Costco 800 Fill Down Sweater $49.99

[Scott Lostetter]

I know there has been a lot of cheap down jackets come up lately, but I thought I'd throw out another one. This jacket appeared a couple years ago and was priced at $79.99, but my local store has them for $49.99. I know there were a couple threads about it in years past. It uses 20 denier fabric, 800 fill goose down, and YKK zippers. I have a medium and it weighs in at 11.8 ounces. The fit and construction are very similar to my Patagonia down sweater. I think for $50 bucks this is a great bargain.

[Mike Gervais]

In sage green. Sad to say, I need the boxy cut.

[Ryan Jordan]

Great bargain? This is an outrageous bargain! We may not be getting dramatically lighter gear, but the cost may be coming down. (I know, China et al., don't go flaming me yo!)

[And E]

Too bad their sizes suck. It's as if smaller men don't exist. Even their mediums, which is their smallest size, are larger than I've ever tried anywhere else(closer to a large).

It's a really good deal though! Maybe I'll be able to find a kid's size that'll fit me this year, last year I couldn't.

[Mike Gervais]

Something to be said there.

[Ian]

That's a great bargain.

Are these made by Hawkes & Co? If so, I bought their down vest from Costco for ~ $25 and think it's a great value. My only nit to pick is that I'm constantly losing down. It's by far the worst of the few down garments I own.

Edit: Duh! I see that it's Kirkland not Hawkes so pls disregard my last.

[James holden]

high fill power down jackets are being commoditized … the ~600-700 ones already are

this is a GOOD thing as it allows more people to purchase and use the gear … and save more money for actual activities

that is a VERY good price for an 800 fill down jacket … basically less than half the price of most "brand name" stuff even on clearance …

;)

[brian H]

agreed on sizing.
the Med is a "working Large"
it's as if it's a NW thang, and theyre outfitting Sasquatch :)
[same 4 the vests]

[Matthew Black]

I tried one on two years ago when they were $80 and found the large to be slim with very long sleeves. I think the sizing has changed dramatically as this year's model is ridiculously oversized in large. The medium is voluminous for a down sweater but the price can't be beat and the quality is very nice for $50. Don't need but couldn't resist. Mine is coming in at 11.7 ounces.

[Ian]

For those of you who own or at least have seen both the Hawkes & Co down vest (previously carried by Costco) and Kirkland down jacket, does it appear the Kirkland version is the same manufacturer?

The descriptions of the sizing I'm reading here seem to indicate that the only difference is branding.

[Matthew Black]

I'm not in the right place to check the thermal value of this jacket but it seems too good to pass up at the price point. As far as as I can tell it is at least as warm as my Nano pullover and has a full zip plus hand-warmer pockets for a 1.7 ounce penalty in size medium. It's so cheap that I want to buy another to leave in the car for the rained out days.

[Ian Schumann]

Others have said it already, and I'll just confirm — if you're normally a size medium or a size small, you're out of luck with this piece. Just saw them last night at my local Costco, and had to go try on a medium. I normally wear a medium in most brands, but in the Kirkland Down Sweater I was swimming. It really should have been called a large.

FYI.

[Anonymous]

Ian, the Hawkes and Co label uses 550 duck down. The Kirkland brand jacket uses 800 fp Euro sourced goose down.

That's one big difference in quality right away. Also, the Kirkland brand uses a fairly fine denier, hollow fiber nylon. Not sure what the Hawkes and Co uses for fabric, but doubt it's as fine denier from the respective feel of the garments.

Generally speaking, the finer the fibers, the softer it feels.

[Hammock Hanger]

My .02 cents: both the Hawkes and Kirkland products are well made and exceptional buys for the price. Plus the lifetime Costco no-questions-asked full refund return guarantee on any brand from Costco.

Both do tend to run large in size. I bought a Large Hawkes vest and had to return it for a Medium (I'm 6'0, 185#, 42 chest 34 waist and the Large was just too loose. Medium fits great but still ample room for layering underneath. Both are fine with torso length, good coverage down to the tops of my rear Levi's jeans pockets.

Both brand jackets come with boxy torso's, good length waist and long arms. That's not a bug, for me (35 sleeve length) it's a desirable feature. Both have generous inside open-top kangaroo pockets for stashing gloves/phone/whatever. Outside handwarmer pockets are zippered.

Finish quality on the Hawkes is very good. Both my Hawkes vest and jacket (550 duck fill) do shed a little down periodically, but so do my Eddie Bauer Downlight vest & jacket,(800 goose fill) for >three + times the price. Seems hard to create a truly UL and packable shell fabric/liner that prevents down loss but still packs small/light, so I see it as a very minor tradeoff. YMMV.

Costco is even more QC-serious, if that's possible, with their signature Kirkland brand. Neither brand will let you down (pardon the pun). I use mine a lot for air travel, when flying from my warm location to someplace cold where I'm going to want warmth that packs flat & small in a carryon bag. Hiking ditto.

800 fill naturally beats 550, but Hawkes' 550 is pretty ample for most situations as an insulation layer. I've worn my Hawkes vest and/or jacket as a solo insulation layer under a thin unlined windbreaker/windshell and been perfectly comfortable down to 30'/upper 20's so far. I get cold easily so that's a real compliment to the Hawkes down.

Both are great buys. My Costco had the Hawke's vests priced down from $25 to $19 so at that price I grabbed a black, a blue and an olive drab. Costco only has these seasonally and does not usually restock so when they're gone they're gone even though Winter is just beginning for most of the USA. Don't procrastinate.
Costco also offers general around-town all purpose softshell winter jackets (Weatherproof is one brand I remember) that are fantastic buys at the price ($25-$39 range) so give those a look too. They also offer winter gloves with those fingers that let you use a touchscreen iPhone with the gloves on for insanely low prices.

Off topic but I notice Target near me has unusually good range of serious winter hunter's caps <$20, those synthetic fur/fleece jobs with the dropdown flap ears that make you look like a KGB Colonel (minus insignia). Not UL but insanely warm/windproof, great for serious winter & not always easy to find at dedicated outdoors chains.

[Matt Allen]

$25 at my local Costco. (Everett, WA)

Super deal.

[Delmar O’Donnell]

I'm sure what I'm about to say is obvious and well known to all readers, but if not:

It's remarkably easy for a tailor to adjust an ill fitting down jacket or vest. I usually wear M-L, and purchased a Hawkes M vest for $15, which could have easily accommodated 80 pounds of belly fat that I don't have (yet–working on it). It hung so loosely that air easily wafted around underneath the vest. So I took it to my local tailor who said "I do down alterations all the time, no big deal," and said he'd charge $18 for the alteration. (And those are California prices.)

I think a well-fitted 550 vest is well worth $32, but maybe like me, you need to get your tailor involved to take it from "OK" to "great."

PS: Good post Hammock Hanger, thanks.

[David Barnes]

These actually went as low as 17.00 at one of the suburban stores. The urban store had them for 25.00. They refused to price match. That would typically be a deal killer for me but Costco otherwise has great CS, I like the people at the urban store and the deal was too good to pass up.

I got an XL for me in grey and a M in black for my 14 yr. old son. He is barely a S right now, but for 25.00, he can grow in to it for next year.

I would not dawdle if you want one of these. Only the urban store had any stock and they were going fast. While not quite as nice as my First Ascent/EB, in terms of fit, it was a great deal at 50.00 and I was losing money at 25.00 not to buy them!!

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