Mini-review: Salomon Advanced Skin 12

After multiple attempts (all in vain!) to patch, repair and keep my beloved women's fit Salomon Advanced Skin 8 litre vest on the trail, I reluctantly bit the bullet and upgraded to a unisex Advanced Skin 12 litre. Things move fast these days - so the vest I've owned for several months is no longer the latest version! There are now updated men's and women's fit Adv Skin 12 vests too. The one I have is here, and you can find all the newest ones here - they look to be pretty similar. Here's my review of the new vest, and how it stacks up to the old one.

On the Coniston fells before I spent the next three hours in a cloud full of hailstones

Firstly, Salomon are the best in the business when it comes to race vests. I sometimes have a brief flirtation with the idea of buying an inov8 or a Montane vest, but quickly come back to my one true love. For me, they can't be beaten on fit, comfort or accessibility of storage. However, I was a little disappointed in the durability of my old 8 litre (even though it has to be said it had seen very heavy use!). The zip was poorly designed and vulnerable to breaking, and once the tab had broken off, it was impossible to replace without changing the entire zip (which the brilliant Patagonia Worn Wear did for me). I also found that the stretchy elastic fabric didn't stand up to being regularly stuffed as full as I was packing it - but perhaps that's my fault for trying to fit so much in an 8 litre vest!

I was pleased to see that the design of my new vest features a much more robust (and replaceable!) zip pull - this is great news for sustainability. The fabric of the new vest doesn't seem much more durable than the old one, but time will tell. Despite insisting for a long time that '8 litres is enough!', I was also pleased to have more space - race kit lists have expanded in recent years, and I now routinely carry more equipment (for example, a synthetic down layer always in winter).

Apologies for the insalubrious surroundings, but I wanted to show you how the vest sits at the back when it's full.

In terms of storage, anyone who has had a Salomon vest will recognise the basic arrangement of the compartments - it's got a big, zipped back compartment, and the really handy kangaroo pocket across the lower back; this is where I keep all my snacks, and it's very easy to get a hand into this pocket and find what you're looking for. They have added a zip-less stretch pocket on the top of the vest, which is designed so that you can reach over a shoulder and grab whatever is in it - ideal for a waterproof jacket, especially if your jacket is designed to be worn over your vest, so you don't have to take it off at all.

The bottle holders sit in the usual position on the front of the chest - since mine is a unisex vest I worried they might sit uncomfortably, but they are absolutely fine. On the front of the vest there are also two stretch pockets and two zip pockets on the front of the bottles - plenty of space for items you want easy access to, and about the same amount of storage here overall as in the old models, albeit slightly rearranged. For me the vest fits perfectly in the XS size, and I haven't experienced any rubbing or chafing anywhere. The fastening system is the usual elastic string system; Salomon have obviously decided not to mess with something that works perfectly.

I've got the front packed quite full today - full bottles, a phone and a packet of biscuits in the front pockets facing the camera!

My one gripe with this new vest is...it doesn't seem to be 12 litres big! We've all experienced the strange phenomenon whereby two theoretically equivalent bags seem to actually hold different amounts of stuff. The old 8 litre model was like a Tardis; much bigger on the inside than its label would suggest. Somehow, I don't feel like I'm getting an extra 4 litres of space with the new one - it packs more like a 10 litre vest.

In conclusion, I don't love this new model and size of vest the way I did the old one. But I still think it's the best of all the options out there, with a super-comfy fit and really well-designed storage.