I’m on the hunt to replace a down jacket, possibly/hopefully with something a little warmer. My original jacket was a North Face 800fp, lightweight jacket, probably comparable, but slightly heavier than the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer. A fine second-hand find, but not extremely warm, and not much loft. I’m having a hard time getting it to loft up after washing it, so I’m taking the opportunity to “upgrade” so to speak.
Uses…
– Likely an “everyday” jacket once winter arrives. In Kentucky, we can flirt with negative temps (Fahrenheit) though we have plenty of days/weeks where we don’t get above freezing. For this reason, I’d like something a little warmer than the “Ghost Whisper” type jackets that are in the 10oz. weight / 3oz. fill range. Considering “everyday” use, I’m trying to avoid bright colors, in favor of something more muted & calm.
– I would obviously use this for winter/fall camping as well. Certainly while resting, as an extra blanket over my quilt for sleeping in very cold temps, and/or when it’s windy.
– Another use would be for winter caving trips, where we’re hiking in very cold temperatures to the cave entrance. Sometimes wearing inside the cave a short distance, until getting to a place that has the “stable” 54-ish degree temps. Then either stow the jacket in my pack, or leave it in a “coat room”.
– Since it’s possible that I’ll be doing light crawling around rock with this on, a moderately durable shell fabric would be nice. I’m not sure if 10D ripstop will be durable enough for that. My guess is, “probably.”
– I don’t want or need something crazy waterproof, or stormproof. Skiing isn’t a consideration. I can always layer a WPB shell over this if weather is that bad – a possibility, but not a very frequent use-case for me.
– I’m considering only hooded jackets this time. Having the hood will be nice especially when it’s windy.
Questions…
1- Is Hydrophobic treated down worth it? Seems like it would be useful. For my caving use, when wearing a short distance inside the cave, it’s always a humid environment, and it’s certainly possible to get dripped on if I left it in a “coatroom” somewhere. Likewise, I could see the hydrophobic down being useful to preserve loft long-term, even with spot-cleaning, or light handwash laundering. Some big names use Hydrophobic down, others don’t.
I could see this being useful when something spills inside the pack, and gets the jacket slightly wet. Also when I’m exiting a cave, and my clothes are soaked, and/or, my body is otherwise warm enough to be “steaming” even after losing my soaked/muddy cave shirt.
2- Fill Power – Are there diminishing returns of extra high fill-power downs – above 900 FP range? I’ve heard several times that very high fill-powers sometimes are proven useless, as they can’t practically be layered over or under, as the layers “crush” or reduce the loft of the jacket. I know that high FP jackets gravitate towards lighter & lighter fabrics to accommodate for the more delicate fill, and keep it lofted. Is 900fp still practical, or is the “practical” limit much lower?
3- Loft – Is it possible to assume, or calculate “loft” as a measure of fill-weight, x fill-power? IE – 3oz. of 1,000fp down is 3,000 cu/in of loft…. 5oz. of 800fp down being 4,000 cu/in of loft… So between these two hypothetical jackets, the one with 50z of 800fp would be “warmer” because it has a higher calculated loft. (All else being equal.)
4- Shell material – Does it matter that much? Some of the jackets that I’m considering use “name brand” shell fabrics, like Pertex-Quantum for example. Do these name brand fabrics make that much difference, or are they just a nice bonus? I guess if the face fabric offers some enhanced water repellency, that would be fine, however, I don’t want anything approaching 2.5-3layer WPB shell layer, as I don’t want the extra bulk. I can always layer a WPB shell over this jacket.
5- Fill/weight/warmth –Â Seeing as I’m eyeing something for 40* – 0*F, is something like 5oz. of 800+ FP down going to keep me warm enough? As in, while wearing a base-layer, and a synthetic fleece mid-layer underneath?
(It’s entirely possible to be wearing only this jacket with nothing underneath – when exiting a cave, and deciding to lose the wet/muddy caving shirt, and just go jacket-only for the short hike out to the car…)
I *think* I’ve found the perfect down jacket, but I want to avoid any confirmation bias by bringing up the make/model. I’ve had these questions rattling around in my head for a few weeks now, and figured you all would have a lot of helpful collective experience. Thanks in advance.
