Mountain Hardwear Nitrous Jacket Review

Will, great review. I would just like to point out that I think the table is inaccurate about the single-layer loft of the Montbell EX Lite Down Jacket. In your separate review of that jacket, you said the single layer loft was 0.75 inches, not 0.5 inches.

I guess we'll get an update on the loft of the Ex-Light next week when Will's BPL review on that jacket is released.

A few things jumped out at me in the review. The "as tested" weight reported was 10.2oz, which is ~2 oz lighter than the weight given by the manufacturer and used in the comparison chart. Given that the jacket, then, is ~17% lighter than the other 12oz jackets, it seems that the weight:loft ratio is decent. The difference in weight between a jacket-length #3 and #5 zip is roughly 0.25oz, IIRC, so for a jacket zip that gets a lot of use, I wouldn't be too bothered. I do think that it's a silly, extraneous thing to add a zippered chest pocket. Probably added a solid 0.5oz with that.

Regarding baffling spacing, and at the risk of stating the obvious, I've found in designing my own down gear that the spacing controls loft. In that, if I want a light, packable jacket warm to around 40*F, I might use 2-inch spacing to keep the loft minimized; although I could get a better warmth:weight ratio by using wider spacing, the jacket would could also be "too warm"… and that might not be something I want. Personally I've found that 3-inch sewn-thru spacing is the most versatile for most 3-season needs. Allows for a bit more loft and a bit more down, but then, I tend to run a little cold in camp.