Sierra Designs Solar Fusion Down Jacket - Men's

The jacket only has down fill on the "core" areas, leaving the extremities out to freeze.
Only the chest, back, and half of your arms are covered with down. Leaving your kidneys and bicepts without any insulation.
That's all fine with me, maybe people want things like that, but it should be documented in the manufacturer's description. Furthermore, there are no photos showing this. The only photos make one assume that the jacket is fully-downed.

The loft is there on this jacket, but unfortunatley it comes in a lofty price-tag.

I returned the item, even though it was on a heavily-discounted sale.

So I'm on a 3 day bike trip in the beginning of Novemeber. The weather forecast was a low of 50 degrees for the whole weekend, but called for rain. Since I was carrying all my gear on my back I was trying to pack as light ad possible. The only reason I brought this jacket was because it was the most waterproof jacket I had at the time and packed down just as small as my softshell. Well the weather turned, dropping into the teens at night, and all I had was this jacket and a base layer. We were biking along a river trail too, so all the wood froze over and we couldn't make a fire until we thawed out some wood. This jacket literally saved me from freezing, and I was actually pretty warm once I zipped it up fully to cover my nose. This jacket is a fantastic blend of warmth and packability. Not to mention being highly water proof.

This jacket is a little weird. I have never owned nor worn a jacket with insulation covering only certain sections before this. That said, it works surprisingly well. The sections covered by the down insulation are fairly well selected with the only exception I can think of being on the arms close to the wrist; it doesn't go far enough around and my arm would probably get cold in a strong mountain breeze.

Other notes: Sierra Designs hoods are slightly awkward in general, however they do fit a helmet fairly well. Also the velcro on the wrists could use some improvement as the tightener strap tends to become unstuck occasionally.

All in all this is a good main jacket if you're planning on being active in a moderately wet environment. I really wanted to give it 5 stars however I felt that while I think it is a pretty awesome jacket it doesn't quite hit that gasmic sweet spot. Pretty close though.