To be honest, I was not going to buy a Micro Puff until I heard directly from the Patagonia folk themselves: PlumaFill is in fact, so durable and so lofty that it survived their 24h Killer Wash test (which no other synthetic they’ve tested thus far has passed), and so far exceeded loft durability expectations that they are looking into how to put the material into other jackets in the future.
The real problem I see with the PlumaFill is that in its current form it comes out looking like a feather boa that has to be tacked down in places and results in the expensive patterning that makes the Micro Puff Hoody so pricey. It will take some additional clever work before it can be made in a sheet form that is easy to sew. I expect that the reason we’ve seen the UL Down Hoody discontinued is because the Micro Puff is expected to replace it, though the UL Down Hoody was a true favorite of mine; sufficiently durable yet plenty lightweight.
I just received mine, so I can only give my initial impressions but they are very positive. I took it out for the first time today in 34ºF and wind and with just a t-shirt and 100wt fleece I was plenty warm though my legs were cold. It will accompany me in the backcountry for sure.
The engineering in the jacket itself is a sight to behold. The jacket picks up every new design cue that Patagonia has developed in the last five years: no-snag zippered pockets with grosgrain backing, double-baffled main zipper with no-pinch chin guards, stitched zipper pulls, variable baffling for temperature control, a hood that doesn’t blow off in the wind, tougher elastic, generous drop-in pockets, and plenty of backstitching and bartacking.
And yet it weighs a claimed 9.3oz! This is a jacket constructed at the very apex of current manufacturing and there is simply nothing to fail on this jacket save for the 10d nylon ripstop fabric itself. If Patagonia can help themselves from revising this jacket into oblivion, this will be an evergreen model in the UL world.
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