clip on a strobe light if you wanted to other little subtle details that the other person would allow is a couple little retractors so if you wanted to put line retractors on here or have little tools you can have them we stuff on those little towns okay cool how's it feel just pretty good yeah all right you like the orange yeah we're just pretty why don't you sit down over here on the cooler just sort of see see how it feels when you're in the seated position make sure doesn't right up we need like you're a fake pedal system up here for you that's what you don't want when you're pedaling you don't want that thing squishing up on your chest actually my Craig PFT does that a little bit with I'm pedaling yeah keeping a puttin it down right yeah yeah I think I noticed on the video that's what started all this it's always like mone need to come trying to lie today so with that in mind let's jump over to a coca tat PFD okay different mindset than the interests it's a little bit shorter torso the foams a little bit shorter and wider so somebody with a shorter torso is going to feel like it rides up a little bit less but let's just try it out and see how you like it I guess your legs so pretty long torso short legs long torso yeah all right all right so next up we have that coke attack Leviathan this is probably one of the more expensive PFDs recommend around $150 versus the offshore is like 129 it's about 20 $30 difference yeah if but what I like about this one is you'll notice on the inside its got like a thin your cream whining the foam that they use is incredibly flexible it really molds to your body and then all the foam on the shoulders and on the back is all perforated so it's you know perforated foam and then the air just flows right through so it's a very cool PFD gonna have to try this one on I know you're looking for bright this one does come in a couple colors you got the orange there I mean that the green here as well as the bright orange so if you'd rather have that we can we can go that color way quick so get this high on the back make sure it's down low as it can be on the front cinch it up from the bottom huh alright how's that one fit yeah so you can see it's a little bit more compact this way it's not quite as long still fairly flat across your chest it does tend to ride up a little bit higher but for some people that's really good because as you're pedaling you don't want that lifejacket pushing up so I could help out with that let's just talk about some of the features on this one - you've got a lot of options here you've got a lash tab in the front so again if you want to add a knife there you could you got a spot for pliers or hemostats to run right through here again a little tab for leashing stuff off and this one's heavy on pockets and features so if you're starting at the front you've got these little foam deals where you can add you know flies or boats or whatever if you're switching stuff out you can just put it right on the PFD there in pockets galore it's got small pocket a bigger pocket for a phone again with a little d-ring to latch stuff off to and a nice deep big pocket right here yep yeah three on each side plus another one up here which is another little spot to latch the box mr. jobs whatever I can't think of enough stuff to carry to fit in all these pockets but I know some of you guys out there will have your pockets just stuffed full of gear I see it all the time you know just a different style and the one thing about this vest for offshore there's not a perfect situation for a VHF radio I mean I've had guys stick them in the big pocket here but if a VHF is important to you you may want to bring it into the store and make sure it fits before you uh before you commit all right Goldilocks what do you think kind of sallman compared to the first one you know what I think it's pretty similar okay yeah why don't you sit down and see uh see if it rides up at all on you yeah it seems like you have a little bit more room between your legs and you guys yeah and so all the best we're talking about our fishing bass today I mean they do make the same vest and like a recreational VAS that's quite a bit cheaper well like this one kind of this is yet the women style so depending on what you're looking for in a vest just know that there are lesser expensive more simplified options but because the move was a Akaya fisherman I'm just going straight to that yeah abbis not you know a fishing vest yeah we just got to zipper yeah yeah it's pretty standard for recreational bus I'm now headed for four years and I think it's time to upgrade all right well um let's see you know what let's do this one it's another brand brand new literally just came out I think I'm the first one to play with it and you'll be the second I took it out the other day and I was in a Hobie outback and was really impressed it's a thin back design it doesn't have a high back but it just has a very thin low profile back all the way down which both NRS and Stoke hoods have gone to on some of their life jackets and I really like it because the Hobie chair it doesn't have a ton of padding along the rails and this offered a little bit more padding on my back so I'm excited to you to check this one out there's none probably their highest in fishing vest at the moment and you'll feel feel this right here it's got like little balls in there to massage it back some people like that a little lower back support and then again