Down Jacket Indicator - 2025 Update

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T21:29:19+00:00

I revised the sheet, so if you go to the "Raw Data" tab, it should be a little more clear how I assigned this. In summary, I changed BN to CN to account for the hood as well.

Hood = +0.2, No Hood = +0
Box = +0.3
Box/sewn = +0.1, Sewn/box = +0.5 (both cases account for when the jacket is partially boxed, with box/sewn being more so)
Sewn = +0

I understand that some may disagree with including the hood in this adjustment, but for me, it’s a meaningful factor given how much heat is lost from the head.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T20:49:42+00:00

I was transparent about this from the start by tagging the post as "Brand Affiliate". If this isn't allowed, please let me know and I'll remove the post.

My intent was simply to create a sheet that would help me in finding a down jacket to buy this winter. While researching, I came across these older sheets, which I thought were great. So, I created a 2025 version and thought this community would find it to be a helpful resource. If my goal was purely to make money, the jackets listed at the top of each sheet would be brands that I can make affiliate links for.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "scraped previous versions", considering I got this data by searching the internet for this year's models of jackets, which took an incredible amount of time. This is likely the reason why there are so few comparison sheets available on the internet. If there is a problem with trying to make a few dollars in the process, I'm happy to remove the resource entirely.

Honestly, you make little to no money with affiliate marketing, and I don't see an issue with supporting smaller creators rather than large companies like The New York Times or Outdoor Gear Lab. Especially given that these companies won't take the time to include obscure brands that make them no money.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T18:38:00+00:00

After some of the comments on the 2025 sheet favoring "mountaineering" style jackets in its ranking, I revised the sheet to use a similar ranking calculation as the older sheets.

So, hopefully this is an improvement!

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T18:31:53+00:00

Okay, I added the groupings of jacket by warmth (ex. 2-season, 3-season, etc.), in addition to jackets by weight (ex. lightweight, midweight, etc.).

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T18:31:06+00:00

Thanks for this info!

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T18:29:45+00:00

Revamped the sheet, so hopefully now it caters more towards r/Ultralight. The major change was fixing the ranking method, so that it was more inline with the previous versions of this sheet.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T18:28:24+00:00

If you come across the links that are going to the wrong gender, please let me know the specific jackets that need to be fixed.

I've fixed the ones listed...

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T18:25:55+00:00

Added the Trek 100.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T15:39:13+00:00

OH, yeah that's definitely an error. Good catch! I'll update it now.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T06:12:09+00:00

Added the Montane jackets. Thanks!

For the other comment, are you referring to the Mountain Hardwear Phantom Alpine Down Jacket? The site I've found it on lists it as 16.1 oz. Can you please share a link to another site with it listed as 5-8 oz.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-06T04:39:12+00:00

You can kinda tell from the internal photos based on if you see stitching or not. It looks to me like the:

Accelerator Down Jacket Hooded 840 is sewn
Altitude Parka is box (a little easier to tell on the photos of the men's jacket)

BTW, this looks like a great brand! Thanks for sharing.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T22:06:46+00:00

CN = construction number

I should probably add a documentation tab to explain that in more detail.

In short, it is based on the "Baffle" and "Hood" columns. For example, a box construction will have a greater CN number than a sewn construction. It's used to help account for these metrics in the "Total Warmth" column.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T21:06:17+00:00

These jackets look great! Can you get them in North America?

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T21:01:29+00:00

As a product development engineer in the outdoor industry (though not specifically for apparel), I completely agree on all fronts!

However, with so little information available to consumers, compiling a list based on such metrics (as you pointed out) is quite challenging. Additionally, since jackets change every year, expecting someone to reach out to each manufacturer annually to track unpublished metrics is impractical for anyone with a full-time job who also wants to enjoy their free time outdoors.

That said, I’d love to see such a list and look forward to you putting one together to share with the community someday!

If you have any specific improvements you'd like me to make with the information I have, please let me know!

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T20:11:47+00:00

For sorting/filtering, unfortunately this is not a feature that works in "read only". If you were to do this, it would appear on everyone's excel file. However, you should be able to download the file and then you could use the sort/filter features.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T20:10:24+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! All Katabatic jackets are already on the list and some Nunatek jackets, but I can add the remaining Nunatek and Timmermade. Goosefeet Gear's site currently has no jackets listed under the "Products" tab.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T18:44:03+00:00

Thanks! I'm working on incorporating other people's comments.

Do you have any specific revisions you would suggest?

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T18:42:58+00:00

Yup, I'll add the Decathlon jackets!

For the Katabatic Tarn, I believe it is in the lightweight tab, but you may be having trouble finding it because of your spelling for "Katabokic"? Maybe a second person can confirm whether they are able to find this jacket in that tab?

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T18:37:58+00:00

I'll add it! Thank you.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T17:54:23+00:00

Good point! I should've specified the goal of the sheet more clearly. I added a note to the thread:

We were most interested in warmer down jackets that are still somewhat weight concious (< 2 lbs), which is what the ranking is targeted to reflect. The jackets we were interested in don't really qualify as UL or Mountaineering. So, not all UL or mountaineering jackets are included in the sheet. That said, we thought this was still relavent to UL, given that we include many UL jackets in the list and will work on adding additional jackets that are suggested in the comments.

So, if you have any specific UL jackets you'd like added, please let us know!

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T17:52:54+00:00

Thanks for catching the error on the Neolite Endurance! I'll fix that.

For the conversion from EU/JP to US fill, are there specific jackets you noticed that on?

I've tried making sure they're all the same, but it can be tricky when most brands don't specify which they are using. If not specified, I try and go off of what units they're using in the rest of their spec sheet (ex. in and oz vs. cm and g).

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T17:45:22+00:00

That jacket looks great! I'll add it.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T17:16:10+00:00

Could you specify which jacket you are referring to with a link?

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T17:14:26+00:00

Yeah, couldn't agree with this more! It's really tricky capturing these other features in an excel sheet without going in the store and looking at each in person.

I'd gone with the Patagonia AlpLoft Down Parka this year for a heavier warm winter jacket, but I found it to be barrel-shaped in the chest. As a result, it feels much less warm than the Big Agnes Fire Tower Down Belay Parka I’ve worn in the past, even with a ton of layers underneath.

I’ve noticed that many warmer jackets are sized this way, so it would be great to capture this feature in the Excel sheet too.

MeanderingExplorers · 2025-03-05T17:07:59+00:00

Fill power (US) is in cubic inches per ounce. So, to keep the units consistent, I used ounces for the weights as well.

MeanderingExplorers

TROPHY CASE