Marmot Greenland Baffled Down Jacket - Men's

I bought this jacket for extreme conditions in high latitudes and/or altitudes of arctic and sub-arctic Alaska. I didn't have it during the worst of the season, so haven't had the opportunity to give it my ultimate test. There are some readily evident pluses and minuses for this jacket. The baffled construction is excellent, draft tube is very effective, pockets are placed well, and range of arm motion while wearing the jacket is great. Very little mass and packs down very well. Pitfalls include a poorly designed, over-sized hood that can't be synched tight without pulling over the eyes. This alone made me seriously consider shipping this thing back, but I got it during a pretty sweet sale, and think I have devised a way to deal with it. Also, the collar is not separate from the hood so it doesn't close any tighter than the hood resulting in a draft down the collar if you can't figure out a way to get the hood tight. The main zipper on mine is not as smooth to zip as I would like, but it is tolerable and I can't assume this is more than a flaw with this particular zipper rather than all the zippers on all the Greenland jackets. And as I anticipated, the lightweight nylon of the shell does not appear durable at all, but does offer promise to avoid trapping moisture (waterproof and breathable are an impossible combination in extreme cold) and weighs nothing, which were two features I was more interested in. I've worn a thin, oversized, nylon wind shell over it in situations where protection from abrasion or high winds was needed, which has seemed to provide adequate reinforcement so far; that is another layer I always carry anyway.

If you want every gram of weight to go to down insulation instead of fabric and features this is the jacket to get. Design and construction is excellent. The other reviewer who said its mediocre is misunderstanding the intent of the design. He said there is no internal baffle; there is an internal baffle as well as an external one and both brilliantly reversed to keep wind from reaching inside. He talks about the Velcro being too weak for high winds...THIS IS NOT A HARDSHELL. It's not a storm jacket, its deep cold insulation to be worn during static situations like sitting around a campsite during winter temps. I bought it for winter survival in an unexpected forced overnighter while backcountry skiing. It stuffs into an ingenious inner pocket that also protects it during transport. As I said, the best thing about it is all the weight is in the down.

I haven't had a chance to put this to the test yet. But just from wearing it around in just below freezing temps, there is a significant draft that comes through the zipper. Theres not enough Velcro or there needs to be an internal vertical baffle to block the air infiltration. The Velcro that closes the jacket near the neck is just two tiny pieces that would never stay shut in high winds or snowy/icy weather. The elastic cords to cinch the hood always come untied and i had to ghetto rig them to not come undone. the neck area does not come up high enough so a draft goes right down your front and around your head unless you cinch it so you cant see although i would imagine that a helmet would remedy this situation. lots of complaints but pretty light so it's a trade off. i choose the lighter becasue it still gets the job done just not as efficiently. Any yes theres even lighter than this out there.