It had been about a decade since my last jacket and so I bought this one to see if I could pass with a ~$70 jacket or if I needed to upgrade to a Patagonia or arcteryx or something. Well, this one is DEFINITELY making the cut. It fits a bit large, but I definitely prefer that over it being too small. The fit is more classic than fitted, but again, I like that for the sake of moving around and layering up underneath it. The snow skirt at the waist does a good job of sealing up the bottom of the jacket against snow or drafts, and the elastic at the sleeves are a nice touch. The Omni heat seems to do a good job, although it helps that the shell is solidly wind and waterproof. If I had to call out some negatives, I would say that I think the sleeves are a bit rough on the wrist where they ruffle, and the main zipper feels like cheaper plastic and doesn’t slide as smoothly as a YKK metal one might.TLDR: I am buying this jacket again.I bought this jacket 5 years ago and absolutely love it. I really like how lightweight and comfortable it is. I find this jacket works best with layers. It is warm enough for most conditions I encounter. I live in Aspen, Co and this is my daily driver. I wear it around town as well as when I ski, which is frequently. It suffices on its own in most conditions. If temps are too low I either wear a base layer or ad an intermediary layer.So after five years of use, I'm now encountering issues with both the chest pocket zipper as well as the primary zipper. The stitching on the lower end of the chest pocket zipper started to come undone causing the zipper to separate. The main zipper is starting to fail as well which causes the zipper to separate midway up resulting in the jacket opening and having to wrestle the zipper back down to the starting position.Having said all that, I really love this jacket and think it is a great value at this price point. I like this jacket so much it prompted me to search my orders in hopes that it was still available. It is and I will be buying this again!Note: I bought an XL so I am not sure why this review is listed under XXL. Anyway...at 6'2" 245lbs and a long torso I normally take an XL Tall in just about any other brand (shirts, coats, etc.). XLT in this coat was enormous however, with bizarrely long sleeves. The regular XL fit much better, but even so, the sleeves are cut abnormally long. I've gotten used to it and like that they overlap gloves by a fair amount, but it was an odd decision in the tailoring of this coat. Also the snow skirt is a bit high in this coat, and even when not in use, pulls the interior of the coat in right around my stomach, not waist where it should be. The result is that the coat feels small around the middle even though it's not. This and the sleeve length makes me wonder what the heck Columbia's designers were thinking. I mean surely the company has enough experience with garment manufacturing to produce a product that fits normally?? All of that aside, I do really like the insulation and exterior fabric. Combined with a light fleece, this coat can handle some very cold weather without a lot of bulk. It would be perfect with a few zip vents, but it's still a great coat at a very reasonable price. I like the omni-heat insulation enough that I bought one of Columbia's "Crested Butte II" omni heat jackets which is sort of like a down sweater, except with omni heat. This is awesome layered under my LL Bean or Arcteryx Gore-Tex shells when I want more flexibility or waterproofness than the Alpine Action coat. Despite the sizing quirks I do like the Alpine Action jacket.Comparing this to North Face - which is the only other type of jacket I have had, I like the NorthFace Tri-climate better. I wanted to get another Tri-climate, but they are $300+ so I was looking at options. I live in Seattle, so I wear a jacket everyday, for 9 months of the year. My NF Tri-climate got through about 30 washes, and 2 years of everyday wear, including like 50 hikes, skiing, and sailing on a regular basis. This jacket does okay in cold. I have taken it skiing up to Baker, in major snow already. You still have to layer up under the jacket. It isnt exactly like the commercial where the foil is like a tiny oven and will keep you warm no matter what. Its puffy-ish. not super puffy, but more puffy than a NF. it is 100% rain resistant. Much better rain resistance then NF, because the material is tougher (which probably adds to the tiny bit of extra puffiness feel it has). It's not jet black like a NF. it is not smooth like a NF (but this makes it better rain/snow resistant). It's wicked light weight. probably like 1/2 the bulk/weight of a NF tri-climate. Overall - if i were trapped in a survival situation, i'd want to be layered up underneath, and have the Columbia jacket, because no rain is getting through it.. if you need to survive, its good. But in everyday life - the NF Tri-climate is better looking, better feeling. BUT... the columbia is a very close second place, and less than half the price.. i'd never be embarrassed wearing it, and i'd never feel like i was lacking weather protection. Tis a worthy option!I was due to go skiing and realized at last minute I didn't have a proper jacket for the sloped. I ordered this based on the brand, style and reviews, but honestly didn't expect a heck of a lot given the price. Boy was I surprised, this is a quality jacket with a very nice style, lots of functional pockets and quite lightweight. The light part worried me since I didn't want to be cold up there, but once I got to the mountains, it blew my expectations away. The first few days were cool but sunny, the jacket performed and breathed beautifully and was roomy enough for my shoulders while skiing. The colors were smart and the bright orange chest zip was nice touch as it helped my friends find me in a sea of other bluish jackets. The last day was a snowstorm and freezing cold. I had 2 light layers beneath, and was toasty warm in the jacket the whole time and can say it was waterproof in those adverse conditions as well. Amazing jacket, highly recommended even vs jackets multiple the price!Product quality is what one would expect from Columbia but terribly disappointed with the sizing. With online shopping, people tend to trust the sizing charts, but this product was terribly oversized. In addition, sizing doesn't seem to be consistent. Ordered a rain jacket and this jacket in S. While the first fit well this was way off. I understand people tend to go a number of sizes up for skiing apparel, but please don't make that decision for them.Beautiful jacket with good internal insulation for cold days and yet not heavy. Well designed with noticeable superior materials. The pockets with fleece finish inside are really good to keep your hands warm if you’re not wearing gloves. Just a little big for the size but nothing that will make you uncomfortable and probably useful to leave some extra room if you decide to wear a jumper underneath. So far, it will be excellent for the winter with temperatures below zero degrees.I bought this jacket after I had read many reviews about hard shell jackets. It was listed as one of the best choices for budget jackets and I bought it at a great price. It was proven a great choice. Medium size fits perfectly and you can also wear mid layer jacket in very cold days. So far it behaves as water proof and protects from cod very wellAll I can say is that this is a well made softshell jack, the large size is perfect for someone that is 182cm and around 85kg. This is the perfect size for me and it feels warm. Very happy with this jacket and highly recommended.I love everything about this jacket, and it does the job of keeping me warm in really cold weather. I’m sick and tired of black coloured jackets for men, so it’s nice to have some colour on the body when I wear this jacket. The zips are very good quality and if they had another jacket available in a different colour I would buy it.