Poorly designed, questionable quality
"I was excited to try this vest as I generally find MS to be very high quality. I was in the market for a new kayaking PFD, and was happy to see MS getting into the paddling arena. I wanted a minimalist vest--not something with a massive clamshell pocket, but something with enough space to hold a phone, a snack, and a knife for days on the river. Obviously I wanted it to be well designed and constructed. Overall fit is nice, and I assume it floats as advertised, but this vest is not designed well which limits practicality/functionality. 1. Vest pocket: does hold a phone and a snack however, the zippers are too small to operate without looking for/fumbling with, the the pulls--I had to add some aftermarket zipper pulls. The dual side entry makes it awkward to get stuff in and out. Hand warmer pocket is just sort of cheesy IMO--but I am a warm weather paddler, so might be a nice feature for someone more hardcore (so long as they don't put anything in the pocket). 2. Lash Attachment: is behind the pocket which limits what you can put in the pocket; any gear on the lash tab is almost inaccessible with the vest on and anything in the pocket as you cannot really move your hand around. Sewing on lash tab is substandard. It ripped when I put my knife on the tab--which took some effort due to tab's placement. 3. Quality: The sewing on the cinch strap ripped when I tightened it down for the first time. Had to send it back to MS for replacement. Overall, I think the Vibe might be the better bet. The cascade looks to be the more feature rich option of MS's two paddling vests, but I do not think you're getting what you pay for in this case."
