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A look at the many-pocketed, e-gear designed travel vest from SCOTTeVEST,... ( Danny Caudillo )

E-tailer Scott Jordan made me the perfect geek-glorious vest.

Well, not exactly. But close. And putting myself aside, the lawyer-turned-tech-clothier has created a line of apparel, including a superbly useful new travel vest, that many others will consider perfect without qualification.

The two-sentence recap: Jordan's company is Scottevest, and his jackets, vests, hoodies and cargo pants feature a "gear management solution" of numerous hidden pockets, plus wire-running conduits for ear-bud and headphone cords. These are handsome garments that are ingeniously designed for road warriors or gadget freaks who want every possible device - cell phone, iPod, camera, game player, penknife flash drive, voice recorder and more - within reach at all moments.

Readers can check out all the details at an extremely comprehensive Web site: www.scottevest.com. But my understanding of the products is based on rigorous testing.

As Jordan discovered five years ago, I first became intrigued with his then fledgling company because my improvised solution to making electronics wearable was just a pocket-rich fly-fishing vest. Jordan's designs sounded more sophisticated, in terms of appearance as well as efficiency. So Jordan sent me a 17-compartment eVest - a polyester jacket with zip-off sleeves - to arrange all my stuff in and try out for a week.

In a headline, the Mercury News dubbed it "the vest of everything," and I

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gave it generally high marks for being stylish as well as innovative and functional. Jordan, who's clever with buzz words and described his concept as a convergence of apparel, luggage and technology, got a bunch of orders as a result of the article. But he failed to get me out of the fishing vest.

I found the arrangement of the pockets, plus the use of Velcro closures instead of zippers in some spots, worked against good weight distribution. There was an uncomfortable sensation because contents were sagging to the bottom of the vest. And my fishing vest had a bigger number of pockets - 22 - that accommodated both gadgets and a large assortment of more mundane items (wallet, sunglasses, keys, prescriptions, coins, etc.).

Since then, I've purchased a series of increasingly elaborate and more expensive fishing vests while Jordan has repeatedly refined his products, particularly in terms of the utility of pockets and better weight distribution. In November, he told me he was getting ready to release a new 22-compartment, lightweight cotton-nylon vest with a no-bulge pocket system that also balanced the load of whatever I would stuff into it. It costs $100.

"I want you out of that fishing vest," he said this week. "Are you going to tell readers you were truly the inspiration for this?"

I tested it last week, and it's a terrific garment that delivers on all its promises. In addition to all the basic improvements, I particularly liked the little icons attached to some pockets to suggest which ones are best for a cell phone, music player, headphones, glasses or documents. The material also has a wonderfully supple feel. One small warning, however: The vest includes some magnetic closures, so it can't be worn by people with pacemakers or anything medically similar.

But as good as it is, and even though it will be ideal for 99 percent of folks interested in this kind of specialized clothing, I'm sticking with my fishing vest. That's because I've gone so far over the cliff - adding items like a huge magnifying glass and small reference books to what I carry around every day - that I need the fishing vest's unattractively bulging but extra-strong pockets to handle everything.

Jordan, who spent this week meeting with reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is satisfied I gave his new vest a thorough trial before returning it. He understands the odyssey of transferring all the items I lug around from the fishing vest to his vest and then back.

In fact, in 2002, when he sent me that first vest to test, I discovered one pocket already was filled. He'd left his passport inside.

Contact Mike Antonucci at mantonucci@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5690.