Vintage down pant options

[CARLOS C.]

I am looking to cheaper alternatives for insulated pants. Does anyone know approximately what pants like the vintage Eddie Bauer down pants like below weighed? Are these even good options or should I just save my pennies for new style down pants? 

I have heavy 300 fleece pants and the other military surplus already. Looking for less bulk and more warmth.

[Edward John M]

Where did you find those?

REI had similar pants back in the early 80s so I am assuming a similar vintage for those. No idea on the weight but I would hazard a guess, similar to M-65 liners but warmer. As an aside I’ve always thought that diamond quilting made more sense for pants. Don’t Mont-Bell make something similar?

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I need a pair of the light version of MontBell down pants. Well, OK, I’d like a pair, just for lounging around a winter camp evenings and preparing breakfast in the cold mornings, and maybe for extending the warmth of my 20 F. WM overstuffed Megalite down bag if necessary. Did it with synthetic fill pants and jacket in that bag and it worked fine at 10 F.

[CARLOS C.]

There was a pair on eBay but it has ended now. I decided to hold off and just save my pennies for new lighter down pants in the future.

[Bob Moulder]

Montbell TEC down pants with full side zips.

You don’t have to remove footwear/snowshoes/skis/crampons to put them on or take them off. Big deal in real winter.

IMO these are good down to about -15°F for low/no activity in camp, over the other layers. Not for serious Arctic use. They run large because they’re designed to cover all other clothing layers. I normally wear medium in everything and the medium size with these is almost too big for me even when donned over all other layers.

[Anton Solovyev]

Montbell TEC down pants with full side zips.

+1 on these. Full zips is a must (for me). I am usually between medium and small (all medium pants are too big in waist) and I would say these pants are average size-wise (slightly too big in waist, but work).

[Edward John M]

You won’t do cheaper than M-65 pant liners or the L-7 pants from the Happy Suit

Lighter but definitely not cheaper

[David Thomas]

And in the cheaper-but-definitely-not-lighter category:

Cheap “powder pants”, snow bibs.  When any friend in the San Francisco East Bay was learning to ski, we’d send them to Tri-City Sports in Fremont because they had $19.99 bibs.  Now, I’ll see options on Sierra Trading Post for $40-$60 at times.

I see those all the time in thrift stores.  If you’re consider any MYOG options, I’d suggest starting with a thrift-store version, cutting it down, adding longer zippers, etc, to get your design dialed in.

[Anton Solovyev]

You won’t do cheaper than M-65 pant liners or the L-7 pants from the Happy Suit

Some of this gear may be really nice for car camping in fall/winter. Synthetic insulation, wash all you want, don’t care about fire, warm and heavy.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I do have a 15 year old pair of DuPont Thermolite Micro lined pants and jacket. Nicely warm but kinda heavy, especially when compared to down.

BUT… I will now only buy down garments with a DWR treatment like Dry Down or Down Tech on the down. This means I will likely have to wait a while for some company to make them.

 

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