puffy jacket reviews

Gear Review: Patagonia Kids Down Sweater

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Patagonia Kids Down Sweater
Patagonia Kids Down Sweater

Patagonia Girls/Boys Down Sweater Jacket
$99, 10 oz. (girls medium)
Sizes: boys and girls XS (5-6) to XXL (16-18)
patagonia.com

The first indicator that this kids’ down jacket was a good pick: My 10-year-old daughter didn’t want to take it off, wearing it daily to school and even around the house. Your kid loves it—that’s a plus. I like it for the performance. She wore this puffy while car camping and backpacking in late March in Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, when low temperatures ranged from the mid-teens to the 40s, as well as resort skiing (under a shell jacket) and to school on many winter and spring days. While camping, temps in the low 20s were at the jacket’s limit, although you could layer a light insulation piece under it.

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Gear Review: L.L. Bean Ultralite 850 Down Jacket

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LL Bean Ultralite 850 down jacket
LL Bean Ultralite 850 down jacket

Down Jacket
L.L. Bean Ultralite 850 Down Jacket
$179, 1 lb. 1 oz. (men’s medium), $189 tall
Sizes: men’s S-XXL, tall M-XXL, women’s XS-XL, petite XS-XL
llbean.com

In heavily falling snow at around 9,000 feet on Copper Mountain in Idaho’s Boise National Forest, I felt the cold touch my bones. We had been climbing uphill on skis, breaking trail, for about 90 minutes; I was wet, and now the wind on the exposed ridge where we had stopped for a bite hit us. I pulled this down jacket on over my shell jacket and kept it on while skiing back downhill—I was that cold—realizing the snow could saturate the feathers and thinking, “Well, we’ll see if this water-resistant down works.”

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Gear Review: Marmot Variant Hoody

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Marmot Variant Hoody review
Marmot Variant Hoody

Hybrid Cold-Weather Jacket
Marmot Variant Hoody
$185, 15 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XL
marmot.com

Whether a fast-forward winter sport like skate-skiing, or a pack-carrying activity like hiking, ski touring, and snowshoeing, many cold-weather outdoor adventures demand a jacket that doesn’t quite fit into the traditional definition of insulation, hard shell, or soft shell. Short story: You need more insulation in front and breathability on your back and arms. Enter the Variant, a hybrid cross between lightweight insulation and a soft shell. I’ve really grown to like it for my two primary winter sports, skate-skiing and ski touring, but it would function equally well for hiking and snowshoeing.

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Gear Review: MontBell EX Light Down Jacket

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MontBell EX Light Down Jacket

Ultralight Puffy
MontBell EX Light Down Jacket
$190, 5 oz. (men’s medium)
Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s S-XL
montbell.us

Don’t ask: How lightweight can a down jacket be and still keep you warm? Instead, reframe the question: How light a puffy do you want and how does it fit into your layering system? With sewn-through construction to prevent down from migrating, elastic cuffs to seal out drafts, and no hand pockets, this jacket stuffed with just 1.8 ounces of premium, 900-fill down feathers is no fat puffy. But it’s a very light stand-alone insulation piece for mild summer temperatures, or a versatile middle layer in a system that you can customize for a variety of outdoor activities in any season.

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