xh79

I picked this up at release and have worn it a handful of times; I like the drape but find it a tad bit too roomy in general. I do quite like the hood, which fits better than many of the hoods on ACR GT shells that I have. I also like the general idea of the chest-level hand pockets; I have these on a couple other jackets (not ACR) and really like them on those, but the ones on the J33 are placed a bit awkwardly and asymmetrically as @skycrawler noted (I personally find it weird that my hands overlap while I have them in the chest pockets). I also find this one a bit awkward to wear without using the zipper -- it doesn't have a great natural resting shape while open, and the center button is a bit low making it a bit floppy on the top. The fabric is certainly nice, as are the sleeve hitch tabs since you can actually more easily shorten the sleeves with the E fabric. I do wish it didn't have the gravity pockets, though; I find these pretty generally useless on all the ACR jackets I own, and it's a bit annoying to have them get in the way of pushing up the sleeves to hitch at the tab with the rigid WR zips. They also feel somewhat out of character with the jacket somehow, but perhaps this is because I'm mostly used to seeing them on the GT shells.

Not the best, but a couple pictures of the J50-S in RAF. I usually wear this by itself, but have worn it as a liner a few times and it fits under my various GT shells in the same size.

Yeah this is correct. The photo caption is just referring to the exterior loop for the jacketsling (sewn under the armpit area) if you want to mount the sling on the outside, I believe.

Yes, those are the interior ones, which can be accessed from two sides (both zips for each pocket are inside the coat though). If you count the backwards-facing side pockets as separate, more like 6 on the jacket, yeah.

I don't know if the -WS version of the J50 had additional changes, but I have a J50-S and they are pretty similar, yes. The main difference aside from the lack of sleeve pocket is that the hand pockets on the J78 wrap backwards as well as forwards, so there is extra capacity to stash things there if you want them accessible without unzipping the jacket. The YKK center zip on the J78 is also a bit nicer than the Raccagni ones on the J50-S.

Thoughts on the 4 pieces that dropped recently after trying on in person: J44-SD: This was the one I was probably most excited for having seen the pictures, but in actuality wound up not really doing it for me. The fabric is definitely cool, and I hope to see it used more often in the future. The design of the jacket just didn't seem to quite come together for me, though. The hand pockets didn't feel particularly convenient to access for whatever reason, and the vertical entry pockets seemed like they would not be particularly useful in practice. The partial collar zipper also felt a bit odd -- I liked the look of the collar standing up better than folded down, and even though the zipper doesn't go all the way around the collar, it still will poke you in the neck / get caught in your hair if it's flipped up. Perhaps an iterated version of this design will land better with me, but it just felt a bit half-baked. J78-WS: I liked the simplicity of this one a lot. To my eye, looked better in person than in the product photos -- the cut is very precise and worked well on my frame, and the lower hem which doesn't gather in the front gives it a cleaner look straight-on while keeping the warmth in. Hand pockets are generous and easy to access intuitively, and the coat overall (including the pockets) is quite warm. This is the one piece I ended up picking up from the second drop after trying them all on. I wore this today in ~30s weather with no shell on top of it, no gloves, just hands in coat pockets, and stayed very toasty with a buttondown + sweater under (actually had to open up the sweater collar a bit as I was walking around). Pleased with this purchase, certainly. LA6B-AD: I was quite tempted by this one -- this looked quite a bit different in person than in some of the earlier product photos I had seen. It felt less like a shirt and more like a cardigan, and was a more toned-down looking fabric vs. the J77 from the first drop, so for myself there would be more everyday situations I could wear it in, though mileage there will vary of course. The photos above from @solographik illustrate it quite well. I have a few other Acronym sweaters as well as a DS version of this same shirt, but almost sprang for it regardless. P33-DS: After feeling somewhat disappointed by the pants in the first drop I was more hopeful about these (particularly since I often prefer some of the cleaner-looking Acronym designs), but they actually fit worse than the P34s on me. The lack of belt loops is not ideal (I have about a 28-29 inch waist, so even at the tightest I could get the belt, these were just barely staying up), and the quantity of fabric just made these look clownish on me. Part of it is the patterning; I have the P27s in the same fabric and they drape and fit much more cleanly on me overall. I saw another customer try these on though and can confirm that they do indeed look good in person if you have the correct build for them

Not being either size in question here and usually being the smallest available size in Acronym, I can only hazard a guess here, but I would think this would be fine. The one thing I would be concerned with in this particular case is that the body of the J79 seemed very short -- if you don't want the insulator to show below the hem of the shell, you might want to check the measurements carefully against one another. (I would do this in general, also to make sure the sleeves will not suffer from the same issue, but I think Acronym shells usually have the sleeves cut very long so this seems less likely to be be an issue.) In terms of simply being able to fit the bulk of the insulator beneath the shell, though, I would think for most insulators you'd be fine.

