TNF Red Blaze seems too good to be true

Either they are listing the specs wrong or quoting the weight of that Xtra Small model instead of the normal Medium.

Ryan

I bet there's a mistake there somewhere. Do the math:
133 gm/sq. m = 3.92 oz/sq yd
even if the liner is .9 oz fabric, you have 1.9 plus .9 plus 3.92 which is 6.72 oz/ sq. yd. for the sandwich. It has 3 pockets and a full front zip. That's going to be about 2 ounces for zips and misc.. That leaves 10.4 oz – which means you have to make a jacket that takes only a 1.54 sq yds. For comparison I have the numbers from a thru-hiker pullover pattern – it's 1.79 sq yds , and that's pretty snug – I also have numbers from a pattern I made for a MYOG insulated pullover which was 2.02 sq yds. for a medium size.

Incidentally, they say the outer fabric is 54 g/sq m and also that its 1.9 oz, but 54 gm/sq m calcs out to 1.6 oz./sq yd so they're off somewhere or perhaps in more than one place.

Welp, I suppose that settles it. Thanks for the detailed analysis Paul. Too bad though, that was exciting! 133g insulation in 12oz piece would have been (maybe?) approaching the efficiency of a down jacket. I guess we're not there yet :-)

Pl sport is a budget insulation option … The micropoofay used to have PL1, but patagucci changed it to save moola

Of course they will give u the marketing yak yak goobly corporate speak about how its more "suitable" but the fact is you are getting less for the same moola from a year or two ago for them to pinch pennies

PL eco has even worse clo values … At least they have the excuse of it being recycled

Unless u find a deep sale get PL1 … Dont pay $$$$ for second rate insulation

Companies are always trying to substitute top end materials with marketing

Note even "budget" brands like MEC and LL Bean use PL1 …

Its destroys any credence these "high end" companirs have of having "top notch" gear

;)

There is a TNF store close to me. I'll try to get by there with a scale.

They were over by 2oz on the Verto 26 pack that they spec'd at 11oz. That is what, about 18%?

If there is anything learned by all the info provided by BPL forums, it is that the main line manufacturers are weak on accurate reporting on weights.

It's not just hiking gear. Consumer Reports thrives on such stuff. Of course, who would get excited about a couple ounces. GRAM WEENIES UNITE :)

I call shenanigans. My Rab Xenon in size medium is made with 60g PL1 and Pertex Quantum GL, with minimal quilting, and it weighs a bit over 10.5oz, so I don't see how something with over twice the insulation and much heavier fabric can come in at that weight (even without the hood). The difference in insulation weight alone would be over 2oz.

Shenanigans has been called! Let it be known!

:-)

I went to a TNF factory store and weighed a medium Red Blaze on my digital scale: 19.0 ounces with the tags. The manager looked in the TNF tech book and it shows 12.5 oz. I would chalk it up to a typo. The actual weight is comparable to other 100g style jackets.

To compare, their specs on the Thermoball are very accurate.

Caveat emptor!

Nice work Dale. I can just picture the store manager noticing the typo and shrugging it off — what's ~7oz anyway? — he says.

… whereas the BPL community goes What a travesty!!

Actually the store manager greeted me as I came in and he assisted me in weighing the jacket. He was very interested and invested in the process. He went and got the tech book to check the published weight. He's a climber and looked the part. We had a good chat. He's worked for TNF for quite a while and has a good grip on their place in the market.

He was surprised how far off the specs were. A couple ounces can be understood, but having the garment weigh 50% more than advertised is a big error for a major player in the market and sacrilege here. Ooops!

Well that's refreshing at least :-)