Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Q-Shield hydrophobic down and loft

The hooks and barbs on down will stick to each other if compressed for an extended period of time. Think velcro on a microscopic scale. So it takes a longer time to loft (if ever) after heavy and prolonged compression without agitating the down. Shake the jacket as forcefully as you dare to restore the loft. It could just be the jacket. The MH is incredibly light and these down sweaters just aren't that lofty to begin with when compared to a 10oz or heavier jacket.

After awhile in storage it's always nice to take your down items and put them in the dryer for a few minutes. That'll loft them up well. As mentioned above the down barbs stick to each other and cause it to lose loft when stored compressed for periods of time.

If there were a problem with the hydrophobic down, I suspect the real scientists and pretend scientists throughout the backpacking world would fiercely attack the coating. However, the MH Ghost Whisperer is almost universally regarded as a good product. it will either loft over time with use, or conversely, it's just less lofty as you expected and performs at spec like that. I suspect the former, personally.

The nice thing about the backpacking community is that the serious backpackers DEMAND serious gear, and the casual backpackers fill the non-serious gear quota. So, companies like Mountain Hardwear sell 20,000 heavy 700-fill down jackets and just 1,000 nice, 850-fill ultralight jackets and the ultralight ones HAVE to be good, or they won't sell. Market-driven innovation and competition is real for serious backpackers, and has been for a while, I suspect. And the companies making this stuff get to play the game to get the serious backpacker's dollar because their casual quota makes taking chances and failing acceptable.

This is just the way I see it, I'm no expert. But it's fun to think about. Would we get things like the BA Fly Creek, too small for most humans, or things like the stove that charges iPhones, if the market didn't naturally accept chances? Probably not!

I have digressed…

I bought and returned an MH 30 F. sleeping bag due to insufficient loft. (never used it). I'm not impressed with MH's down, treated or otherwise.

Then I bought a bag with REAL loft, a WM Megalite.

I'm not sure if you have had the original ghost w jacket but they are not lofty to begin with, tight baffle spacing. Still a very good light jacket.

So… what happened David? Did it re-loft? Did you keep it? I'm thinking of buying one, would greatly appreciate your opinion. Anyone who owns one, actually. Thanks in advance.

I agree with michael, I have one and believe they went for Form over Function. The baffle spacing should be greater so the down can puff more and then it would have fewer seams. Still a nice jacket, but I would not pay retail for it.