Originally Posted by bwinters
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I have 2 purposes for a warm puffy - one is eastern treestand hunting, mainly in NW PA; temps from 10 to 40. Sitting all day even when its 30 degrees requires more clothes than one would think. The other purpose is mountain hunting in the east and west. In elk season (late October), temps are mostly 10 to 40 but I normally hike in 2-3 miles and climb 500-1500 feet. I need a puffy layer for those 2-3-4 hour stands/glassing sessions. I'm less concerned about the mountain hunting because of the movement involved, a guy can always move around a bit if he gets cold, plus I have a few different puffys to use depending on the temps/activity. Not so with the TS hunting.

As a side note, I've always defaulted to synthetic insulation for the sweat/wet factor. Once down gets wet, its next to useless. But synthetic isn't nearly as warm as down, nor as packable. I posted my question here because the guys here are always up on the latest and what works/doesn't work.



There is only a couple of puffys mentioned that I or my friends/mates haven't used. With a lot of trial and error almost all of us have come to the same general system/idea. The first is moisture management- we're going to sweat, when we we do we ant to dry out as fast as possible even if sitting still. That means the clothing combination or system must work towards that end. With the right combination of clothes you can go from soaked I sweat to having a completely dry next to skin layer in less than 30 minutes by using your body heat to cook the system dry.
I love merino and hate the way synthetics feel. I started wearing merino base layers within the first year or so of them being available. However after a decade plus of using them heavily, one single digit overcast day two years ago I was done with "warm when wet". Three hours in I was still soaked and nearly hypothermic. Every single person that was wearing merino that day swore that they were done with it. The ones wearing synthetics were completely dry inside of an hour.

Regardless of the region the base system that I use from 60 degrees and below is a silk weight (Patagonia Capaline LvL 1, etc) top as a moisture management layer. It's sole function is to get moisture off of my skin. Over that I wear a light to midweight fleece such as the Arctyrx Fortrez Hoody, Sitka Fanatic, etc. It has to be really cold- sub 20, or really windy for me to wear more than that while I'm moving. If it is really cold than a puffy with Polartec Alpha, windy a wind shirt. Real puffys are for throwing on after stopping to glass, sit, etc. and put it on immediately and a wind shirt or rain too over that, allowing the body heat to "push" the sweat through the layers and away from my skin. From sweated out to dry in single digit temps- 15-20 minutes.

I don't think many suggesting the Kuiu Super Down, FL Uncompahgre, etc. have sat for hours not moving in 10 degree temps. Those puffys are equivalent to a 30-40 degree sleeping bag in insulation at best. The warmest is the Kifaru Lost Park Parka and it is 3.6oz of Climashield Apex which is exactly what their 20 degree sleeping bags use.... The Montball Alpine suggested is a nice puffy but there is no way that it would allow me or anyone I know to sit for hours in 10* temps. At least not without adding a bunch of layers which I hate. I would much rather carry a warmer puffy than carry multiple layers of fleece/merino.


If you are not wanting to wear 2-3 layers of fleece or merino along with a puffy I would suggest you look for jackets with 5oz Climashield or equivalent for synthetics, and 8+ ounces of 800 fill power for down or equivalent. That's a minimum from what I've seen for stationary 10 degree use.


As an aside I have had good service with water treated down using it to cook dry as long as you wear water proof layer or windshirt over it.