Side by Side Comparison of: Absolute Outdoor vs Stearns

used these with kayaks we purchased fit as expected

Easily adjusted for small or large person, Comfortable for canooing

Great Value

Great deal for prime. Got these jackets for under $50 for prime deal and they are well worth it. We have 4 family members ranging from 92lbs-165lbs and they fit all very well. 92lbs is 5'2" and 165 lbs. 5'9". You can move very well in them for casting, driving, etc...and wear all day is you had to. No one is under 12 yrs of age so we do not have to wear just keep close by while in a boat. Check your local fish and game about using the storage bag in your boat. Must states don't allow that, but the bag is handy for Winter storage and keeping everything together.These are type III life jacketsIntended Use:Supervised activities, such as sailing regattas, dinghy races, water skiing, fishing, canoeing, kayaking and during personal watercraft operation.Minimum Buoyancy:15.5 lbs. for adult size.Additional Information:Good for protected, inland water near shore, where chance of immediate rescue is good.Not suitable for extended survival in rough water. Not designed to turn unconscious people face up in water.

Will probably order more, you never know when you might need extra life jackets when you're having company.

What I like best about these life vests is that they are adjustable. The straps on the side can loosen or tighten so the user isn't restricted as much. The sides of the vest are open, enabling the user to adapt it to the right size. I wear mine on the jet ski and they are also in the boat, to accommodate the various sizes of people that I drive around. No one has drowned while wearing one of my new, exceptional life vests!

Love this life jacket! The strap across the chest keeps this jacket from floating up to high and keeps it in place. Our other life jacket the right side kept coming out of the straps no matter how we adjusted it.

Bought these for my 5 and 7 year olds (one is about 40lb, one is 48lb). I had to cinch it down right to be secure so I have a lot of years on these vests with the kids. The are well made and perfect for the occasional boater like us.

This Stearns vest is the best I have found for my 4 and 5 year old grandkids that are not swimming on their own. I've ordered a second of the youth vests so each one has that swimming support. I also have a smaller child's version for the 3 year old. A very good product.

These are high quality and stay in place well. My children are adept swimmers, but when wave jumping in the great lakes I feel more confident when they wear vests. I liked these because the fit was tight enough not to ride up around their heads while swimming, yet didnt make their necks uncomfortable while they were walking back between catching waves.

These will not fit fat kids. My kids are 8 and 10 and about 65 lbs. If they grow to 90lbs these should still fit. Don't buy if your kids are fat. They will not fit.

Fits great but I'm a bit skeptical for it fitting up to 90 lbs....unless you are long and lean 90lbs. My 7 1/2 yr. old is 70lbs (and he is not fat, he's tall and solid) and this just fits. So, in my opinion, it runs a bit small. Other than that, excellent quality, well made and should last a long time! :)

Great for what we needed

Haven't been in the water to try but they seem kind of small but fit as described.

They are definitely made for a smaller adult or teenager. I wouldn't recommend it for any youth. But for the price- it's great!

Straps adjust to fit most. May be uncomfortable for longterm use for larger person, as it rides high on your chest/neck. Haven't tried it in the water, but bought for boat, which made the 4 pack ideal for the price.

As expected these are good just to have enough for everyone on the boat and for casual floating. If you are serious about water sports or something like that then obviously you want to spend more money. They ride up some and the floats and straps can get tangled up a bit, but it is just what I needed for the price.

Love the clear bag to carry these life jackets. Great way to keep them ready for retrieval. Replaced a bunch of 30+ year old kapok jackets that were probably left over from WWII. These are more compact i.e. take up less storage space, more comfortable to wear, and smell a whole lot better!

I read the reviews and saw that this vest is on the small side, I bought it for my almost 50 lb 6 year old and it's just a hair too big, I can't imagine a 90 lb child being even remotely comfortable in this but we should get at least 2 years out of it.

We have a smal fishing boat so we wanted a life vest for our son. This vest is nice because it's not bulky and its light weight! Perfect for our son for out on our boat fishing. The buckles are a little hard to get open but other than that it's a great vest. It fits my 9 year old well!

