Let me start out by saying I am generally a fan of mountain hardwear products. I have, however, been consistently dissapointed by their down coats. The zub zero parka is pretty nice but has design flaws in that the fabric inside the jacket always get caught in the zippers. It's also pretty bulky. I ended up getting a 900 fill down coat from a local manufacturer that is going to work better for about the same price. Don't get me wrong, mountain hardwear gear is bomber but for my needs, 650 down in a house sized parka with zippers that always jam is not going to cut it.

This is a nice, lightweight layer, I like it. Its comfy and whatnot and fits pretty close to right, little long in the body to get the sleeves to fit the way I like but considering I will be tucking it in half the time and it likely won't untuck, it's really not a big deal. As others have noted, the thumb holes are a little small for a mens shirt but not so bad as to be useless. I was on Rainier this weekend in every type of weather known to man from still and sunny to near white out, windy conditions. Seemed to work fine. I have an REI brand lightweight layer that is going to be seeing a lot more drawer time. This one fits better and is more comfy. Gave it it's first wash and hang dry, fit has not changed. So far so good. I gotta be honest, I really like brands that I like and along with Mountain Hardwear, I have always been pleased with Backcountry.com product and service. So buy one already, I can't do this all day.

I had the Mountain Hardware sub-zero coat before I got the phantom. I like the sub-zero, it was very warm and durable but way too puffy and bulky. I checked around and tried on all the major brands 800 fill coats. What I wanted was something warm, durable, compressable that would fit under my hard shell (I live in Washington State). I like a lot of the features of this coat. It's compressable, warm, the lined collar is nice but as with all 800 fill coats, the exterior material is a little suspect. I also hate the pocket zippers, they almost always get caught on the material inside the pocket and so you have to be uber careful and there is almost no way I can see opening the pockets with gloves on. It's really warm and fits great. I have used it on cross country ski trips, alpine scrambles and one trip up to Muire on Rainier.