I think the combination of wool + loose knit makes it fairly flexible in terms of temperature regulation. I only wore it for a few minutes, but when I just had it on over a merino buttondown, it added some noticeable but not excessive warmth. Layering it under the P29, I got the sense that the extra insulation would be more meaningful (combo of wool + trapped air), though I didn't keep both on for long enough to say decisively. Probably depends a bit on what you want to wear under it, but in "fall/winter"-type outdoor temperatures, I don't imagine you'd find yourself overheating if wearing it either as just a sweater, or as an insulating layer (when you presumably want to be warmer anyway).

Yes, the J29 is definitely on the slimmer size in terms of the Acronym jackets I own -- probably the closest in terms of chest measurement is my J68-WS in XS. I was able to fit the J77-AM underneath it easily, but that is not a very bulky item due to the loose knit. I just tried it on over a much bulkier Iron Heart sweater (this, for reference: https://www.selfedge.com/iron-heart?product_id=1046) and could still button / zip up the J29 -- when buttoning it the fabric pulled noticeably at the center, though not straining it overmuch; when zipping it, it looked more normal, but definitely no longer "sleek" (I also was wearing a buttondown + tshirt underneath the sweater). If you were just wearing this as a liner and didn't really care about the style, you could probably take your normal size and still fit a sweater under it.

Some in-person impressions of several of the pieces from this first release: J61-GTV: I have never been particularly enamored of any iteration of this coat, so I didn't bother to try this one on. Looked fairly similar to the -WS and -GT versions which I had seen / tried on during previous releases; obviously your mileage will vary if this is a style you like. Didn't look like anything drastically different from the earlier iterations to me, though. Admittedly I am not the right person to ask for details about this one. J79TS-GT: This is a very boxy cut, much larger for the tagged size than I would have expected. My friend who usually wears L or XL in Acronym jackets could easily fit into the M on this; for my own frame I think it is a bit too large (5'9" 125lbs). The front pocket array is interesting, but doesn't feel like it would be as useful as the J1A to me. I did like the look of the hood, despite not usually liking jackets where it cannot be detached or stowed. J29-PX: This looked better in person to me than in the photos. The fabric doesn't seem as translucent as the previous -PX coat, and the fuzzy lining in the body was an unexpected (and in my opinion, nice) touch. The collar in folded-down blazer mode is a little questionable given the thickness of the fabric, but I think it looks pretty great standing up, and I like the pocket array on this one. This was the one piece I actually ended up purchasing, though I was tempted by a couple others. J65-AJ: I liked the general look of this pattern in the -AJ material quite a lot. The silhouette flares outwards noticeably in profile (not actually pictured in any of the official product shots), which on my frame looked a bit funny -- it's not a particularly even flare, either; it gave me sort of an artificial paunch. On someone with a sturdier build where this fits more tight to the frame, I think it would look really great, though. Definitely more interesting to me than the boiled wool versions of this jacket from the earlier season. J77-AM: This was the piece I was most tempted to purchase aside from the J29. I tried it on over a black buttondown, and it looked great. The hood is not bulky at all, so I didn't mind it being attached to the sweater. My favorite detail was the shoulder pockets; they give it a bit of an aggressive silhouette without being over the top. I don't know how this would look with something other than a long-sleeve black shirt under it, and the price feels a bit too high for what it is, but I did quite like this one. P34-*: I was a bit torn over this one. I tried it on in the -E fabric, which I liked a lot and thought was suitable for the pant -- I own a J33-E, which is a nice pattern, but I think the -E fabric probably works better for pants than jackets, though this is a personal preference. I didn't try on the -S version but probably wouldn't personally consider it, since I own a lot of pairs of Stotz pants and liked the lighter feel of the -E fabric. I also really liked the tapered silhouette of the ankle, which broke at just the right height for me wearing sneakers. However, the waistline on these pants is very large -- impossible for me without a belt, and if I unclipped my belt to go to the bathroom I'd have to carefully hold them up, which isn't something I'd really like to worry about in practice. I also found the cargo pocket array a bit overwrought and somehow uninspiring. I would be very interested in a version of this pant without the cargo pockets though (or at least without the zippered pocket on the left), and a smaller waistband for the tagged size. NG5-AK: I didn't put this one on, but this was very soft and comfortable to the touch. It is quite wispy; seemingly moreso to me than the long -AK neck gaiter with the "2-part hem" from a few seasons back as I recall, though I could be misremembering. Kind of expensive for what you're getting though. I didn't get to see the hat in person, but assuming it is the same fabric as the J65, I think it'd be quite cozy. I don't wear a lot of hats though, so I don't have strong feelings on the style.