NEW Patagonia stuff for Fall 2015

Cap Thermal Weight seems identical to last years Cap 4. It is the same 3.8oz Polartec Power Dry High Efficiency. Weight on the Crew went down from 5.4oz to 5.2, my guess is a slimmer cut.

Looks like the weight on the UL down hoody went up by about an ounce.

New capilene 1 and 2 look nice though! Looks like they eliminated cap3, which was kind of obsolete anyway, and the cap4 hasn't changed? cap4 is amazing so that's OK with me.

Spoke with a rep this afternoon and he clarified a few things:

the Thermalweight and Cap 4 are very very similar, with the former ditching the chest pocket and adding a longer hem. Fabric is supposed to be noticeable more breathable due to a new grid pattern. R1 is also supposed to be more breathable.

Midweight replaces cap 3.

The cap 2 zip neck also disappeared. This happens during some seasons, but it shouldn't happen in the fall!

I always thought the cap 4 was long enough (I'm 6'1" size medium) but a little extra won't hurt.

I'm intrigued by the Merino Air with that near 50/50 wool/poly blend. I love the try time on my Rab MeCo tee which I think is around 65/35 wool/poly. What I'm uncertain of though is if recycled capilene in the Merino Air also has Polygene. If not, I would think it to be a loss in the odor category that wool has going for it.

The old patagonia wool baselayers were a poly/wool mix. I wonder if this is just a renaming of the same (or similar) fabric.

Eh, I'm not so excited about "micro grid" fabrics.

I have a couple of Cabela's zippered mock turtle neck poly tops with roughly a 3/16 grid size in the interior. They were fine for a day of ski patrolling.
BUT…
While backpack hunting I kept the top on day and night. By day 2 my forearms were itching. I removed the shirt and found the grid pattern imprinted on my forearms. THAT was what was causing my itching. So I had to turn the long john shirt inside out.

Be forewarned if you plan long trips that would require constantly wearing grid pattern long johns.

Jus' sayin'…

Jeff – to me it looks like the old cap1 aka silkweight is replaced by the new "lightweight", the old cap2 aka lightweight is now "midweight" with grid pattern
old cap3 is gone, and the old cap4 is now "thermalweight".

It's all a bit confusing, but overall probably a good change. The cap3 was pretty much obsolete anyway, cap2 was much more breathable and cap4 much warmer, both were more comfortable. They still have a "midweight" zip neck which is probably very close in function to the old cap2 zip neck. I don't think they ever made a cap 1 zip neck.

I'm down for trying the ThermalWeight products and for the new Pertex UL stuff. Hope to check it out in person soon.

I was sitting on a gift certificate, and that merino air looked to promising not to try at 7.3 oz. The fit looks maybe not long enough, but I'll see when I try it on. As much as I like polartec grid like the cap 4, I still find merino more comfortable, and I appreciate the stretch and softness. Just the structure of the fabric makes me think that it will wick well and dry quickly. Would probably only use for colder weather endeavors. Looks like all their baselayers just got better, although a half zip is a sure nice thing to have. Curious about the R1 changes as well.

I wonder if the merino air has the same fit as the cap 4? For me the medium cap 4 fits more like a mid layer than a tight base layer, which is what I want.
Also, why didn't they do a half zip on the merino air? Being able to zip way down helps to cool off at times.

Loving the look of the new R3 and the Dual Aspect hoody. The new Capilene stuff looks good too, but I'm a bit confused how the Midweight can be 4.4-oz Power Grid and the Thermalweight can be 3.8-oz Power Grid, but the latter can somehow be warmer.

I also agree, the Thermalweight seems indistinguishable from the old Cap 4.

try before you buy, because not even Patagonia could give me a clear answer earlier this year when I asked about how the new classification compares with the former one.

So is the new Capilene Thermal (Cap 4) pattern different from the recent Cap 4 updates in January 2015? Also, is the new Capilene Lightweight and Midweight pattern similar to old Cap 4 (new Thermal). The previous cap 2 and 3 didn't have the fleece grid of Cap 4, now it seems they all do. Would be a welcome change if so. The Patagonia rep wasn't helpful…

You are correct on all accounts.

Heads up, I ordered the new R1 hoody (arrived only 2 days later!!), and love the improvements.
Zipper is in the middle vs the weird diagonal thing it did before. R1 fabric goes all the way to the bottom vs the previous transition to cap4.
Hood and the thumbloops also seems to fit better. Overall it looks more "normal" while preserving functionality. I could actually wear this thing in public now.

Also got the merino lightweight crew. Fit is a bit more snug which I like, doesn't show my nips too much, but is a little scratchy….hopefully will get better after I wash it. This might replace my dead bird phase sl….we'll see.

OK, I tried to compare the new and old baselayers based on certain properties to get an idea how the old categories could be transfered to the new ones. I could be wrong though so there's still no guarantee.

So
both Cap 1 and Cap Daily have a polyester/spandex blend for superior stretch and moisture management, a smooth jersey face that is comfortable against the skin and a UPF of 50 (the new Lightweight only has a polyester fabric and a UPF of 35) -> based on this Cap Daily is the new name for Cap 1 (or Silkweight)
Cap Daily has though no offset seams on the shoulders anymore.

Cap 2 and Cap Lightweight are both 100% polyester. Cap 2 has an open knit while Cap Lightweight has an open grid pattern. So based on these properties, Cap Lightweight is the name for Cap 2.

And then Cap Midweight and Thermalweight can only be the new names for Cap 3 and 4.

Then Merino:
– Daily is new
– Merino 1 and Lightweight both have a 3,5 oz. fabric with a 65/35 blend hence they are the same.
– The same for Midweight and 2 or Thermalweight and 3.
– Merino Air is new too.

Just came in today.

Incredible fabric, feels like "handlebar tape" but softer, and more plush.

The cut on this is more conducive to the fit folks- it's accentuating my flabby self so I'm considering parting with it.

Cowl neck is kind of yuppie – I can see city folk/gym rats buying the hell out of this piece.

Super breathable. Like, cap 2- breath ability.

Durability seems questionable though

Did a quick review of the Cap Thermalweight – pardon my left eye, it's still healing from a corneal laceration a few weeks ago. So no, I am not stoned….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH1oH8McSbk

but it looks warm. A first guess would be somewhere between Midweight and Thermalweight. Wright ?

I cannot speak to the durability, but the Merino Air feels is like an ultralight cable-knit merino sweater. It is very breathable and also very warm.I think it has a huge potential to snag.

Just got my capilene lightweight T. Totally different from cap 1 or 2.
It's actually very similar if not identical to the fabric used in the outdoor research Echo.

I like it a lot for temp regulation….but it suffers from the same downside as the echo….it shows my nips pretty bad. I got the green one…perhaps the dark blue one would be less revealing?

as I have some Echo Zip-T's and like them very much, that sounds very nice. And as the weight of the Patagonia-fabric is described as 80g/m² and that of OR is 78g/m², it could actually be the same. If now Patagonia decides to offer also a rather light colored zip-T, that would make me even more happier.

Very happy to hear it's very similar to the Echo fabric. Definitely my favourite fabric for hot humid summers here.
Though the OR's are fine, nice to have options.