lightweight fleece jacket suggestions?

If you can get a Cap 4 on sale, do it. I just got a hoody today and it's definitely a special garment compared to standard grid fleeces! I foresee mine getting lots of double duty and may eventually get a non-hooded specifically for office use (although I'm using an R2 for that right now).

I have an R2 also but it is a bit much for just around the office. Finding a Cap 4 full-zip on sale is the hard part though as Patagonia has the cheapest price on it right now but is sold out in all the larger sizes. Might have to call the outlet store Monday.

I would check LL Bean, Cabrlas, Sierra Trading Post, and 6pm.com for sale fleeces. There are lots of 100w-ish cardigan style fleece tops out there.

Actually I looked at the Capilene 4 Expedition weight over the weekend and I don't know how that can keep any warmth in. I really could only find 1 100wt fleece around town but just figured I can use my R2 as it is a model from about two years ago and is all fleece and no Power Stretch and just unzip it.

I was looking for a new R1 Hoody replacement this weekend and tried on the new Black Diamond Coefficient Hoody (also comes in a jacket). Not a fan of the logo on the chest and on the sleeve but overall liked it better than the new generation R1. The BD Hoody is basically the same weight as an R1 but in a full zip versus a half zip. Fit is just slightly less trim than an R1 but in no way excessive. If you can get over the logo thing you might take a look. Comes in nice dark black or graphite color.

Brett,

EB is having a 40% off sale today (pointed out in another thread); maybe the Cloud Layer Pro Full-Zip Fleece would work for you. I think the Cloud Layer stuff is 100wt polartec fleece.

Since you already have a R2, have you thought about a fleece vest? I have a very thin Montbell Chameece vest for example that is so light and thin I can easily layer it under a thinner inside jacket or other more casual looking vest if necessary. If it's too warm it folds up comparatively small too.

I understand that Land's End sells fleece/pile jackets with HOLLOW core fibers.

Since deer, elk and other wild northern henisphere ungulates have hollow hair for more insulation this fleece should be quite warm for its weight.

Plus I hear their fleece is on sale now.

I'm "just sayin' " because I have never tried Land's End fleece myself.

Polartec or Land's End (it's not exactly clear from whom the claim is coming from) claims that the Aircore fleece is 20% warmer per weight than other micro fleece.

At the thicknesses of 100 wt and 200 wt (the stuff i have), it's really hard to tell in any concrete, definite way if that is true or not.

Re: hollow core fibers, yes they can be warmer provided they are a similar diameter as the more solid fibers one might be comparing them too.

I read a study wherein they found that the hollow core fibers were actually less insulating than the solid ones… The difference, the hollow core fibers were larger diameter than the solid ones and the thinner, smaller size facilitated more insulation ultimately (they did not specify the exact diameters of respective fibers though, just used general terms). Two equal, or near so diameter fiber sets, one hollow and one not, the hollow will be significantly warmer is everything else is equal.

Check out the warmth of say Merino compared to that of Angora rabbit fur. The latter is significantly warmer (but probably not 8x as is often quoted/parroted), due to the combo of large amounts of quite hollow hair, and an average finer diameter size of the fibers. The very highest quality of Merino is starting to get to those micron levels, but a garment made with mostly say 12 micron sheep's wool would be very expensive and rare. Yet, 12 microns is common for Angora fibers.

It seems lots of more extreme cold adapted animals often have similarity in their fur. They have longer, thicker (courser/larger diameter) hollow core guard hairs, and then a super densely packed, but super fine, downy and but not hollow undercoat. The combination of loft (outer coat) and dense, fine undercoat creates a lot of insulation.