MontBell EX Light Down Anorak

Thats the exaxt same problem I had with my Stoic Hadron Hood.

Shame.

Stephen, I think it is pretty true to size, however, that is a tough question to answer as there are so many opinions on that. So, here are some of my rough measurements that may help some:

Chest: 42"
Shoulders: 49"
Sleeve: 21" (Measured from under my arm pit to the base of my palm.)

I feel like a medium would fit me appropriately, however, since I want to layer items below, the large is a good choice. It is a little baggy, but not too much (like my XL's were).

In my experience, the Ex Light, The Ex Light Anorak, the UL Down Inner Parka and the UL Down Inner Jacket all fit the same. However, my thicker/puffier Alpine Light Down Parka has a bigger fit. Based on my Alpine Light Down Parka (bought around 2012-ish) I believe that a size medium would likely fit me about the same as the large Ex Light Anorak fits me now.

Troy, on weights, keep in mind, my size large Ex Light Anorak is 6.6 oz alone. With the stuff sack, it is 6.8 oz. Did you include the stuff sack in your weights?

Also, yeah the hood is not the best, but with a ball cap on under it, I think it will work just fine. With just my BRG down hat on, it does good at filling the extra space in the hood, but still will not turn the hood with my head like my ball cap does.

My Jacket alone is 7.2 oz

Cheers Chad.

From what you say the Large would do me.

Just ordered one of these, I went for the XL as was kind of on the fence between sizes.
My Mirage is a Large but my Permafrost is an XL.

Interested to hear how folks are getting on with the anorak?

Unfortunately, I won't get to take mine out for another week and a half… however, I am crossing my fingers that temps even get cool enough then to even need it…

I like mine a lot. I had it for a long weekend of day hiking in the San Juan's with my girlfriend and its serves its somewhat niche function very well. For me that's a super light/compact puffy to put in a vest style running pack or for SUL.

I was thinking about taking it on the wind river high route where I just got back from, but I was often waking up at sunrise to take pics in exposed/windy places in about 20 degree weather. With my other layers, it would have done fine, but I was happy to be wearing the cerium Lt, also high warmth/weight, which is about 5 oz heavier (with duct repairs).

I'm happy with the purchase, but it is a little redundant in my system (sort of an impulse buy!) with a 10ish oz hooded puffy already. This piece makes a lot of sense in a quiver where the next warmest jacket is something like a mirage.

How does the hooded version compare to the jacket warmth-wise?

Its similar warmth to the ex light jacket down/ loft wise, except warmer because you can seal in the heat with the hem, put on the hood and put your hands/arms in the kangaroo pocket. I'd compare the warmth to a 60 grams primaloft puffy like a nanopuff.

Thanks gents for the replies.

My next warmest piece is the Mirage so it should fit well.

I got this to compare to the Nuclei,
But I am thinking the Nuclei and the Mirage would make a killer 25f setup for damp climates. The Ex light also can be uses inside my WM Caribou if needs be as I don't like sleeping in synethtic due to breathabilty and compression.

Gents,

Thanks for the replies.
The Ex light Anorak should arrive tomorrow spoiling forward to trying it out.

Will let you know what I think of it.

I got the Ex Light, I am glad I got
XL as it allows to wear an R1 underneath it.

I got this as a solo summer piece and for wearing under my Dead Bird Nuclei or Atom SV for wet 3 Season conditions.

Here is a review I came across.

http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/Clothing/Jackets/MontBell%20EX%20Light%20Down%20Anorak/Test%20Report%20by%20Michael%20Pearl/

I got one of these to replace my UL Down Parka to save a few ounces. After about five days of use I like it a lot. It seems to be identical in warmth to the UL Parka. The only feature I miss is a hood stiffener, but other than that it's great. Very warm for 6.8 oz (size L).

I really like mine, I am a small bit annoyed
that I paid full price for mine after I see them
on sale now, oh well :-)

I read through this thread and didn't see any mention of downproofness of the Montbell 7d fabric.

Does anyone that owns the EX light jacket/parka, or the Montbell Mirage, can compare the 7d fabric with the other montbell fabrics like the 15D in the UL series, or the 20d of the alpine light, in downproofness?

