How long will Exceloft stay lofted? What insulation will last the longest?

The material will last much longer with a fleece

With repeated wear synth insulation degrades enough that after a few years its pretty kaput with heavy use

Also remember that fleece is generally much tougher than the thin shells of puffies …. You can have multiple holes in a fleece jacket and itll laugh right back at you

Even the cheap bargain store fleeces last pretty long … Homeless people here wear em all the time for years, so do constiction workers and outdoor trades people

Fleece aint the lightest, but its cheap, deals with most conditions and will survive 15+ years in a glacier just fine (see the ACC report i posted under general discussions)

For cheap fleece with unlimited warranties try lands end, ll bean and eddie bauer

Or just go to your local clearance store and pick one up for 10$ or so

;)

Thanks! I think maybe the weight savings of the Thermawrap is worth the shorter lifespan– a couple years is pretty good.

…but now that I look at the weights of each, there isn't a significant difference in weight, with the Land's End Polartec Aircore 200 fleece jacket. An ounce or so. No hood though on the fleece. Is the fleece really as warm as the 80g/m2 Thermawrap Pro (parka)?

The Aircore stuff is pretty nice, i have some.

What's your size? They have a boy's 200 wt fleece w/ hood. I typically wear a men's medium size, and i found that boys X large fit like a medium.

IMHO, the lighter 60g insulated jackets get as much warmth from the two shell layers as they do from the insulation, and they don't breathe well. I think that something like R1/Power Dry or Power Stretch fleece plus a windshirt will deliver as much warmth with more versatility and will breath better too. If it is cold enough to need the loft, you might as well have a 100g garment (or a down puffy in a dry climate) and get some real warmth for the weight you are hauling.

Just to add, I'm not a hiker, I'm just a traveller looking for something that can bring me down to a rare 30F if needed (not active). I need two layers, one lightweight for temps down to 50 or 45, then something to throw on top for lower temps. So I was imagining 100 wt fleece plus thermawrap parka, the parka stands out now because sometimes I encounter high sustained winds (like truck bed rides or freight trains) and it has more wind resistance than a fleece.

Dale, what about a 200 wt fleece with a windshirt? Why Powerstretch?

Justin, thanks for the tip– I'm 5'9" 160 lb. so yea medium. Why not men's medium?

Dale, what about a 200 wt fleece with a windshirt? Why Powerstretch?

Power Stretch or the gridded R1/Power Dry are medium weight fleeces, delivering more warmth than 100w fleece yet lighter and with less bulk than 200w. A well made 100g jacket is about the same weight as a 200w fleece jacket.

If I were traveling on freight trains and trucks, I would want tougher, more stain resistant stuff than I use for UL hiking.

Hi Steven,

It use to be at Land's End, that the only aircore fleece hoody they had was a boy's, or at least when i bought one there. I just checked, and they don't have even that item anymore and apparently no hoodies made with the Aircore fleece.

Ok interesting. I'll look into those. Re: tougher/stain resistant… I'd rather have dirty and patched-up light gear (like my SMD Swift).

So an R1 plus a Houdini will take care of me to 30-35f not active?

Where does an Arcteryx Atom fit in here? I actually found one with some tears I'm sewing up, but I don't know what condition the loft is in.

"So an R1 plus a Houdini will take care of me to 30-35f not active?"

No, not enough for that. Wind will make a big difference— you asked about open moving vehicles too, which is the same as any other wind chill. Riding in the back of a truck at 60mph at 30f would be really cold!

Sitting still at 30f would call for a puffy over a couple other layers, gloves, hat, more layers on the bottom and insulation under, like a CCF foam pad. Add a 60mph breeze and you'll need a lot more.

Think what a sleeping bag rated accurately for 30f would look like and turned into clothing—- and that assumes some sort of shelter and pad.

I always pack at least a light grid fleece.

As stated, fleece is durable, hydrophobic, doesn't compress as much under weight/straps, dries fast, …

I am a big fan of grid fleece for outdoors in damp environments.
The grid pattern has a few advantages compared to non-grid. It breaths better, is more hydrophobic, can be warmer under a windshell because the gaps won't hold water in rain, it has a better weight to warmth ratio.

In fact yesterday I spent the whole day in drizzle and spray in upper 50f temps and never wore my wind shell.

The outdside of the grid fleece may have been slightly damp, but it kind of acted like a dogs fur and water didn't seem to get much into my base layer. I was warm and never felt damp. If it had become windy and/or poured rain, I would have put on my windshirt.

The combination of the grid fleece, windhsirt and light base layer gets my through all but cold winter weather and/or heavy rain. Light snow, rain, and temps above freezing, or even a little below can be handled with this combination.

Puffy layers can't be beat around camp or while sleeping and so I usually carry synthetic and or down layers during the cooler time of year, in addition to the grid fleece.

The grid fleece is by far more important.
Because of the the lack of hair on my head, I prefer the Melanzana because of it's flexible hood design. The hood may not be all that important for people with more hair.

Look into something with 100g/m insulation synth … Preferably PL1 …

Outdoor research, eddie bauer, ll bean and lands end have unlimited no questions asked warranties

;)

Nice post Steven M.

Hi again, other Steven (D) i have no experience with it, but recently Mark Verber recommended Patagonia Cap 4 hoody (2012 and after) to me. It sounds pretty impressive from how he described it, but unfortunately retails for a lot. Also it sounds like for you purposes, it would only be good in combo with a windshirt or jacket of some kind.

Thanks for the tips everyone! I started a new thread more to the point now. Thanks for all your tips and suggestions so far!

Here's the new thread: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=82743