“The Finest Down Parka Ever” (Patagonia)

[Ken Larson]

Hi Ken,
Thanks for your interest in our Encapsil. It was met with such popularity and excitement that it's currently sold out completely. We do not have plans to offer a second or third edition at this time, but I'm sure that we will at some point in the near future. Please check back. Also, we will be offering our Hi Loft Down, Down Sweater and Ultralight Down Jackets with a very high quality 800 -fill power European Goose Down.

I hope that helps and let us know if you need anything else. Have a nice day!

Thank you, Megan
Patagonia Customer Service

[Don Selesky]

"That's the main problem with this parka – too warm

If you're in the arctic or climbing Denali or some Himalayan peak, fine, but anything that almost any of us would do, it's over-kill"

If you're out on a cold, windy, -20F New Hampshire night, you won't complain about it being too warm. South Carolina, yes, but not necessarily in New England.

[Trill Daddy]

The more I use this jacket, the more I am impressed by it. A few more observations:

– The "neck" is CHOCKED full of down, similar to the EB Peak XV jacket's "turtle neck"

– Articulated arms DO NOT ride up, at all

– The hood is HUGE

– Pertex and DWR sheds water like no other- water actually beaded up when it was raining… but this was only for a few minutes- it was SO damn warm that I had to come back inside.

– This thing is SUPER puffy

[Rick M]

del

[Andrew Manies]

I hate to be the naysayer about this jacket, but the one I received and tried on (after a day of letting it loft) has some noticeably under-filled chambers of down when inspected in bright sunlight. The two chambers are located on the right hip and right chest, and appear to be filled less than half as full as most of the other chambers. The arms of this jacket, however, are absolutely stuffed with down, and the articulation seems to be brilliantly designed. All of the other design features of the jacket appear to be outstanding, and the materials and weight are remarkable.

Still, for the price, one would expect each chamber to be properly filled with down. I seriously doubt that is has anywhere near 10 oz of down, as per Richard's calculations. Richard, may I ask where you obtained that figure?

My overall impression is of a beautifully designed and detailed jacket that would have been perfect, were it not for some quality control issues (likely during assembly) in China.

[Trill Daddy]

Well, it appears that mine too also seems to have the same under filled baffles: the bottom front right baffle, above your right pant pocket and the right chest (right where the pockets are).

Interesting….I haven't really noticed any performance issues though- and I have worn it to -5F with just a Merino T as a base layer .

[Dale Wambaugh]

Geez the fill on my $30 JCP is nice and even. Jab, jab, backslap :p

[Matthew Hoskin]

Babak, somwhow I feel you side with Patagonia???????.
No trolling intended, but who spends that amount on a down jacket????????????
ludicrous to pay more that$400 for a baffled parka.
I paid $800 to have Polar Bear pants sewn, so compare.
Marketing hype. Nice parka – wayyyyyy too expensive

[Dale Wambaugh]

"what happens if you wash this nano-down normally? … will all future patagucci nano-down products require you to send it back to "preserve" the DWR?"

Now Eric…..

It is kinda tough if you're in Nepal, Alaska, PATAGONIA, Antartica, Greenland, or other outposts where it might be COLD. And what do you wear while your puffy is at the cleaners?

But you're just being anti-elitest ;)

I find it very interesting to hear the bragging on the stitching and stable down compartmentlization and then easing reports from two owners that there is uneven fill. OOPS! Ring…. Ring…. QC?

I'm also perplexed by the zippers and lack of tailored features that would normally be found in a garment of this class. For $700 it better pour me a dry Maritini and wipe my nose!

Fine for the lodge at Aspen, but not for living out of a backpack and sleeping on dirt. EAT THE RICH :)

[Trill Daddy]

Oh, so perhaps now is the appropriate time to shed light on how I acquired this jacket….

In January, I googled "Encapsil down jacket" and a listing on for "Patagonia Encapsil Down Belay Jacket" Altrec popped up as the top result.

