beginner fleece question

Here is the breakdown on the Regulator fabrics from the Patagonia web page at http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=2300

Note that only R4 has a windproof membrane. The rest really need some sort of wind or rain shell to be fully effective.

Regulator insulation comes in four weights: R4®, R3®, R2®, and R1®.

R1 is minimally designed and finely tuned for the full spectrum of mountain endeavors. Its high/low grid fabric traps heat to insulate and moves moisture off the skin.

I don't know what Patagonia R300 is. Are you thinking of 300W fleece? Synchilla? I would go with the 200w fleece max for hiking. The hairy looking Polartec High Loft as used in the R3 would be a better bet than 300w fleece. From there lofted fills like down or Primaloft have more warmth and compressibility for the weight. 300w fleece is a boat anchor!

200w fleece can be cheap to buy. If your Mom is a good seamstress, get her to make you a Primaloft or down jacket instead :)

You need Polartec thermal pro fleece. Check millyardage.com. They should have different varieties of it there.

Ryan

I just looked through their selection and they don't have it. I am curious if other folks do sell it by the yard.

There have been other threads here about fleece and some discussion as to whether or not it is really critical to have the latest and greatest. Yes, it would be fun to have but I don't know how much of a difference I would notice.

http://www.millyardage.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=4228

Thanks I'm looking at millyardage.com right now.

And yes I do have a down jacket, a primaloft one, and a primaloft vest I made. I also realize they aren't as warm for the weight and bulk as insulated items, but I like fleece.

Thanks for pointing that out that they do have it. I had missed it because I didn't look closely enough. What is confusing to me is that they have it labeled Classic 200 wt: Thermal pro… I assumed that "classic 200 wt" would be, well, "classic 200 wt" rather than anything else. The available colors are rather fun.

Your OP stated a desire for wind resistance. High loft, or 'fluffy' ThermalPro has almost no wind resistance, and really needs something like a pertex shell to make it useful in windy conditions. But as that makes for a versatile layering system, it's a system I'd recommend over a straight windproof fleece any day…

You can look into either one of these 2:

http://www.millyardage.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=9525

http://www.millyardage.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=9619

They both provide wind protection and high loft, the powershield one additionally provides water resistance.