Ultralight Three-Season Down Jackets State of the Market Report 2010 Part 1

BPL gold. I look forward to parts 2 and 3!

The seam question has been on my mind for years. When wearing a jacket in calm conditions, there may be little noticeable difference in warmth between a highly quilted sewn through jacket and a fully baffled one. But add some wind and the difference, to me, seems dramatic. This is and issue that Richard Nisley's testing can't address (maybe if he added a fan to his testing???). Of course, as mentioned, you can always add a wind shirt, but then you should add the weight difference of carrying a wind short into the equation when evaluating different jacket construction for weight to warmth ratios IMHO.

Bring on parts 2 and 3!!

Good report.
Looking forward to next parts.

As always, a thorough evaluation of data is a welcome read. I would say that the survey of prospective buyers would change dramatically if we found some backpackers on a windswept, alpine peak. I think preferences toward a down heavy, feature light jacket/anorak would occur. It's hard to spend $150+ on a jacket that you won't wear to town, dinner, etc. However, when faced w/ purely utilitarian function, the bare bones down anorak sounds like the ticket. Clever marketing ploys have turned consumers into feature shoppers. Essential function has been pushed aside for bells and whistles, literally.

A great start toward helping us to better understand the issues involved in making our choices on a complex topic. Thanks!

The only thing still on my mind is, which companies make XXL sizes. For some of us, that alone determines our far fewer choices.

" which companies make XXL sizes"

I would add, which companies make legitimate XXL sizes. MontBell annoyed me when they redesigned their UL inner jacket. What used to be a large was now called and XL, and the previous XL became an XXL, etc…I'm absolutely certain this was done to keep the weight the same as the old jacket while adding a zipper and pockets.

Lynn, Patagonia makes a XL Nano Puff. I have used it this past year and am very happy with it–It gets so warm I have to take it off from time to time..I know you asked about XXL but my XL fits me perfect and I am 6'3 and 230 lbs. Open-side Flanker

I'm not in the XXL category, but was merely pointing out that not all XXLs are the same! Hopefully this will be covered in the two upcoming articles…

Being a XXL+ size, 6'5", 275 lbs, I researched a fair amount for my purchase. The Eddie Bauer First Ascent XXL down zip sweater is full sized. In XXL it likely just exceeds the 14 oz guideline but was the lightest full feature gear.