The Montbell Mirage Parka is an ultralight 900 fill energy hooded down jacket, excellent for winter mountaineering or backpacking journeys once you need to get heat quick and keep heat. Weighing simply 14.4 oz in a dimension males’s XL, this jacket is loaded with options from field baffles to a whole hood sizing and adjustment system. When you’re seeking to shave some severe gear weight out of your winter mountaineering gear listing, the Mirage is the right down parka to don on the prime of your subsequent summit or again at basecamp.
Specs at a Look
- Insulation: 900 fill energy down
- Weight: 12.8 oz (medium); 14.4 oz (xl, examined)
- Down fill weight: 5.3 oz
- Development: Field baffles
- Helmet suitable: Sure
- Shell cloth: 7-denier Ballistic Airlight rip-stop nylon shell & lining
- Pockets: 4 (two outer, two interior)
- Zipper: YKK, one-way
Parkas or Jackets?
The Montbell Mirage is a down parka, which suggests it’s meant to be worn as your outmost layer, not as a mid-layer like many light-weight down or artificial insulated jackets. A parka weighs extra and often has way more insulation since you’re often not energetic once you put on it, however standing round, sitting, or sleeping. For instance, I often pull out a parka after I cease for a break on a winter hike once we summit a mountain peak and need to relish the view after I’m in camp melting snow or to enhance the insulation in a hoodless quilt after I fall asleep.
Parkas at all times have hoods they usually’re often loaded with heat-saving options like wrist cuffs and hem drawstrings. Up to now, parkas have been often longer than jackets and subsequently hotter as a result of they lined extra of your physique. However lately the road between parkas and jackets has been blurred and the time period parka is inconsistently used. The one good option to inform them aside is to have a look at the quantity of insulation a jacket has, however many producers nonetheless don’t publish down fill weights, regardless that it could profit shoppers.
Absolutely Adjustable Hood
The very first thing I search for in any down jacket is to see whether or not it has an adjustable hood. A non-adjustable hood is mainly nugatory as a result of you’ll be able to’t block out warmth robbing wind or cut back the air house that your physique has to warmth up. The right hood ought to have a quantity adjuster so you’ll be able to match it to your head dimension and neck toggles so you’ll be able to shrink the face opening. Your neck and decrease face must be lined to maintain them heat and block the wind. A zipper storage, just like the one under, is very good when you’ve got a mustache or beard, as a result of it retains them from getting caught within the enamel. The Mirage doesn’t have any face lining, however the jacket’s shell cloth could be very mushy, so it’s not an issue.
The Mirage’s hood quantity shrinks sufficient for my small head, regardless that it’s mountain climbing helmet-compatible, which ought to provide you with some sense of how good the hood controls are. Helmet compatibility is often a sign {that a} hood can be too giant a hiker’s head, however the Mirage hood will be decreased sufficient in dimension to encase your head comfortably with out additional quantity. It’s additionally wonderful simply how a lot insulation the hood holds. I personal down-filled balaclavas which have much less down fill in them, making the Mirage an superior accompaniment for a down quilt sleep system.
Wrist cuffs
The Mirage has velcro wrist cuffs on the finish of its sleeves so you’ll be able to seal the ends to forestall physique warmth from escaping. Blood flowing via your wrists travels very near the floor of your pores and skin and having wrist cuffs helps you stop chilly wind from blowing up your arms and chilling you. I often tighten the cuffs round my arm after which put gloves with gauntlets over them, however some individuals shut their sleeve ends over the gloves. No matter works. When you’re too heat, the jacket wrists are vast sufficient which you can pull them up your arm to launch warmth.
Pockets
The Mirage has 4 pockets, two on the skin of the jacket and two on the within. The outside pockets are on the edges of the coat and shut with zippers, so stuff received’t fall out. They’re massive pockets and insulated so you’ll be able to put your arms in them to heat up or stuff gloves and hats inside. Every pocket additionally accommodates a hidden hem adjuster, so you’ll be able to cinch the waist tight with out taking your arms out of your pockets.
There are additionally two pockets on the inside sides of the jacket. They’re fairly deep and good for storing heavy gloves or meals. You’ll be able to even match a Mountain Home dinner into them if you wish to use your jacket to maintain your freeze-dried meal scorching whereas it’s rehydrated.
Field Baffles
The Mirage is made utilizing field baffles as a substitute of a sewn-thru building. Field baffles are cloth chambers that maintain down clusters in place and stop them from shifting and creating chilly spots. The chambers give the clusters house to totally broaden and attain their most loft, so that you keep hotter. In sewn-thru building, the down clusters are additionally prevented from shifting however have much less house to achieve their most loft. Sewn-thru building is quicker to fabricate and cheaper, which is why it’s so prevalent. However the warmest jackets have field baffles.
Comparable Down Parkas and Jackets
Advice
The Montbell Mirage Parka is a good down parka that’s ultralight however nonetheless loaded with options. Insulated with 900 fill energy down, it’s tremendous comfy to put on and has a totally featured hood adjustment, so you’ll be able to resize it to suit completely. My solely actual concern with Mirage is the thickness and sturdiness of the 7 denier ballistic nylon used for its exterior cloth. The shell is simple to puncture and can abrade in high-friction areas extra shortly than jackets made with thicker supplies. That’s not a deal-breaker, supplied you refill on Tenacious Tape and are proactive about patching holes and thinning cloth.
Disclosure: Montbell donated a jacket for assessment.
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