Few tests that Practical Sailor has carried out recently have so exasperated our testers as our comparison of infants’ and children’s life jackets. No wonder 2-year-olds loathe these things. In our opinion, too many of these jackets are either too expensive, cheaply made, or poor-fitting. Vest makers seem to be paying more attention to cute details or cutting production costs than focusing on what matters: proper flotation and quality construction.

With the exception of four life jackets—those by Mustang Survival, Sospenders, and MTI—in the large test field of 14, we were disappointed with what we found. Even among our favorites, we found no jacket that represented the best of everything. …