Peter

Having compared this first-hand with a Mountain-Equipment 'Greenland' jacket (545g of fill, @ EU 600+ fill-power), I estimate that the Himalayan contains approximately the same WEIGHT of fill but, of course, at 700 EU (800 US) fill-power. As an aside, the hood on the Himalayan appears to be more stuffed than that on the Greenland, which is good or bad depending on your viewpoint/required usage.

Interestingly, the Greenland is listed as 1400g OVERALL weight, yet the TNF Himalayan is listed as 1219g OVERALL weight. This might appear to contradict my above estimations regarding equivalent fill weight. However, there is, in fact, no contradiction. The seeming contradiction is easily explained by the fact that M-E's Greenland jacket is tailored MUCH larger around the body, to accomodate numerous layers of clothing beneath. This is not apparent when viewing M-E's website, but I can assure you that you will find this to be true if you try a Greenland on, personally. Curiously, M-E's similar 'Annapurna' jacket has a much closer-fitting cut than the Greenland, although M-E make absolutely no mention of this on their website, at the time of this writing (the Annapurna is of a similar tailored cut to the TNF Himalayan).

If you check out the Mountain Hardwear 'Absolute Zero' page on this website, you'll see discussion that the 'Absolute Zero' jacket contains 593g of down, and that the Marmot '8000m' jacket contains 546g. Basically, you can see that all of these flagship jackets contain similar quantities of down, so, when comparing them, you should consider how each one is tailored (how long the jacket is, how big the hood is (e.g. helmet-compatible or not), how many zipped pockets, how much room there is for multiple layers beneath etc.). All of these will affect the overall weight and the amount of down used, so it is not as simple as just comparing down weights and assuming that 50g more down means a jacket is going to be warmer than its competitors.

To complicate things further, the exact proportions of the baffles can affect the efficiency and space within which the down is able to loft, as well as the consistency of distribution (avoidance of cold spots). Personally, I am a big fan of welded baffles instead of stitched baffles but this is a personal preference.

An efficiently-baffled jacket with identical fill-power down may, in certain circumstances, be marginally warmer in use than a less efficiently-baffled jacket even with, say, 50g more down, for example. Also consider what environmental conditions you will be subjecting your jacket to - if you get down wet it won't insulate well regardless of it's quoted fill weight/power!

Consequently, comparing fill weights perhaps has more meaning when buying non-flagship jackets where a higher level of activity or packability, or whatever, relates to your specific requirements and your choices of various compromises. Flagship mountaineering jackets, on the other hand, are all geared towards pretty-much the same target, and the design compromises are thus rather similar, with (relatively) less variation.

The short reply to your question, then, is that I estimate the TNF Himalayan to contain approximately 525g - 550g of down. I can't comment upon the tailoring of the Mountain Hardwear or Marmot flagship jackets, mentioned above, in relation to the TNF Himalayan or Mountain Equipment Greenland, as I have not had the opportunity to wear the MH or Marmot jackets first-hand. Perhaps others will post their comparisons here, in due course.

P.S. ALL figures quoted in this post relate to size 'L'.

Thanks Mike, I finally got to try (a yellow) one on at TNF's London store, and you were right - L is the most suitable for me. However, I can't get black in the UK, and I'm also uncertain as to whether or not TNF-USA's 'Large' is identical in size to TNF-Europe/UK's 'Large'. Basically, I'm still going to have to try to work out some way of obtaining a black Himalayan from the USA (since USA retailers refuse to ship to the UK this will not be easy), but I still need to know if the sizing is identical between both countries.

UPDATE:

Ok, I now, finally, have a Black TNF Himalayan Parka and YES, the US Large is identical to the UK Large for this model, much to my relief! For anyone reading my vital statistics, let me tell you that, WITHOUT any other layers (only a long-sleeved cotton T-shirt), this jacket is warm as hell and fits me like a glove. If I WANTED to, I would be able to fit a mid-weight or heavyweight fleece on underneath the Himalayan parka but, frankly, I don't find this at all necessary, even sitting still for an hour in the middle of a snow blizzard! :-)

Interesting reading this. I hope you will forgive me for posting this here, but the above 2 posts struck a chord with my situation!

I'm 6'2" with long arms, and quite slim (32" waist). I am unfamiliar with US sizing, since I'm in Europe. I have a TNF Prism Optimus which is European-XL (mail-ordered) but I have often wondered if a Large would have been adequate, because although the arms fit great, I find it a little too large around the torso, which means that unless I layer-up (which I don't like to do), it is quite baggy on me and does not insulate as well as it would if it was closer-fitting.

I've been unable to locate a comparison chart to compare European and US sizing for TNF products. I'm also aware, from experience with various manufacturers, that down jackets are frequently made excessively baggy, presumably with the assumption that users will layer substantially beneath the jacket.

I'm looking to purchase a US TNF Himalayan (Black) but I'm extremely wary, sizing-wise. On the TNF Himalayan user posts on this site, it looks like Large might suit me, but it's a heck of risk to purchase it and have it shipped all the way across the pond, only to find it is too baggy (it's already a very lofty garment indeed). Then again, a medium might be perfect around the waist/chest but too short for my long arms.

* Does anyone here have any comparative experience of the TNF Himalayan with other TNF down garments?

* Does anyone here have any comparative experience of TNF USA sizes with European TNF sizes? (ideally specifically with the down jackets, but I'll take whatever info I can get :-) )

Thanks.

Peter