Differentiating Pagonia Houdini 2013 vs pre-2013

The 2013 Houdini is notable for several, immediately obvious changes:

It has a different sort of pocket. It is very narrow and you have to really stuff the jacket to fit it in. It makes a very tight little bundle whereas previous editions made sort of a loose packet. It fits nicely on a harness loop!

The elastic cord at the waist does not run through the hem at the front.

The elastic cord on the wrists is only at the bottom of the cuff.

There is a pocket over the zipper flap of the breast pocket.

The fabric is also (obviously) slightly different — a change from 15D to 10D and a slightly different coating process for less air permeability, and the overall cut and hood have changed very slightly. It's a little bit slimmer now, particularly at the chest under the armpits, and the shoulders are also cut trimmer.

Overall I don't consider the changes good or bad on the 2013 Houdini, merely different. I'd originally bought the 2013 Houdini as a backup to my 2012 Houdini, but with the significant changes I elected to try to see how the new model fits into my needs. Of particular interest is that it's a bit warmer, so it should turn out nice as the weather gets colder.

Color is the biggest/easiest way to tell. Look online at Patagonia for the current models colors. They have completely different color schemes now, such as the green with purple zippers, etc.

I guess it would be harder with the black one though. The blue is a darker, actual blue for current 2013 model. Previous seasons were more electric.

Look at the tag.
Mine says sp13, which means spring 2013.