mesh spots for breathability because it is a fullback it's not gonna breathe quite as well and really similar pockets there you go so it's basically based off the Chinook platform but distributing the foam in the back a little differently because nowadays some of the seats are so high then even when you're sitting in it even with the high back you know like like this stuff some of the seats are so high that's still wanting to push up on this so again I love when people can come in and sit in the boat that they're buying you play Goldilocks alright turn around so similar to the first vest you got all the same features on the front except for this does not have a specific VHF pocket so if you were gonna write your VHF we'd have to slide down the side here you dip it up in your antenna just sort of hang out the target better than that all the same features as should knock off short you know I say that I noticed it's got this the pliers spot right in here put your pliers in and then secure them like that no that won't feel compared to the offshore one you definitely feel the foam and your lower back in this one which is going to be a little hotter so it does get talking about but the comfort wise is too much the see it does seem and maybe I'm wrong but maybe it seems like a little bit more fun up here in the tech department you know officers seem to be a tough spinner up there you know oh you're right this is yeah it looks a little thicker so another subtle difference so since we're on interact I don't think this is the one for you because it's basically the same as the offshore and I know you always run your VHF radio right yeah so basically it's the exact same lifejackets offshore same foam the only difference between these two is that little VHF radio pocket right right there yeah they're not identical both very popular result time in these guys all right let's jump to some Stoke with LA jacket so first it's been one of my favorites for years they're one of the last ones that do like the heavy duty Cordura nylon so it's a little bit stouter material but it's made out of it's got heart pockets and then they use that same flexible foam like you find on the kovachev they call it gaia foam and the idea with the foam is as you use it and as it where it's in it actually kind of takes a mold of your body as you sweat in it so it only gets more and more with time this is the choice blackjack for a lot of the guys that uh here in the shop that fish sort of the least in customs with features but the most comfortable over time and so Chris uses a different cinching mechanism which I really like - it's called The Rapture cinch so instead of having the buck buckle underneath it's got some chest inches that kind of grab your ribcage your shoulders and then these ones right here are the ones so basically this little strap runs around and connects all the way to your lower back so when you tighten these down think about it kind of hugging your ribcage and that makes a light check so it doesn't want to pull up when you're in the water it stays down so one of the reasons why a lot of guys really like that still questions it never wants to creep up on you and if you're in the water you can always lay back and censure those straps and get it more secure while you're while you're swimming how many times you flipped over in your time in the water another time oh really launching one surf bending once okay impressive I always say we're always in between swims like this when you least I mean that I don't do the hardcore stuff that you do well you know you're out there in the ocean some people would consider that hardcore fishing off the north coast how's that one fit you really good yeah yeah your buddy Steve that's what he uses now I know yeah you came in to tried a bunch on and ended up with that pretty much exactly I think color and everything so a little bit more simplified on the pockets again you have the two big ones that open up with a little flaps it's deep enough and big enough where you can do the VHF radio and the way the zippers work you just run them so the nhf sticks off the top I will say this if you get that VHF snagged on something like the antenna it's gonna want to like open up the pocket so you want to make sure you have it clipped off or leashed off on the inside here this is a spot for pliers this is just a little d-ring and you've got a couple of other spots too to ask and early stuff off on the life jacket as well I like the simplicity yeah yeah I'm similar to what you used to but just like radio the other thing that's important to talk about with stole courses they do gradient sizing so it means a small live check is actually going to be smaller and more compressed a larger life jackets going to be larger more spread out so each lifejacket small medium and large actually changes the change of shape we're pretty much everyone else has the same foam it's just a matter of how long the straps are oh no that yeah so that's one of the really cool things about sofas is gradient sizing and your enemy or a large extra large compared to interests interests from fairly large stoke whist is pretty right on the that's a large extra-large so the small medium large extra-large and then double extra-large okay you want to sit on that on the steel fields yeah I count looks like your old life jacket yeah you got black pants on so he's gonna want to get a spur all over you yeah well I got one more soul question to