All the rage at the moment, Synthetic Jackets, also known as padded jackets or quilted jackets, get their name from the pattern of stitched sections filled with insulation to give it a ‘puffy’ look.
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A synthetic jacket, on the other hand, is typically made of synthetic materials such as polyester or nylon and is filled with synthetic fibres that mimic the insulating properties of down. The fibres are usually arranged in small, quilted pockets that give the jacket its distinctive puffy appearance.
In terms of care and maintenance, down jackets and synthetic puffer jackets require different approaches. Down jackets require more careful cleaning and maintenance than synthetic puffer jackets, as the feathers are delicate and can be damaged by harsh chemicals or high heat. Down jackets should be washed using a gentle detergent, dried on a low-heat setting or air-dried to prevent damage to the feathers. Synthetic jackets, on the other hand, are much easier to care for and can be washed in a regular washing machine using a standard laundry detergent.
On the other hand, a down jacket is a type of insulated jacket that is designed to keep the wearer warm in cold weather conditions. The primary technical quality of a down jacket is its insulation, which is typically provided by the down feathers of ducks or geese. Here are some of the key technical qualities of a down jacket:
Insulation: The down feathers in a down jacket provide excellent insulation by trapping air in small pockets, which helps to retain body heat and keep the wearer warm.
Lightweight: Down feathers are incredibly lightweight, making down jackets easy to wear and carry.
Compressibility: One of the key advantages of down insulation is its compressibility. A down jacket can be easily compressed and packed into a small size, making it ideal for travel or outdoor activities where space is premium.
Warmth-to-weight ratio: Down insulation has a very high warmth-to-weight ratio, meaning that it provides a lot of warmth relative to its weight.
Water-resistant: Many modern down jackets are treated with a water-resistant coating that helps repel moisture and keeps the down insulation from getting wet.
Breathability: While down insulation is excellent at trapping heat, it can also be quite breathable, allowing moisture and sweat to escape from the jacket and keeping the wearer dry and comfortable.
Durability: A well-made down jacket can be incredibly durable and long-lasting, making it a great investment for cold-weather activities.
Both are must-have cold-weather essentials. A fleece jacket is a type of jacket that is made from synthetic materials that mimic the insulating properties of wool. Fleece jackets are often used in a variety of outdoor activities and technical sports because they are lightweight, warm, and wick moisture away from the body. Specifically, fleece jackets can be used for activities such as hiking, camping, and other outdoor pursuits. Fleece jackets are also popular for casual wear and can be worn as an outer layer in mild weather or as a mid-layer under a heavier jacket in colder conditions.
Pros Cons Extremely soft Not windproof Lightweight Not waterproof Durable Prone to static Moisture-wicking Minimum carry space Great Mid-layerExplore Men’s and Ladies Fleece.
A softshell is a very versatile jacket made of soft, flexible fabric, usually stretch-woven polyester or nylon and elastane. Similar to fleece (and sometimes even featuring a fleece inner), they can be worn as a mid-layer in severe weather or as an outer layer in moderate weather. They are well-insulated, lightweight and breathable. It differs from fleece in that its outer layer offers slightly more protection from the elements, with water-resistant and windproof outer fabric. Softshells are often designed for active use like hiking, climbing, running and cycling.
Pros Cons Wind & water resistant Not suitable for extreme weather Soft inner lining Styles differ greatly Breathable Great Mobility Moisture-wickingView Men’s and Ladies Softshell Jackets.
Rain jackets are specifically designed outerwear constructed to keep the wearer warm and dry in cold, wet, and windy conditions. They are typically made from waterproof and breathable materials to protect the wearer from the elements while allowing moisture to escape. A rain jacket generally has a high water column rating to wick away moisture off its surface. They also often feature peaked hoods to keep water off your face.
Pros Cons Waterproof Not always compressible Well Insulated Heavier Suitable for moderate to heavy rain conditions Less comfortable inner material Hooded Inner makes small noises when moving (swishy) Well insulatedView our Men's and Ladies Rainwear.
Windbreaker jackets are designed to help protect the wearer from windy and light rainy weather conditions. They are typically made from lightweight, water-resistant materials like nylon or polyester, and offer some insulation to help keep the wearer warm. Windbreaker jackets are popular for outdoor activities like hiking, running, cycling, and camping. They are also often worn as a casual jacket in milder climates or during transitional months when the weather can be unpredictable.
Pros Cons Windproof Little insulation Water repellent Not suitable for extreme weather conditions Lightweight Breathable PortableView our Men's and Ladies Windbreakers.
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The more loft, a.k.a thickness, a puffy jacket has, the warmer it will be. Basically, more material equals more warmth, as well as more weight. As such, weight and warmth are often in competition with each other when it comes to ultralight down jackets. That competition has created quite the problem to solve for outdoor gear designers because the crazy cold weather high alpine environments are the hardest to lug a heavy down jacket up to.