I've had my Mirage for about a year and have had very little to zero down leakage through the 7d fabric. If anything, there's less leakage than there was from my UL Parka with 15d fabric.

I've used my Ex Light Anorak something like 10-15 days now and so far, so good. It seems to be equivalent in warmth to my old UL Parka, at least as far as I can tell. My only complaint is that in the lower back area, the down tends to get squeezed out through the open baffles and I end up with empty baffles and just two layers of fabric in that area. When I get around to it, I'll redistribute the down evenly then add a few lines of vertical stitching in the lower back to close off those baffles. A minor complaint. I haven't noticed any down movement anywhere else on the jacket.

The ex light down anorak has open baffles? That doesn't sound right….isn't the whole jacket using sewn through construction? I can see that all of the baffles are sewn through on the picture of the parka….

I have a UL down parka and it has sewn through constructions…..there isn't a way for down to move around the baffles…

edit: Wait, maybe you were referring to the mirage that you have….

Yes, some of the baffles on the Ex Light Anorak are connected to each other. The jacket has sewn through construction, but not all baffles are sewn into a closed square. More like horizontal strips with vertical strips sown 2/3 of the way across each horizontal strip, if that makes sense. So it is possible to move down from baffle to baffle in certain areas of the jacket. Most of the important areas are stitched closed but I think they should’ve added a few more vertical lines of stitching to the back.

I assume they did this (1) to reduce the surface area that is stitched through to eliminate cold spots, and (2) for fashion.

It’s hard to see, but you can get an idea of what I’m talking about in this photo.

Edit: added image for clarity:

Thank you for that. After zooming in on the picture on the montbell site, yes…it looks like nearly all baffles are "open" on the anorak. This is the picture of the front ->

Now, looking at the zoom-in of the EX light jacket….the jacket seems to be closed baffles like the UL jacket.

You could be right….Montbell might have decided that having less sewn through stitching would increase warmth. But….that only works if having the open baffles doesn't cause migrating where you lose most down in some of the baffles (i.e., uneven distribution).

Reminds me of a sierra designs backcountry bed that I happened to acquire. It has true baffles (not sewn through), but its an open baffle design. Which makes NO sense (unless to try and save weight?) b/c its an abnormal shaped design so no user is going to meaningfully try and move down around to regulate temperature. The only time it makes sense to me to have open baffles is like with the old EE quilt designs with Karo baffles, where you could reasonably move down from the top to the sides if too warm (or vice versa if too cold). I still don't prefer the design since I think moving down around is too time consuming…I just want the down to stay put and not worry about having baffles that have close to no down in them. (which is why I sold my old EE quilts and bought the new vertical design).

Now…I can't tell with the Montbell mirage from the picture….are its box baffles open or closed?

John, I agree with you 100%, I think open baffle designs are annoying and I've never actually wanted to move the down. But there are plenty of times when it has moved by itself and I ended up with a cold spot. My WM Summerlite was perhaps the worst offender I've used. Fortunately on the Ex Light it's a pretty minor problem and I have had no down movement anywhere else (the arms and torso have open baffles and they are still very evenly distributed.) Five minutes with the sewing machine will solve the problem in the lower back on the Ex Light.

As far as I can tell the Mirage baffles are closed. That jacket has so much down stuffed in it I could hardly see it migrating around anyway. I just packed mine away for use this weekend and I was reminded at just how amazing that jacket is. So ridiculously warm and yet so light.

I agree with some of the others, my UL Down Inner pieces seemed to leak more than either my regular Ex Light, or the newer Ex Light Anorak. I am quite pleased with this…

I also agree with the other poster that mentioned the baffles on the back emptying. I have slept in mine one night and after lying on my back and shuffling around it seemed to happen to me. I didn't notice any cold spots, however, after looking at it, it was quite obvious. Shifting the down took a minute too because the space left open is not all that big… I do wish they would have just sewn them all the way closed so that it would have trapped the down completely… Ah well… nothing is ever perfect, but I am still quite happy with it!

I noticed the same with mine, I called MB
and they offered me a full refund, I am going to keep it, but if its an issue I will send it in under warranty.