At first I was hesitant to order these socks because I thought that a guy wearing them would be considered "gay." My opinion has changed.

These socks are the most comfortable amazing socks I have ever worn. Additionally, my feet NEVER smell after weating them, nor do the socks. I could weat these for two days straight and they would smell neutrally. Conversely, normal socks would stink.

I particularly like wearing these with sperrys (for the cold weather). If I wear lightweight UnderArmour socks, they will smell after a half day of wear. These will not smell. On top of that, they feel great.

I will continue to phase out normal socks for these particular socks over the years. Down the road, these will probably be the only type I own.

Also, I own two pairs of the Ininji toe socks. They smell after a day of wearing them, and they are not ad comfortable or form fitting as these socks. So its probably the wool fabric that makes these awesome.

I bought the “North Face Summit Thermal,” and assume that this is this season’s version of the “Apex Summit Thermal.” I’m not really sure what the differences are, if there are any.

Upon opening the package, I first thought “ohhh crap… I just spent $230 on a ‘spring’ or ‘fall’ jacket.” It is extremely light and pretty thin too. I took off my current winter coat which I was comfortable in all day and tried the Summit Thermal on. Within minutes I was uncomfortable warm indoors. Mindblowingly warm for the minimal bulkiness and weight of this jacket.

It took a minute for me to figure out the hem cinch. It loops all the way around the hem, out a hole near the bottom of the zipper, and loops upwards back into the pockets, where it ends with a knot and a plastic end piece. In the bottom, there are little disks on each side that you have to push to depress. Then pull the loop on each side of the jacket, and the bottom of the jacket is tightened. I had no idea that those little punch disks were in there.

As for construction and quality of feel, I’d say 10/10. This jacket seems very well made. The Summit Series logo on the sleeve is a cool touch, IMO.
For sizing, I am 6’3” and weigh 170lbs. I am very skinny, although muscular. I was on the fence about getting a large versus the XL, and I chose large. I chose right. There seems to be an inherent bagginess in the “stomach” area, making this jacket suitable for those with a beer belly. You may ask why I did not say “suitable for layering.” Well, the arms are pretty tight. For a mid layer under this, choose a slim fitting layer. A big poofy insulation layer will make the arms feel tight. I do have pretty nice biceps though. A good combo with this would probably be the Under Armour Base 3.0 Crew or the 4.0 Crew, with a reasonably slim mid layer. With the hem cinched, the jacket fit pretty damn well and looks really, really nice. Wish the waist area and the sleeves on the jacket were in proportional diameters, but I won’t take a star off because it doesn’t affect MY situation too badly.

The pockets are nice, but I’d imagine putting any heavy items in them would cause discomfort. Seems like they are meant for light items, and the interior lining of the pockets is pretty light.

I haven’t had a chance to really put it to the test, because I just got it a couple hours ago in the mail. Maybe I’ll update later. Hope this all helps.