I quickly went to Patagonia.com to chat with LiveHelp and tried to learn more about the jacket. All I they could tell me was that it was coming out in March. I asked if anyone else there knew anything about it and later chatted with someone who was their for the unveiling of the jacket. he told me it was made with 1000fp down, $699 in paintbrush red and only in limited quantity. He then sent me an image of the jacket and asked if I wanted to purchase one. I was shocked, I didnt think he was serious, so I looked around for a gift card I had lost in my room a few months ago (I still beat myself up over it). Alas, no gift card. I chatted back in and purchased the jacket on my CC (with the intention of reviewing the jacket [with the tags] and then returning it).

My card was charged, I received a tracking # and I received my jacket the next week (still mid January). I then posted about this jacket on BPL which was then later taken down.

I paid for the jacket, and reviewed it, and them my post was taken down. I was then contacted by RJ who got me in touch with some (rather senior) folks at Patagonia, who asked me to refrain from posting about the jacket and later offered to refund me for the jacket in exchange for not wearing it in public or publishing any reviews until after the jacket was released. I took my YouTube videos off line until 3/1.

Is this jacket worth $700?- I don't think so, but then again, people pay FAR MORE for FAR LESS INNOVATIVE garments (I have family who work in haute couture, and I find that stuff absurdly overpriced and obscene- with no innovative textiles or designs).

I also don't pay retail for really any of my gear (although, I did pay FULL RETAIL for a Patagonia Hooded Down Sweater and found it worth every penny, until it was stolen…)

I am a huge proponent of support in US manufactured goods, and it bums me out to see this jacket made in China. I think at this price point, consumers would be MUCH happier to pay an extra $100 for a US manufactured garment.

[Dylan Fish]

Babak, I'ts mind boggling that the person you spoke to on the live chat thought it was alright to sell you Patagonia's "secret weapon", you would think it would be locked away from the employees in a "highly classified" locker. Haha. Any idea what made him spill the beans?

What a surreal story. Enjoy your "free" jacket while I try and stop drooling:)

[Martin RJ Carpenter]

Isn't that relatively likely to be deliberate? I know that its one thing that say PHD do and I have a vague impression that its relatively common when people are taking real care.

There's certain places where you just don't need as much fill so you put less there etc. It might only be noticeably visible in a couple of places but it probably varies in quite a few.

Obviously it costs money upfront in design and manufacture but for this price they certainly should be able to afford that……

[Dale Wambaugh]

It is likely that the same worker filled the two jackets mention in this thread. It may be that those areas were harder to access in the process, of the line foreman was being nasty that day and the worker got even. Stranger yet, it made it by QC.

It doesn't make sense that the right side is different from the left. Ifcyouvtold me it was symmetrically lighter under the arms, I could see it as a design feature. It sounds flaky to me.

[Dale Wambaugh]

The jacket had to be in the computer system and assigned a SKU number in a web based sales organization like that. Perhaps it was assigned some sort of VIP status that the salesperson could override or access. Savvy salespeople know their inventory and that jacket had to stand out like a sore thumb. Maybe they had a memo or a meeting and talked it up. Or somebody screwed up and put the item online before the official release date, or maybe it wasn't a screwup.

I see a big ticket item, a commission and a hungry salesperson all in the same place. If the organization is too number oriented, some sales folk (and/or their managers) will do funny things to make big numbers. Been there and had to clean up the messes.

[Eugene Smith]

Meh.

George Costanza was rocking "The Finest Down Parka Ever' long before Babak, or anyone for that matter.

[Jerry Adams]

So you didn't have to pay for it Babak?

How funny. Nice way to take advantage of opportunity in mindless beauracracy.

[Trill Daddy]

I college worked for several retailers- one of which being backcountry.com (where I was a LiveHelp gear head) and I can tell you that there is A LOT lost in communication between the higher ups and the sales folks.

I actually chatted with 3 different sales people who all confirmed that the jacket was "for sale" in their system but didn't have any more information other than the color, price and that it was made with "special 1000FP down".

My guess: Patagonia kept this so under wraps that they didn't tell the sales folk st the bottom all of the details (big mistake IMO) and that SOMEONE ELSE made it "live" in their inventory.

Also part of my deal with Patagonia was to assure me that no one was fired from their company as a result of this- I have their written assurance in an email. It's the employee's fault- I blame the company for "keeping everyone in the dark".