My daughter is 6 and 57 pounds. This fit her snug with not much room to grow. I read the reviews first and saw they ran small so got a size bigger than her. I'm not sure if she will be able to use next year, but for now it works fine.

Excellent quality and value but watch out for size. Agree with the other posts regarding small size. If your child is on the lower side of the 50-90 lbs and not too husky in the chest, it should fit fine. A husky-chested child or over 65-70 lbs its going to be a tight fit. Our son is an average-sized 75 lbs boy and it was slightly too small but it ended up working for the week long event he used it for this summer.

Seems to be a decent quality jacket, but like others have suggested it does appear to run small. My oldest is just over 60 pounds and there is no way he will make it to 90 pounds and this thing. He might get one year out of it. I would say the max weight for this is probably 70 pounds if that.

We only went by weight size and didn't measure our child's chest. I highly suggest measuring the chest before you purchase. It fit our child but it was super snug. Other than that, great product and great quality. Dries super fast and definitely helped our non swimmer feel more comfortable in the water.

Vests are small

They were decent for the money just to have extras on board.

We purchased these life vests to have as extras on the boat for guests that didn't have their own life vest, mostly for when we are anchored in the middle of the lake, to jump/play in the water. Of course, these are also on board, as required by law for safety. These are ok for the average adult, however anyone over 5'9" they seem to be a bit small/short and funny looking when on but do they do the job of keeping the adult floating.

I bought this for a river trip with a group of friends. They severed there purpose. they are on the smaller side. I am 5'11 190lbs and I have to basically open up the entire straps length to fit it. My biggest issue is the bottom strap does NOT go through a loop attached to the actual vest. It just sites over the vest and when floating in the water the bottom part of the vest tends to slip from the strap and bend upwards only being stopped by the top strap that DOES go through a loop attached to the vest.

NOTE: these are UNIVERSAL life jackets...if you are a teen or fit adult, it might be comfortable, if you are tall or have ANY extra weight, these will not be a comfortable fit. We purchased them to be extras so we meet guidelines of having a life jacket on board for the amount of people on board, not necessarily to be worn on a daily basis. It will work for what we need instead of the orange ones, but if you are wanting to use them regularly, keep that in mind.

These life jackets are advertised as adult universal, but they fit much more like a Youth jacket. The straps are large & therefore fully adjustable & will fit up to a size XL adult -- though the fit is uncomfortable, & forget it if you are large chested (man or woman). Just to give you an idea, I had four people try them on. They were a pretty good fit for my 12 year old (114 lb) & 15 year old (125 lb) nephews. But two adults in the house -- 180lbs & 200 lbs they didn't fit well at all. They also fit very short on adults. For many sports this might be an issue, though if you are canoeing or kayaking the short fit may be desirable.For the price (I paid a little over $25 for a 4-pack) it was definitely an acceptable product. These were purchased for extras when we go out to the lake in the event of company or someone else who might need them. Had they been the full list price of $80+, I would have definitely returned them. As it was, they will work just fine for extras in a pinch.

Somewhat small ...for the 50-90 lbs it just fit my 50lb skinny 55in daughter. it worked for her thoughdid not fit my 60 lb 4.5ft skinny daughter

They ran a little too small than what the sizing suggests, it was a snug fit but they will be grown out quickly. They are, however, very buoyant and well constructed for long term use. Recommended

Runs small - my 60 lb son who is skinny as a rail couldn't get into it, and we are used to hearing life jackets. Otherwise, a quality made perfectly decent life jacket.

These vests do run small. I have 4 kids of various sizes/ages and originally bought it for the 2 oldest boys. Oldest is 12 yrs old weighing around 70 lbs. This does not fit him well. Looks very small on him. My 10 year old is around 55 lbs and this fits him nicely.

This vest is very small. My son is 44 pounds and it is just about right but I can't imagine it fitting a child over 50 lbs. It's bulky and not really designed for range of movement. Fine for a kid sitting in a boat but if you have a kid who wants to paddle, I would look for something better.

