Marmot Venus Jacket Review

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The lightest ultralight down jacket from Marmot is the Venus (the Zeus is the men's version). The Venus Jacket barely meets our criteria for a three-season ultralight jacket: its insulated with high-loft down, has a lightweight shell with a DWR finish, has a minimal feature set (see the feature list in the specifications table at the bottom of this review), and weighs less than 14 ounces. It certainly is stylish and warm, but is it suited for backpacking?

ARTICLE OUTLINE

Introduction
Description
Performance
Comparisons
Assessment
Specifications and Features

# WORDS: 1750
# PHOTOS: 10

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Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

Author

Posts
Apr 6, 2010 at 1:09 pm #1257387

Addie Bedford
BPL Member

@addiebedford
Locale: Montana

Companion forum thread to:

Marmot Venus Jacket Review

Apr 6, 2010 at 8:05 pm #1595049

Matt Lutz
Member

@citystuckhiker
Locale: Midwest

Goofy quilting patterns reduce a garment's quality. To the garment makers out there, please stop using them.

Apr 7, 2010 at 2:51 am #1595174

Marco A. Sánchez
Member

@marcoasn
Locale: The fabulous Pyrenees

Another mass market piece of gear.

One more reason to support cottage industries and MYOG.

Apr 7, 2010 at 9:35 am #1595260

. .
BPL Member

@biointegra
Locale: Puget Sound

And Marmot used to operate out of a garage, hand-making state of the art gear.

Apr 7, 2010 at 3:34 pm #1595393

Mike McHenry
Member

@mtmche2

In 50 years I wouldn't be surprised to see GG or MLD selling "mass market" pieces of gear. Thats just how businesses grow I guess.

Apr 8, 2010 at 11:39 am #1595742

James holden
BPL Member

@bearbreeder-2

are there any clo or warmth measurements …

id like to see those prior to trashing it … hmmmmm

Apr 9, 2010 at 5:57 pm #1596267

Lori P
BPL Member

@lori999
Locale: Central Valley

I have and really like this jacket – I do wear it around town and to work as well as "in the wild." I use it for about the same temp range as I do the Montbell Thermawrap – between 50F and freezing, usually with a base layer under it, sometimes with a windbreaker or rain shell over it. I didn't appreciate the funky quilting pattern after I saw the men's jacket (I like the men's jacket better) but it's still a nice enough economical down jacket.

Apr 12, 2010 at 9:10 pm #1597293

Kathy A Handyside
BPL Member

@earlymusicus
Locale: Southeastern Michigan

I find that I prefer men's designs in everything now. I'm so tired of the cutesy fashion statements of women's outdoor clothing! I want something practical and comfortable that also has some room to it. Too many of the women's clothing are too short, too tight, and just not practical. I've noticed a trend with the manufacturers of women's outdoor clothing and that is that they seem to be catering solely to the 20-somethings. So many of the hiking pants are the kind that ride below – and some are way below – the waist. And why are there so few choices in length of hiking pants? Men seem to be able to get hiking pants no matter how large the man is and they can get them in many more lengths than we women can.

This jacket is pretty, but I don't really care about "pretty" when I'm backpacking.

Apr 26, 2010 at 9:18 pm #1602549

rhonda rouyer
Member

@rrouyer
Locale: deep south

I have this jacket and love it. Big enough to layer under and slim enough to layer over. I'm all about layering. I did backpack with it this fall when the temps were just above freezing and found it to sufficient in camp at night and comfortable with my pack. For colder temps I would add a gore tex wind/rain jacket. It works for me.
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By Janet Reichl