paagonia vs Montbell

I could not find any info on the puffer jacket, but the hooded micro puff jacket uses 2.7oz insulation, that is about 77 grams, so the insulation is simmilar weight to the 80g insulaton in the montbell parka.

The only real difference the patagonia jacket has is durability, but the warmth I think would be about the same
The micro puff uses 1.3oz 20 denier fabric with DWR
and the mont bell uses 15 denier balistic air light with DWR

You would save weight with the mont bell, but sacrifice some durability, it depends what you will be using the jacket for I guess

But in all my experiences with the balistic airlight fabric, it has proved to be durable enough for me.

Here is a comparison I did in another thread, for someone with a similar question

Mont bell thermawrap PARKA:

(click image)

• 15 denier Ballistic Airlight nylon shell and lining (windproof
• Exceloft synthetic insulation (80g / m2 )(2.7 oz)
Weight: 12.7 oz.
$160

Patagonia micropuff JACKET:

(click image)

Shell: 1.3-oz., 20 x 20 denier triple ripstop polyester with a Deluge® DWR (durable water repellent) finish; Lining: 1-oz. 20 x 20 mini-ripstop nylon with Deluge DWR finish;
Insulation: 2.7-oz. Polarguard Delta
581 g. (20.5 oz.)
$180

SAME loft
thermawrap is lighter
thermawrap is cheaper
both windproof
both have hand warmer pockets
both have full zipper
BOTH HAVE HOOD
Both have a durable water repellent (DWR) coating

thanks for the tips!
I have a quarter – heads or tails??

See http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/montbell_ul_thermawarp_parka_spotlite_review.html
for the Montbell parka review. The loft is .375″. The loft on the Patagonia Micro Puff is .6″.

I have two size L Micro Puffs. They are much bigger through the torso (I have size 42 chest / 34 waist) than my other size L jackets. You will get a billows effect, which reduces warmth, unless you have a larger chest / waist size than me or wear another insulation layer underneath. Ideally you want to have body dimensions near the uppper end provided by the size you select.

I own the following:

1. Montbell Thermawrap Jacket (non hooded)

2. Patagonia Micropuff pullover

3. Patagonia Micropuff Jacket

I’ve seen and tried on the Thermawrap hooded parka in the store but don’t own it.

The Patagonia Pullover has significantly more loft and warmth than the montbell.

The newer thermawrap hooded parka, even though it appears to have more/better insulation than the thermawrap is still quite thin, and has less loft than the patagonia pullover. The Patagonia hooded jacket appear to have similar loft to the pullover but is quite warmer due to the hood. Curiously, my size M Micropuff pullover weighs a tad over 10 oz and my thermawrap size L (both garments fit me well) weighs just under 10 oz, so they are both within 0.5 oz of each other, but the micropuff is quite a bit warmer and seems to have a higher warmth/weight ratio.

With that said, I take the Montbell thermawrap 90% of the time. It is warm enought down to freezing with base layers on and seems to compress better than the Patagonia.

Dan

Three Pinner,

You might also want to try on these garments as the fit is quite different between the two.

Like I said before, I wear the Patagonia in size M but the Montbell in size M is too trim for me.

One thing that has been nice is that the Patagonia garments have weighed in under spec. My Patagonia size M hooded Jacket came in at 16 oz, significantly less than the published amount, which I suspect might be for a size L.

I myself was looking for a hooded parka and looked at both these garments and ended up getting the Patagonia.

Of course it did help that it was on closout at my local retailer for $99 :)

Dan

Thanks for all the input. I’m kind leaning toward the Micro puff. I’m still sort of old school believing that the thicker=warmer most of the time. It’s all dead air anyway.
I have the thermalwrap jacket (hoodless) just got it in February actually, and haven’t really test driven it. Mighty thin, but seems to be about as warm as my fleece. and snug fit too!

Keep in mind that the 80 grams is in square meters and the 2.7 oz is square yards. So while 80 / 28 is about 2.8 oz, when including the differance in area; exceloft its more like 2.3 oz/yard.

Also the Patagonia hooded jacket was 16.5oz two years ago (listed) this past year it was listed at 20.5 oz.

So is the montbell the only synthetic hooded jacket under a pound nowadays?

I wanna see a hooded cocoon…I thought that was in the works a year or so ago but haven’t heard anything since.