I've been reading some of the 'classic' BPL threads on CLO, and I've seen several requests that an all-in-one list of known CLO values be published for people who want to do CLO research and calculations. Was that ever done, did I miss that thread?
I have a long-ish list of CLO values I've gleaned from BPL reading and various internet sources that list CLO values. It's a hodge-podge, some of the values conflict, but on the other hand it's helpful for triangulating what values might/could/should be. It's not quite 100 items in length. (It's helped me figure out that my basic set of go-to backpacking clothes will allow me to comfortably sit in 30F, but no farther than that–good to know; I thought I was good down to 10-20F but clearly I'm not!)
At any rate, if nobody's gathered up the CLO details from various sources and put them into a single list, I could start the process, if there were a need for such. Much of my note-taking simply records Richard Nisley's here-and-there postings on various items, and part of me thinks that CLO is "his thing" and I should leave it alone–let him publish a list if he wants to; most of the interesting values are his. As he notes, the values published in standard CLO lists are way off when it comes to technical backpacking gear. For example, the standard lists repeatedly publish a generic down jacket as CLO of .55, when the average Polartec 200 shirt is around CLO of .76, and I remember seeing that a GoLite Bitterroot rated 3.4.
And then I've included all sorts of CLO ratings from other non-BPL sources that looked legitimate, but frankly, it's internet data, and who really knows the quality of it. I only got around to footnoting sources recently, so even that's spotty. The perpetual question: do you publish some flawed data now, or wait until you have good data at some golden moment in the sweet by-and-by? I don't know if I'm down for the potential cat-fight that might ensue with the dirty data I've got. It's not like I'm a CLO expert, just a CLO enthusiast.
But on the other hand, maybe someone needs to roll the ball to get it started…even if the list is imperfect, having it "out there" will allow discussion and revision. Maybe other folks have a better list already.
I'm conflicted. Selfishly, I wish the list already existed, published by someone with far greater research skills than I.
