Best lightweight down puffy pants

To my knowledge, your main choices are:

– Western Mountaineering Flash Pants
– Montbell UL Down Inner Pants
– Goosefeet Down Pants

All of these pants are a similar weight (6-8oz). The WM ones are good but they known for being really short (see the BPL Down Pants review). The Montbell ones are good but they aren't that warm…most of the weight is the shell fabric. The Goosefeet ones are quite toasty with 3oz of down and you can custom select the color and fit. I personally like getting the inseam longer than you normally would and opting for elastic ankles.

I don't think there is much else out there.

Thanks Dan, why the longer inseam?

I normally wear a 32×32 in jeans so that's what I ordered for my goosefeet down pants. The resulting pants ended up closer to 32×30, so they are a bit short…not a big deal, but if you are ordering a pair you may as well try to get them perfect. Shortly after my wife ordered some of these pants and we ordered the inseam about 2" longer than she normally wears and that worked out really well. So the goal here isn't to get a longer inseam than normal, it's to avoid getting a shorter inseam than normal. If the inseam did end up being a little long (maybe Ben has changing his pattern?), then it's no big deal if you have the elastic ankles because the pants won't slide down over your shoes. The elastic ankles also seal in the heat around your ankles.

I will be getting my wm flash xl pants tuesday. I normally wear a 38 34 and will let you know how they fit when I get them if you are interested.

Dan,

I’m really sorry yours turned out a little short. It was probably because yours were the first pair that I made after my own, and I hadn’t fully grasped how much length was lost to loft. I have made more than a dozen pairs now, and for a small fee, I can send out a prototype pair of pants (one layer, cheap nylon) to check for sizing in the waist, hips, rise, thighs, calves, and overall length. I think that was successful with Brian Senez’s cuben pants.

Also see this thread for more info on WM, MB, and GF down pants.

– Ben Smith

Thanks Ben. I do love these pants and they work great. My wife loves hers too…she wears them around the house sometimes because she loves being cozy. It sounds like you're getting things really dialed in now.

An idea for you to consider is making down shorts or 2/3 length pants. This would be great for those SUL freaks who want toasty lower body insulation at the lowest weight possible. It would also be safer to wear while hiking (ie. in the winter) because if you got wet ankles/lower legs then your down pants would still stay dry. Water has a way of sneaking in around the ankles.

I can do that, if anyone is interested, let me know!

Picked up a pair the sizing seems fine for me. But do wish there was elastic on the ankles.

Worn them at 27*F and so far they were fine with a smartwool medium weight base layer. I'm wondering how they will fare in the teens or single digits.

Definitely light weight, packable and comfortable.

Cabela's sells 550 fill goose down pants for $60. Not the 800 fill of Montbell's pants but a LOT less money.

I'd use them, along with my EB First Ascent down jacket to extend the range of my sleeping bags. I've used my Thermolite Micro insulaed jacket and pants inside my WM Megalite 30 deg. bag in the low teens and was very comfortable. A down suit would be at least as good.

550 fill pants will be marginally heavier than 800 fill but remember, we're talking about far less down than the weight difference seen in sleeping bags. Plus, lower fill down also resists compression a bit more than 800 fill, retaining its loft better under the squeezing from outer layers. And Cabela's garantee is the same as REI's.

(I think Santa will get them for me at an after Christmas "sale". :)

Using clothing to extend the range of sleeping bags comes under the heading of multiple use gear", I believe.

you know the weight of those Cabela pants?

Sorry Aaron, the weight is not listed but their product specialists can likely tell you that info.

The product # is JA92-0154 for the Regular length, 0155 for Tall.

I have got some of the Montbells and agree elastic at the bottom would be good. They don't have a huge amount of down, but I didn't want something too warm. If max warmth is what you need then I would look at PHD or Goosefeet.

With the amount of down involved (2-3oz) using 550 fill wouldn't cause a huge weight increase, but I suspect the Cabela's pants are going to wind up way heavier (ie. double) due to heavier shell fabrics and probably a few 'features'.

It depends what your ultimate goal is, but I personally like to buy better gear the first time, so I don't wind up wishing I had waited a bit longer and saved a few more dollars to get something quite a bit better.

wouldn't doubt it if there are a pound

might as well get any decent synth pants instead of the 550 fill … the synth ones will be as warm or warmer and dry quicker