I ended up buying a Fox Titan Sport Jacket for $140...
I'm very happy with it. Took a couple rides to get used to, but it seems leaps and bounds more protection/comfort than the other options I was looking at.
Reasons I bought this one:
-Fit: Fit was a bit small. I ended up buying an XL. I'm only like 5'10/185. The Large fit fine, but felt a bit tight for me (probably how they're supposed to be, but if it was uncomfortable I'd not end up wearing it). So if you plan on ordering one online, I recommend tryin one on locally if possible.
And a big plus in my book- it zips up the front middle. Some connected down the side with velcro, which I didn't really like much.
-Protection: The front chest plate is hard, unlike many other options. The spine protection is full coverage, and the built in kidney belt is a great touch. Shoulders and elbows and fore-arms have hard plates as well, and it's all padded behind the hard plates.
-Comfort: As I said above, the every hard piece is padded (pads also vented) so you don't notice the plates much. The mesh part breathes really well and didn't have me sweating in 80+ degree heat much more than if I were to just wear a jersey. The hard plastic part has venting as well in the front, so that helps too.
I like the feel of it enough to wear with just an undershirt, and nothing over the top. Doesn't chafe around the neck or anything. I was able to stretch my jersey over it, but I think I'll be buying a larger (non fox slim-fit) jersey to put over it in the future to make it a bit easier. After a couple rides I barely noticed I had it on.
Quality: Everything seems to be very well made, not cheap at all. There's a lot of adjustments on this setup to make it fit real well for you. I feel this will last me quite a few years (until I'm too fat and need a bigger one ) and I'm very happy overall with the purchase.
The ONE bad thing I've found about this so far - The hard shoulderpads. When I try to turn my head to look behind me, it limits my range of motion. When I turn my head, the mouth piece of my helmet hits the shoulderpad and can't turn any further. Not a huge deal, and doesn't make me regret my purchase at all.
Price: Well it was a bit pricey at $140, but when compared to the other products on the market for around $120, the extra $20 was a no brainer after trying some on and seeing them in person. Had I bought online, I probably would have gone cheaper, and I'm very happy I didn't do that. $20 more is nominal at that point and WELL worth it. This was the first one I tried on - then I went to other shops to try some others, nothing compared (though I would have like to try on a Thor Impact Rig - didn't get the chance)
*** A nice bonus: the Fox Titan Sport Jacket comes with an extra set of straps. Took me a while to realize just why ? The extra straps connect to the spine protection ! It's removable, and you can wear just the spine protection (zips&snaps right off ). This is an awesome feature, as I don't know that I could fit some of my cold weather gear under the Fox piece, but I can easily strap the Spine protection on over anything. This will be nice for riding with a hoodie and thicker coat. Also, for those times you don't wanna look like the guy all geared up, but still afford you some protection. THey don't mention this at all in the description, but I wish they did - it would have been a great selling point and made my choice a lot easier.
I generally wear a backpack w/ a CamelBack bladder in it. I wore that almost the whole time I was riding, and it worked just fine, the armor didn't get in the way at all like I thought it might. If anything, it actually felt better as the armor took some of the pounding my back usually does with a full backpack on.
Anyway, that's my review for y'all. Hope it was helpful and informative. Any other questions I didn't cover ? Let me know, I'll try to respond asap.
Ride safe guys
