Montbell Mirage Parka

Very nice. It looks like they took the Alpine Light Parka design and switched it to 7D fabrics, 900fp down (from 30D and 800fp respectively) plus added a little more down.

I have an older Montbell jacket that seems similar, baffled, very warm. This one adds a much appreciated hood, and drops weight with a lighter fabric and down, sounds perfect!

I can't think of many other jackets like this at this price.

Dan: It also is baffled and has a longer torso, so I think it will actually be a much warmer jacket.

Well, compared to the recently reviewed GoLite Bitterroot:
-same overall weight
-same fill weight
-box baffles
-7D fabric instead of 10D
-better hood/collar (IMO)
-better pockets (IMO)

The question in comparing to the GoLite…what's the price difference? Listed "on sale" on their site at $200, but sold out. Hmm.

Edit: The Rab Microlight Alpine Jacket is also a close contender. $200-$225+ for 12oz, 5oz sewn-thru down (size L), simpler hood and pocket situation.

Good to see this from Montbell.

I have a Gooses Feet Parka and it's amazing (8.75oz 900fp down, M90 outer, box all, weighs 16oz)
and 50$ cheaper than the Montebell piece.

Same amount of down as the Bitterroot but 900 vs 850. So should be equivalent to 5.6 oz of 850 down. Of course, that's al theoretical, since the weights on these jackets vary by close to an ounce from their list weights, it seems unlikely that the amount of down is accurate to within 0.1, as well as the accuaracy of the Fillpower rating.

with box walled baffles, this peice looks seriously warm for the weight. Steven, mind posting a pic of your gooses feet parka? Also roughly what size is it? Thanks!

@Serge,

I can't post a pic as on my iPad but if you look half down thie attached trip report you will see the blue Parka.
I normally take size large in most jackets.

It is a serious bit of kit, It might be for sale soon as I am thinking of getting Ben to make me one with inside mesh pockets and 300g down.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=62629

@steven: thanks for the link. Nice trip report, and yeah that is some serious insulation. I think I may have ben make me a similar parka as a winter belay piece, except with downtek whenever that becomes available. Cheers.

Serge,

I was speaking to Ben about it a while back and he said he will email when me when he has some in for testing.