What's the most versatile ultralight gear item you own? Chances are good it's your ultralight down jacket. An ultralight down jacket, weighing less than 14 ounces (397 g), is truly multi-purpose gear - wear it in camp to stay warm, wear it in your sleeping bag to extend its range, wear it on cold weather day trips, put it on when you reach the summit, wear it après ski, and wear it on a trip to town. Same jacket, many uses.
Why down? Because it's very lightweight and has the highest warmth-to-weight ratio, it retains its loft and can last a lifetime, and it's highly compressible. Synthetic insulations are steadily improving, and do have a few advantages over down - they are water resistant and insulate when wet, they dry quickly, they are easier to care for, and they are cheaper. But the disadvantages are significant: synthetic insulations break down with repeated stuffing, synthetic insulated jackets are distinctly heavier (with a few exceptions), and their cost is not that much different from a down jacket. The bottom line is: when you want the most warmth with the least weight, go with down.
It seems like nearly every outdoor apparel manufacturer has an ultralight three-season down jacket these days. There are definitely a lot more of them around since our last review of lightweight down jackets in 2005.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Introduction
- The Conditions
- Technique
- What's a Three-Season Ultralight Down Jacket?
- Not All Ultralight Down Jackets are Created Equal
- The Loft Conundrum
- Baffles and Quilts
- Features Add Weight
- Preview of Parts 2 and 3
- Acknowledgments
# WORDS: 4040
# PHOTOS: 8
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Discussion
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Companion forum thread to:
Ultralight Three-Season Down Jackets State of the Market Report 2010 Part 1
BPL gold. I look forward to parts 2 and 3!
The seam question has been on my mind for years. When wearing a jacket in calm conditions, there may be little noticeable difference in warmth between a highly quilted sewn through jacket and a fully baffled one. But add some wind and the difference, to me, seems dramatic. This is and issue that Richard Nisley's testing can't address (maybe if he added a fan to his testing???). Of course, as mentioned, you can always add a wind shirt, but then you should add the weight difference of carrying a wind short into the equation when evaluating different jacket construction for weight to warmth ratios IMHO.
Bring on parts 2 and 3!!
Good report.
Looking forward to next parts.
As always, a thorough evaluation of data is a welcome read. I would say that the survey of prospective buyers would change dramatically if we found some backpackers on a windswept, alpine peak. I think preferences toward a down heavy, feature light jacket/anorak would occur. It's hard to spend $150+ on a jacket that you won't wear to town, dinner, etc. However, when faced w/ purely utilitarian function, the bare bones down anorak sounds like the ticket. Clever marketing ploys have turned consumers into feature shoppers. Essential function has been pushed aside for bells and whistles, literally.
A great start toward helping us to better understand the issues involved in making our choices on a complex topic. Thanks!
The only thing still on my mind is, which companies make XXL sizes. For some of us, that alone determines our far fewer choices.
" which companies make XXL sizes"
I would add, which companies make legitimate XXL sizes. MontBell annoyed me when they redesigned their UL inner jacket. What used to be a large was now called and XL, and the previous XL became an XXL, etc…I'm absolutely certain this was done to keep the weight the same as the old jacket while adding a zipper and pockets.
Lynn, Patagonia makes a XL Nano Puff. I have used it this past year and am very happy with it–It gets so warm I have to take it off from time to time..I know you asked about XXL but my XL fits me perfect and I am 6'3 and 230 lbs. Open-side Flanker
I'm not in the XXL category, but was merely pointing out that not all XXLs are the same! Hopefully this will be covered in the two upcoming articles…
Being a XXL+ size, 6'5", 275 lbs, I researched a fair amount for my purchase. The Eddie Bauer First Ascent XXL down zip sweater is full sized. In XXL it likely just exceeds the 14 oz guideline but was the lightest full feature gear.
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