I read all the reviews and I really should have listened to everyone else! These life jackets are really good quality....the problem is the sizing is WAY OFF in my opinion. My kids are age 5 (47 lbs) and 8 (50 lbs) and the life jackets fit, but there is virtually no room for growth. They both complained that the life jackets were choking them - they were really tight around the neck area. The "V" in the front should be deeper to allow more room there. The buckles are REALLY hard to un-snap. The kids were able to get them buckled, but I was even having a hard time getting them off. I would say we will be buying new life jackets next year...bummer.

After reading a lot of reviews I bought this one, bad decision ! Quality is not bad but the size is. It says "Adult Universal size", barely fits me and my kids, I am not sure how's it going to perform in water.Seller should mention the size clearly, it's not that difficult.

The "too small" reviews are true. They are not just from fat people.

Not for the 50" chest! inexpensive.

Advertised as adult size. I am an average sized guy but these were too small so were returned

Would be a great buy if they fit -these are simply too small. Way too small for the teenage boys (even the thin boys). Barely fit my petite 16 year old daughter. Will return for something with a better fit.

They're ok, much smaller than I expected.

I should have paid more attention to other reviews. I have three children , two in the 50-90 weight range, one smaller. For the two in the 50-90 range this is way too small and it's choking them since the neck hike is too small. It would for the little one, but she s not even close to 50 pounds, and I already have a life vest for her that is rated her weight and fits. Returned.

Both my 7 and 8 year old hated this life jacket. The padding starts too high/wide in the shoulder for them to wear comfortably. This caused the inside corner of the shoulder/neck to push into the under side of their chin. Loosening the top buckle did not help solve this problem. We had the child size of this life jacket and really liked it. The youth size was a disappointment. We returned this product.

My six-year-old wore it once, when I took it off her arms were red and raised by her armpit, it's scratched up her arms Went to return it, since I bought it prime, now they want to take almost 6 dollars off for shipping, so now I'm really disappointed that I'm stuck with a lifevest that is it worth the return

Have to agree with the other reviews on this- cut way too close to the neck and choked my daughter. Kept the tags on and tried it on her- there's no way she would be comfortable in this. Returning. She's 4.5 years old, tall and slender, weighs 55 pounds- so not sure who this would work for. I did find the overall appearance and construction of the vest to be well done- but the "v" at the neck needs to be cut deeper/wider.

Picture showed a strap was suppose to go between the child's legs, that's the main reason I ordered this specific life jacket. When received, there was no strap at the bottom as shown in the picture. Even read the description to make sure I did not misread.

One kid is 48 lbs and the other is about 58 lbs. Fit tight on the 58 and was ok for the 48 (we also checked chest measurements prior to ordering). I also thought that I read it had a strap that went between the legs, but there was not. NO WAY this will fit a 90 lb kid. Product quality is ok expect for the missing strap. But I would not order if your child is 60 or more.

Cheap look elsewhere

These are not for adults. I am a 49 year old male, 5'6" tall and wieigh 160 lbs - these did not fit me - only order if for kids

Too small around the neck was my sons complaint, while he is used to wearing a life jacket regularly for boating etc. he said this one really bothered his neck/shoulder area. He is age 6, 50 pounds.

There is no chance a child over 60lbs could clip this shut. The straps are not long enough

I was completely disappointed with this life jacket. The weight claims up to 90 lbs. My children are 60 and 70 lbs and it barely fit them.

The neck opening is extremely small. Difficult for children to move their heads and it pushes against the neck. My son is only 50lbs at 10 yrs old, so very skinny, and this still is too small for his neck.

Poor! Does not fit according to the specifications. Our child is only 72 pounds with a 27.5" chest, yet the lower two straps will not extend far enough to close. Unfortunately, he removed the tags so we have no choice but to keep it. Perhaps the kitten will enjoy it as a day bed....

Must be made for Hobbits, or Elves. I am not sure how this got labeled as 50-90 pounds. This is incorrect, like many other reviewers this does not fit. My daughter is barely 50 pounds!