To solve this problem, outdoor gear developers have come up with some brilliant materials, design hacks, additives to the down itself, and have borrowed from sleeping bag technology to make these jackets not only crazy light but also impressively warm for their weigh-in in cold weather. I have been an ultra light puffy believer since I received my first Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer in the winter of and took it on every high alpine adventure I went on for the next eight years. I am personally obsessed with these jackets after over two decades spent in the outdoor industry as a guide, retail employee, and gear review expert because they are incredibly clutch in the cold without weighing me down. On top of being a fantastic jacket option to wear for an entire adventure, they also make a killer safety net from weather coming in because they are highly packable and can live in your pack while barely being noticed.
UL packing is much more than just a few purchases, it is a comprehensive overhaul of the way you may look at packing for an outdoor adventure. Check out the Field Mag Guide to Ultralight Backpacking for a deeper look into this overhaul and advantages. In short, though, carrying less weight means you have more energy to potentially go further, or, go further more comfortably on adventures. Having the best down jacket that is both warm and light tracks like magic because it can deliver comfort with minimal weight disadvantage. Even the best synthetic insulated jacket isn't going to get you as much loft to weight ratio in damp conditions.
The largest disadvantage of ultralight down jackets is that they deliver less warmth than their thicker counterparts. No matter how brilliantly built a UL jacket is, it is never going to be as warm as a big ass high-loft insulated jacket. They also have a tendency to be less durable because the lightweight outer fabrics they are built from have a tendency to rip more easily. UL jackets have a tendency to be much more You have to make a choice about how much comfort you are willing to sacrifice for weight loss—less pockets and comfort delivering doohickies. They also perform less well than a lightweight synthetic jacket in damp conditions.
Premium Down - Pretty much every ultralight down jacket you will find will feature down with a 800 - fill. This number represents the number of cubic inches an ounce of the down will fill up. A higher number means more loft is created from a lighter amount of the down itself which makes a better warmth to weight ratio and helps with its packability.
Down Treatments - there are a series of different frankly brilliant ways that manufacturers have figured out how to treat down to change its qualities. The most common is that a chemical treatment that creates hydrophobic down down perform better in damp conditions. Untreated down soaks up moisture easily and loses its loft when it gets wet which renders it pretty useless as an insulator in wet situations.
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Ethically Sourced Down - Since down is an animal product from ducks and geese there is a lot of potential for some pretty horrifying animal rights violations in the getting of it. A great place to start when shopping for a UL down jacket is to see if it follows the Responsible Down Standard which is usually clearly shown on tags or on descriptions online.
Light Denier Nylons - Ultralight down jackets are often built from incredibly lightweight fabrics with denier numbers like 7D, 10D, and 15D. The denier (D) of a nylon is a number that represents how thick it is and for reference heavier duty products like duffel bags usually boast denier numbers in the high hundreds or around 1,000.
Ripstop Nylon Weaves - Since these face fabrics are gossamer-thin, designers have found some ingenious ways to retain some durability like ripstop weaves that can isolate a tear when it starts so it doesn’t spread.
DWR (durable water repellent) Treatment - Another way gear makers have added capability to these lightweight fabrics is by treating them with water repellent chemicals. The result is that rain will bead up and run off of porous materials like a lightweight nylon so they won’t soak through as quickly. This is particularly important for down jackets, since unlike synthetic jackets, they don't perform well when wet.
Seams - Some of the coolest, in the weeds, innovation in maximizing warmth and minimizing weight happens at the seams of UL insulating jackets. Basically, more stitching offers more opportunity for cold to get into the jacket and can add weight so designers use technology like welded seams or cutting edge sewing techniques to minimize the amount of seams while still keeping enough to keep the down in place.
Focused Insulation - Designers will sometimes place more insulation in places like the chest and stomach and less on places like the back (where a backpack is likely to be sitting) to maximize how well the lightest amount of insulation can warm up the user.
The baffles on a down jacket are the compartments that contain the insulation and traditionally have existed as chambers that look like horizontal lines around the jacket. The size of the baffles affect the ability to retain heat, their weight, and ability to keep down insulation in place. Both large and small have advantages and disadvantages.
Large baffles can make for a warmer jacket, when filled with more down, because there is more space to create warmth-trapping dead space in the jacket. They also have fewer seams than small-baffled jackets which can lighten up a jacket and offer less opportunities for cold spots to get through the jacket. The disadvantages are that down has a tendency to migrate around the larger space of big baffles and can congregate in some places—creating cold spots where the down doesn’t congregate.
Small baffles are killer at keeping down in place which means evenly distributed warmth and can also help reduce bulk in general in the jacket. They do use more stitching which can translate to more weight and cold spots in a jacket.
