New Down Jacket Released Today

[Brigham @ Outdoor Vitals]

Hey Brigham - really appreciate the engagement and you explaining the design intent. Goes a LONG ways for someone like me. Reasoning makes total sense to me - helmet thing felt off, so glad you confirmed I'm not crazy. Cheers.

Glad to help!

 

[Brigham @ Outdoor Vitals]

@Brigham @ Outdoor Vitals what would you say is the target temp range?

With the standard caveats that it is dependent on individual physiology, metabolism, layering system, wind, humidity, duration of stationary status, cloud cover, etc..... the low end should be in the range of 30-45 degrees F.

 

[work765]

When are you guys getting the Vantage back in? I’ve been waiting like two months and nothing. I need a large in olive green.


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[Firehawk]

I have been wearing my Zulu jacket almost daily since it arrive on 2/13. So comfortable and does a nice job with mild wind too. Very much a fan.

Nice to meet the Brigham and Tayson and a few other folks from OV at the HuntExpo. Picked up another Pursuit Hybrid Fleece in black that I wear almost daily and picked up a Vario jacket for my daughter for her birthday. Even brought my buddy into the booth so he could check some stuff out.

I also have the Vantage coat. I haven't worn it since getting the Zulu. Mainly because we haven't had much of a winter here in Utah this year. Have worn it a bunch eariler this winter and late fall, but mostly to go to work and do some chores around the house this winter. Didn't use it on my late season cow elk hunt as the temps were warm enough I stuck with "active layers" like the Pursuit Hybrid fleece and some other pieces from Sitka I like.

But...had it been a normal winter here, I would have loved it sitting on the ridges glassing for cows in the snow.

FH

 

[schur7559]

I received my Zulu today after contemplating buying a SG Grumman. Went with the Zulu due to the price difference and similar specs.

Overall I think it’s a solid jacket. The build quality is good and I’m impressed by how warm it is given the weight. The only other puffys I have to compare it to are an Eddie Bauer with 650 down (my everyday jacket) and a Sitka Kelvin Aerolite (synthetic down). This jacket is noticeably warmer than those.

The hood is kind of sticking point as another poster mentioned. When I initially put it on the hood seemed very large and wore more like a sweatshirt hood. Once I put a beanie on, which I’m almost always wearing with a puffy, it filled out the space a lot more and made it less “airy”. It won’t be a deal breaker for me but I do wish it had a little tighter fit.

As for the fit, it is a littler large on me, which may contribute to the hood fit. I’m 6’ 2” and 205lbs with a fairly large chest and it hangs 3/4 way down my butt and the sleeves are an inch or two too long. I’m going to exchange the XL for a large.

I’m looking forward to the weight savings and improved warmth from this jacket in the mountains this fall.

 

[RAM190Hog]

With the standard caveats that it is dependent on individual physiology, metabolism, layering system, wind, humidity, duration of stationary status, cloud cover, etc..... the low end should be in the range of 30-45 degrees F.

Hi Brigham. Can you comment on the use of duck down vs goose down. My understanding is the duck down is much less expensive to source. Is it really as good of an insulator, or is it mostly for cutting cost on the jackets?

 

[Firehawk]

Hi Brigham. Can you comment on the use of duck down vs goose down. My understanding is the duck down is much less expensive to source. Is it really as good of an insulator, or is it mostly for cutting cost on the jackets?

I won't have the details that Brigham can share, but I think it was a specific species of duck that allowed a high loft and excellent properties. Not a normal duck down. They discuss in the Outdoor Vitals podcast around the Zulu jacket. I find the jacket very comfortable personally.

I remember there being something with plumes on the feathers that helps them to hold onto one another better than goosedown does. This allowed the down plumes to stay better distributed throughout the jacket.

Anyway, I thought their podcast did a nice job of talking about it. You might find that helpful. I downloaded it off of my iphone podcast app.

FH

 

[Brigham @ Outdoor Vitals]

Hi Brigham. Can you comment on the use of duck down vs goose down. My understanding is the duck down is much less expensive to source. Is it really as good of an insulator, or is it mostly for cutting cost on the jackets?

When we're considering down for the purpose of heat retention in an insulated jacket or sleeping bag, the most significant factors - and those that are noticeable by a person using the product - are fill power, fill weight, and the amount of space available for the down to expand to create dead air space. There are other factors, and there are also other measurements of isolated down that indicate the potential insulative value of isolated down, but those factors are much less significant, and once the down is inside a jacket or sleeping bag, no human can discern the difference.

Fill power is a measurement of how much volume a given amount of down can occupy in a specific container. We use it to determine how much down can be used to fill a designated space (like a jacket). Duck down and goose down can have the exact same fill power up until around 850 fill power - meaning you can have 800 fill power duck down and 800 fill power goose down and the weight of the down is the same. That means that the same amount of down is needed to fill the same space, whether it's goose down or duck down. A jacket with 800 fill power duck down would use the same amount of down fill as the exact same jacket with 800 fill power goose down. A person wearing either of those jackets could not discern a warmth difference between the two. Fill power above 850 cannot be consistently achieved with standard duck down, but it can with goose down.

The Zulu jacket is made with Muscovy duck down, which is a much larger bird than typical duck. The clusters are closer to the size of a goose down cluster, but the Muscovy cluster has more body and off-shooting fibers that increase fiber area and enable Muscovy down to rate higher than 900 fill power. The cluster construction of Muscovy down can have a bit more resilience or rebound, due to its fiber arrangement. It also seems to hold together with other clusters a little bit better, so it tends to migrate less.

A typical duck down cluster is smaller than a goose down cluster. Goose down clusters are bigger because their fibers are longer. In a finished product like a jacket, a person might notice a little more compressibility with goose down, if all other factors are equal. In general, clusters with longer fibers or more fiber area are more compressible. I can't give you a quantifiable number for how much more compressible, but its a little.

Duck down does cost less, because there is much more supply. Because Muscovy down is categorized as "duck down", it still costs less than goose down, but significantly more than 850 fill power duck down. We've been happy with standard duck down in the past because of the value proposition of 850 fill power duck down. Fill power is fill power, and We're excited to be using Muscovy down because it's an even better performing value proposition because we can get a 900 fill power down for less cost than goose down of the same fill power. And there's no warmth difference.

As always, this is a summary. There's more I could talk about but hopefully this helps.

 

[work765]

When will you have the vantage back in?? I need an olive in large. Been waiting for months.


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[Brigham @ Outdoor Vitals]

When will you have the vantage back in?? I need an olive in large. Been waiting for months.


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Current estimate is August.