[James holden]

obviously the right side of the highly skilled alpinists for which this jacket is meant for has more natural body fat than the left side … and as such requires less insulation …

thats what happens when you live on an alpine marmot diet …

it has to be a design feature because there is no way that a top notch manufacturer would have quality control issues on their 700$ flagship uber down parka …. not joking …

but then um just being elitist ;)

[Dale Wambaugh]

"but then um just being elitist…"

Kidding aside, I did some searches on the Patagonia site and was surprised to see how many $500 and $600 items they make. The jump to $700 is just an increment. I've been mucking around in the proletarian $100-$200 stuff and thought that was spendy!

Where this gets me is that there are people in dire straights, let alone groups like Scouts that could outfit a bunch of kids for what these jackets cost. And I do think the feature set is more fashion than function. Poor old Henry Thoreau is sittin' on a cloud and shaking his head, thinking, "I warned you about this in 1854!"

[Mike R]

"Babak, somwhow I feel you side with Patagonia???????.
No trolling intended, but who spends that amount on a down jacket????????????
ludicrous to pay more that$400 for a baffled parka.
I paid $800 to have Polar Bear pants sewn, so compare.
Marketing hype. Nice parka – wayyyyyy too expensive"

Sure it's expensive, but so are other super warm down jackets. The Feathered Friends Rock & Ice parka is almost $150 more. I have no idea how they compare warmth wise. Fact is, high quality outdoor weather protection designed for extremes is expensive. Don't even consider looking at what a MUSTO offshore sailing jacket costs. That said, I don't think there's going to be a whole lot of belaying going on in this jacket. I think most of these jackets will end-up on urbanites walking around Manhattan, Vancouver, Vail, Whistler etc. not on people pushing the limits on big mountains. Most of the professional climbers and skiers only wear this stuff b/c it's given to them so that Patagonia can say – "hey Steve House wears our gear…" The true cost is associated with the exclusiveness of this jacket, the serial numbers, the new technology, the 1000 FP claims.

Patagonia didn't pump big cash into this jacket to just make it once. They'll probably have Encapsil tech in all their down garments by 2014.

…And if you guys think Patagonia is expensive, look at Arc'teryx. Many of their insulated jackets exceed the price of Patagonia's Encapsil and they use synthetic ins.

[Adam Klags]

I just read all the posts and threads about the jacket. Now how about some performance reviews or field reviews? Seem people are more interested in balking at the price… We aren't all rich here, but $700 to have a garment "like new" for the rest of your life sounds like a bargain to me. I see clothes regularly priced at $700 every day in stores. Shit most jeans you see on TV cost about $250 these days. Judgements aside, why would you attack Babek about what he spent here? That's bad form. You come across as petty and jealous, at best. People are at different income levels. Let's try not to get into pissing matches about that and keep the posts about what matters – performance. Of which I found… NONE. Is there a review on the site that I haven't seen? And no I don't mean the unboxing video…

[Stephen M]

No review on bpl yet, but outdoorgearlab has one, its also sold out in most sizes.

[James holden]

its a "collectors item" … it should be sitting in the closet being used for the occasional dawg walking for most of the purchasers i would imagine

i assume theyve fixed the issue with the uneven filling

;)

[Eric Blumensaadt]

There is a saying Eric,

"To be exclusive one must exclude."

I guess that applies in spades to the Patagucci $700. down jacket. It sure as hell excludes me since I just spent more than twice that for a competition rifle scope. I'm SO broke now that I even use coupons when shopping for groceries and THAT is humiliating for a manly and masculine man such as moi.

[david]

Okay, so my local outdoor store has one.
What everyone said about it at first touch is spot on.
I am impressed at how freaking solid it feels, the down won't compress without effort.
I felt like going to sleep like I was in a cocoon.
It fits me perfectly and I could layer a softshell underneath.

The bad news, it fits me, it's number 337 (okay so it lacks a 1), I have about 3/5 of the price in store gift cards whih I can get at a slight discount through the local outdoors organisation if I want more, and if I ever got itI'd be afraid of using (got trips planned in the alps and maybe the adirondacks in the next few months, so please tell me it wouldn't be useful there !).

For that steep a price, I'd have to view the patagonia satisfaction guarantee and warranty as well as the free washing as insurance.

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