try on this is another thin back design okay so yeah the last door pushes the stole quest keeper I should be talking up and in that was a Stoke with fisherman fisherman the orange one you like it's very fitting fisherman and this is the slope is keeper this is their most expensive lifejacket it's in $150 range again then back design similar to the interests raku very breathable and you can see that foam just contours and fold that's a real big difference from your basic life jacket to you're hiring life jackets is the kind of foam that they're using it breaks down a lot less quickly it's a lot more comfortable you didn't fish Lake Shasta huh family obligation that weekend on the Saturday so what you know it was snowing right yeah I wish I was there I love this we'll check this up stick your hand right in those phone pocket when it's cold so when you're paddling spotter spotter so free you have a spot NFL quarterback you like warm up your hands all right let's say that let's get it all cinched up to you this one has a lot of really subtle features too like in the back here turn around it's got a spot to grab onto so if you're fishing somebody out of the water or something fishing you out of the water you can pick them up and throw them in the boat all right let's turn around dip your shoulder straps because it's a thin back design has a little bit more foam up front but technology and if we're talking about pockets and bells and whistles this one's got a lot similar to the coquito little pockets right here where you can shove your chapstick or whatever beach tabs you can also fit a an inner us rear a knife right in there a little tight but it works big pockets again you can fit your VHF radio and just zip the antenna up right here a spot for your cell phone so pretty similar you know spot for all your goodies leashes inside okay and then a lot of these just like neoprene cap where you can just throw stuff in as you need it there's so many pockets I'm not used to that I notice here this a little bit thicker it is more bulky yeah that's one of the things that's all about how the phone district is distributed and how it hits your body I can make or break a life jacket I'm not been in love with some life jackets but then they just sort of sit out here in front and I don't want I don't care for that so yep you're comfortable just like the other stuff ice fisherman yeah that guy a foam that they use is really good it just contours like I said it only gets more comfortable over time the more you wear it the more it sort of breaks into your shape well I've shown you a bunch all right I think I'm gonna have to go with the stuff Chris Fisher man that was the one yeah I like the simplicity and I like how comfortable it feels will give me wrong everything feels comfortable this is a big part both of us took ways then yes to me yeah and again every body types different I get the same sort of video without Wes with Chris and he fell in love with the Coco tat one you know so every person is different and if you have that opportunity to try long definitely do so it's hard yeah yeah that's our job oh yeah well it looks good on you you're gonna take the orange I'm assuming yes nice all right yeah this is a little red kind of reddish boys I think it's orange I think this is red oh yeah what do you guys say yeah leave it in the comments I always tell people to you know we talk about colors on the water people like I want to be seen I want to bright neon yellow boat or something I was a fishing offshore and quiet the other day and there was a bunch of us in ocean kayaks and you know what the only thing you could see this guy was in a one guy was in her bright yellow bow if the other guy had a black and yellow bow the other comes in a bright red bow the only thing you see is what colors are hat what colors are life jacket because any sort of an officer on water the kind of disappears yeah so having a bright colored lifejacket or one of the guys had a neon pink hat on I can spot that guy for miles so just be aware if you're concerned about visibility your life jackets actually more important in your in your car there's so many times you like I'm on the water looking for my buddy because of that six-foot swell I can't find them and he's only like 50 yards away ice but I still can't find right before my look swells up so I don't see him everyone has been to her like black or gray or you know what neoprene but you know a lot of you flood you'll see you're kind of muted duller colors and a lot of the kayak fishermen are going towards more like camo and things like that if you're around other boats you guys get a bright colored kitty it makes a huge difference come on thanks for doing this to you she ate it you guys have any questions oviya oh follow the common threads on this video or you can just shoot me an email or a message and I'll get to those as well all right

Channel: MooMoo Outdoors

Views: 16,976

Rating: 4.9506173 out of 5

Keywords: PFD, fishing pfd, fishing life vest, life vest, headwaters kayak, headwaters kayak shop, kayak pfd, kayak safety, best pfd, nrs chinook, nrs pfd, nrs raku, stohlquist fisherman, stohlquist keeper, kokatat leviathan, life jacket, fishing life jacket, best life vest, best life jacket, how to choose the right pfd, how to choose the right life jacket, how to choose the right life vest

Id: 7IpEbb0p4oA

Length: 22min 51sec (1371 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 08 2019