Wash Regularly - it is important to regularly wash your down jacket because your body’s oils can bog loft down and ruin its loft and things like sand and micro-dirt can break down your UL jacket’s zipper. It is SUPER important that you use a down-specific cleaner because traditional detergents can seriously harm down feathers. Another key part of washing is to only use a front loading washing machine because the agitator on top loading washing machines can shred the dickens out of lightweight nylon.
Dry in a Drier - Even though it might seem like hang drying your ultralight down jacket would be better for the lightweight nylon, properly drying a down jacket reinvigorates the down and helps it maintain its loft. Make sure to dry it on a low temp and put something like a tennis ball or drier ball in there to help agitate the jacket which helps fluff up that down.
Don’t Store Packed Down - Make sure to give a lightweight down jacket room to breathe when it isn’t in use. Scrunching it down into a stuff sack or at the bottom of a pile of gear will break down the loft of the jacket over time. It won’t be able to spring back and deliver its warmth if stuffed in somewhere tight.
Weight: 396 grams
Fill: 800-fill-power 100-percent RDS down
Pros: Mountain town uniform, very well built, trustworthy staple
Cons: While still impressively light is teetering on too heavy to be called a proper “ultralight” jacket
Price: $329
While technically not ultralight, the Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody is still an impressively light 396 grams for being such a commercially successful jacket. You have likely seen this sweater hoody everywhere, I have used one since , and the enduring style can hold its own in the mountains as well as in city streets. A Down Sweater Hoody was my insulating layer of choice during my first winter backcountry skiing because of how well it packed into my pack and proved a mainstay in my kit for years before I loaned it out with it never to return.
How I tested: I tested the Cerium, the Ghost Whisperer and the Down Sweater Hoodie for years. To be clear, I did not put them in a head to head test until a month ago but I have used them to ski in the backcountry in the Siskiyou, Cascade, and Sierra mountain ranges and have taken notes all the way. I tested the newer Deploy and Mythic by wearing them on all of my late fall adventures this year like a three day camping trip on the Scott River in far Northern California. I wore each under a shell in the rain while being active, hiked in each of them on cold fall days, and wore each early morning on my camping trip to get them into the sub freezing temperature range.
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Weight: 96 grams
Fill: DownTek 900 Fill Power Water Repellent Goose Down
Price: $374
Z Packs is a true ultralight backpacking staple, beloved by thru-hikers. Known best for making top quality ultralight packs and shelters, the Z Packs Goose Down Jacket is also legendary for being an inconceivably light insulating layer. To put the weight (96g for size medium) into perspective, that's about the same as 20-25 almonds. Yes, this premium water repellent down jacket, that will be plenty warm to get you through a nasty shoulder season storm if placed under a quality shell, weighs as much as a snack’s worth of nuts. That's nuts (sorry).
Weight: 138 grams
Fill: -fill
Price: $550
Japanese outdoor brand Montbell makes the second lightest weight ultralight jacket on this list coming in at 138-grams thanks to its -fill down and skip stitch quilting pattern which minimizes seams but also mitigates cold spots.
Weight: 360 grams
Fill: 850+ Fill Power ExpeDry Responsible Down Standard Down
Price: $299
Though not nearly exactly ultralight by weight, the Katabatic Gear Tincup Down jacket is likely to be the warmest on this list thanks to its impressively high 43% fill to weight ratio. Katabatic was able to create all of that warmth-holding loft in an impressively light (for its size) 360-gram package thanks to exclusively using premium materials. It is a model of efficiency with its ExpeDry Down as the top shelf Pertex ripstop exterior.
While all of the above picks are highly commercially available, don't sleep on lesser known OG brands like Feathered Friends and the many cottage brands that can be found on reddit and Garage Grown Gear. There you will USA made gear—likely made by the very person that founded the brand, and in their own home no less—with custom options.
Nope! On the contrary, washing a down jacket is really important in the maintenance of down’s ability to maintain loft and keep you warm. If washed correctly, it helps keep the down feathers themselves full of loft and also keeps abrasive materials like dirt and sand off your zippers.
Check out our guide to washing a down jacket for full step-by-step instructions. It is very important to wash a down jacket specifically with a technical detergent (like Nikwax Down Wash) that was formulated to clean down in a front loading washing machine that does not have an agitator.
The short answer is that the difference is a few hundred grams of weight. The way that gear makers create that weight difference is what is interesting. A non ultralight down jacket can use a lower fill power (think 600-fill as opposed to 800 - 1,000-fill) and generally more material. It also often has more comfort details like hand pockets and big old hoods or a zippered pocket. A proper ultralight hoodie will be minimalist, highly packable, and weigh next to nothing.
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