In reply to BnB:
That's a valid point from you so I'm willing to get into details and try to get as unbiased as I can. I'm not British and since I can't be unbritish, here is my body frame: I'm 6'4'' tall, 187 lbs. I've got long arms. I'm considered a slim guy with no belly (no sixpacks either). Additionally, my apologies for my English.
Since in my country premium British outdoor gear is out of reach we are using Patagonia, TNF, Arcteryx, Mammut, Millet, Outdoor Research mostly. Arcteryx, Patagonia and Mammut is very expensive, Millet is quite rare, TNF and Outdoor Research are okay. Two years ago I was in the need of a good hard shell jacket and there was the TNF Point Five with an appealing price tag so bought one.
The first odd thing was the sizing: I'm usually wearing XL or XXL but here the large (L) was my size. It was important to me that the fabric must be of Gore-Tex because I heard mixed opinions about eVent. The fabric is actually excellent, still waterproof after 2 years. Breathability is not discussed here since I've never had the trust in that, I think all these materials are just a _bit_ more breathable than a plastic bag only in the first couple month of their lifecycle and after that is just plain bullsh*. Going uphill I'm usually sweating and I cant imagine any fabric which can let out that amount of steam. The fabric is also hard-wearing, it went through numerous chimney pitches in Europe and Scotland as well.
The jacket is quite light and simple, the armpit zips are nice and useful. The jacket has the same type of zip everywhere, all waterproof, however they are a real pain to handle. It is quite hard to start the main zip, it is a lot of fiddling, very frustrating with the price tag in your mind. The pockets are well placed and the right one has a wee pouch in it which is nice. The zips of the pockets are again horrible. When they are fully open (unzipped) the bottom end of the zip is too close to the pocket's bottom so there is a danger of loosing things unincidentally. It is almost impossible to unzip them by one hand and this is very annoying since you've got only one hand when you reach to your camera whilst belaying your buddy. It is primarily because of the 'bulgy' cut but more on this later. All zips have wee cords attached to them to ease handling however I found them rather small and since they are just only from cord they can easily slip out from your gloved hand.
The tightening cords are nice but won't let the jacket wandering out from your harness which is unpleasant which is related to the 'bulgyness' of the jacket. I don't want to be body frame fascist here but any alpinist I've seen in my life seriously committed, travelling under the 'Summit Series' flag had no bellies, they were mostly slim, tall, athletic. TNF Point Five fits you like you are 25 years older and sitting in your armchair asking for a wee dram. Often I'm not able to see my harness belay loop just after pressing down the 'bulge' with my hands. Maybe that's me with an odd body frame so it might fit others better, dunno.
Another annoyance are the wrist velcro tighteners. They are impossible to handle in wet gloves, they are covered with velcro all the way so there are times when you can't grab them anywhere because they are sticked to their counterparts all along. They are from slippery plastic so again, no chance to grab them. They have a good shape tho', small and well placed.
The hood is spacey enough, and well cut however I was not able to manage the front and rear tightening cords in gloves. It is hard to grab them (you can't see a thing) and by pulling them there is a significant delay when things start to tighten up and I usually have the feeling that I'm going to tear something off. The rear one is impossible to find in gloves wearing a helmet. Obviously it is rather hard to set up your hood right and I've usually get my hood blown off from my helmet by strong winds. Very frustrating.
Bottomline: good fabric, good production but bulgy fit, zips are hard to handle, hood is nice but the handling is not well-thought, wrist velcro is slippery and hard to handle. I recommend this jacket to skiers and would call it TNF Le Deux Alpes instead of TNF Point Five.
Post edited at 10:45