Very nice form fitting vests. You won't even know it's on. There is a learning curve for on and off though. I bought mine in the winter and got stuck for 10 minutes before I figured it out.

I bought the Eagle Bird of Prey but lost it to my brother when he tried it. I bought another one. I think it is the most confortable vest. It is not a great floater.  I tried the back zipper and DO NOTrecommend it.  It is to hard to get off after a hard set of skiing. I got a good deal from www.ski-it-again.com.

I guess it's what you're used to. I've always used the rear zip pullover and wouldn't go to anything else.  If you don't know how to get it off though, you're screwed and look like a complete wally! lol

I'm in the market for a new ski vest and am probably going to purchase the bird of prey based on these recommendations.  However, I'm struggling trying to decide between the front zipper and rear zipper.  What is the disadvantage to the front zipper? Or stated another way, what is the advantage to the rear zipper?

2gofaster wrote:

TJO, for me I always ended up with a bit o a rash on the undersides of my arms with a front zipper or side zipper vest. So I'd end up wearing a rash guard over my jacket. With the rear zip, I don't have to wear the rash guard.

Since most front zip vests traditionally had extra buckles/straps/flaps on them I can see how they would cause chaffing on the arms and cause you to move to a rear zip type vest without those things.  However, since the Bird of Prey front zip doesn't have any of these and is identical to the back zip other than zipper location, it shouldn't have these problems for you either. 

The only way I can see chaffing becoming a problem with the front zip is if your reaching across your body and we all know we shouldn't be doing that.

I haven't tried one yet but those guys at eagle have been making the best barefoot suites in the world for a while now and everything Chuck and the boys are doing down in Texas is just awesome they are nailing it look forward to trying out a bird of pray vest maybe next year. Cheers!

Eagle Sports vests do NOT have good impact safety. Stay with molded foam like the HO Syndicate if you want a thin profile vest, or one of the vests that have full foam coverage around the ribs. The Eagle vests use soft foam pieces cut in little squares or other shapes to make them look cool, and have cool graphics printed on them. At best they are an attempt to knock off the molded foam vests like the HO and cost the same price. They sew the soft foam blocks into wetsuit material to make them look like the molded vests. BUT, the problem is, the individual blocks of foam sewn in separately have no way to transfer the energy from an impact to each other. Therefore, the energy of a fall gets CONCENTRATED into the one block that takes the impact intensifying the impact into that one area and resulting in bruising or injury.
I had a routine fall turning a bouy and getting too much angle. This is a very common fall for all slalom skiers. The rope gets pulled out of your hands, and you do a big belly flop. This is not a cart-wheeling OTF show-stopper, it's a routine fall. I felt the impact in my lower right rib cage as the one block of foam on the front of my Eagle vest took the impact and pushed into my body. I felt like I landed on someone's fist. For two weeks I couldn't lay on my right side in bed. Four weeks later I'm still sore. I had the same fall a week later wearing my old HO Phantom and felt the tender spot on my ribs, but the energy of the impact was absorbed and distributed around the rest of my torso. This is simple physics, something the Eagle vests can't overcome.
I intend to return the vest to Eagle and go back to my old HO Phantom. I've crashed and burned all over the lake in my Phantom and never so much as been bruised. The second time I fell in the Eagle I got hurt. It is functionally NOT designed to handle impact.
I live in Houston where the Eagle is made and purchased it directly at their warehouse. I've left three phone calls to meet with the Eagle owner and he's not returned my call. Yes it's a comfortable fitting vest. Don't plan on falling in it.

I got an O'Neil gooru and am looking to order a new vest.
The Eagle vests look pretty similar to the goorus.

I would agree, thick pieces of foam is going to be safer than the two above.
I used to have an O'Neill Boost, (zip down the middle, thick panels of foam.)
I then went on to use a gooru, used that for a year and thought this weekend I would try the boost (I am finding my gooru is holding a lot of water and feeling very heavy) it was like putting on a bullet proof jacket, I couldn’t move! Went down to the dock and had a bad feeling, I couldn’t rotate or bend. Ran back and put my gooru back on its like your not wearing anything.

I have some pretty heavy falls into the wake but touch wood im all good.

I ski at Ski Texas, haven't been in the water at Cypress RH, but love the site.
The Eagle is a great feel, the front zipper is very easy, and it's the "home team" made here in Houston so I'm all over it. BUT - as slalom skiers, we need little flotation, it's about impact in a fall (I'm not a jumper where that's a bigger issue). I recognize that falls are random separated by small degrees. BUT - physics is physics. The focus on this vest has been graphics, cool colors, tight/snug fit, flotation and NOT the end result of impact. Possibly none of us has had that particular fall, but I finally did...the second time I wore the vest. I had the same exact fall a week later while wearing my old molded foam vest (HO Phantom, similar to the HO Syndicate still for sale). I felt the sore spot (believe me, I could not lay on my right side for two weeks). but felt the molded foam panel distribute the energy of the impact around the sore spot and onto the rest of my torso. The separate blocks of foam sewn into the wetsuit material which look cool from the front, need to be somehow connected "behind the scenes". The molded foam is one large piece of foam in the front panel, with "bumps" on the front molded as figures which make the "cool look" and also add a little extra thickness. I presume that configuration is somehow strategic. But, that said, the knock-off look of the Eagle may achieve the same sort of look, but the technique is flawed. The panels on the front need to be one single piece to distribute impact. Instead, the separate blocks of foam concentrate the impact onto that one block of foam and have no way to connect it beyond that area. I'm not kidding, all these posts about back zippers versus front zippers miss the point...these vests are primarily intended to protect us in falls and crashes. I've skied with no vest at all, you don't need much help to float you before you pull out of the hole. Trick skiers don't wear vests at all (but impact from falls isn't their concern....twisted knees from a bad release-man in the boat is). A vest needs to fit tight to the body, and absorb impact. One technique to absorb the energy of impact is thick foam. None of us want to ski with pillows strapped to our chests. The other technique to absorb impact is to use thinner material that is more rigid. Stunt men in Hollywood use kevlar sheets sewn or taped into their costumes to absorb falls and hits, in addition to using simple things like foam knee and elbow pads. The Eagle vest, and vests like it, use soft foam (molded foam is thin but firm, and also more expensive to produce), and sew it in designer patterns into wetsuit material. This vest is priced the same as the molded foam types (like the HO Syndicate and one of the O'Brien vests). Same price point. At this price point, the Eagle is far inferior. Bruise your ribs like I did, call me. I'll come give you a bear-hug.
The molded foam doesn't absorb (much) water, so it won't get heavy as it gets wet.


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Talk more about the impact protection offered by the Eagle Vests

Last edited by WadeWilliams (Thu, Oct 1, 2009 12:54 PM)