Patagonia Men's Micro Puff Hoody

What a great jacket! It provides excellent warmth, is windproof, packs down small, and even works well in wet conditions. It sits in the middle of Patagonia's synthetic insulation jacket lineup.

The Nano version provides 60 g of primaloft one, the Micro provides 100 g, the DAS parka provides 170 g. I feel the 100 g Micro provides the best combination of warmth vs packability. The Nano isn't warm enough for my needs; and, the DAS is too bulky to take with me for most trips.

Another plus for me with the Micro Hoody is that it works really well either as an inner or outer layer. For fall and spring conditions it is warm enough layered over long underwear. For winter, I layer it over a light fleece. In any case, I can still throw a storm jacket on over it if it starts raining.

The hood adds a lot of warmth. It just barely fits over my climbing helmet though.

In contrast to one other review here on this site, the handwarmer pockets in the current version (2010/2011) of the Micro Puff Hoody are insulated. Perhaps this was not the case in the past? Perhaps Patagonia read the other review here and fixed it.

Quality of construction appears to be consistent with my other Patagonia garments - pretty much top of the line. I expect this jacket to be a trusted companion for me on a lot of mountain trips for many years. Highly recommended.

Hi!

I have used this jacket every other day for about 7 - 8 months of winter in Stockholm Sweden.

I use it for walking about in town. It works well down to -15 C with a T-shirt and a fleece jacket under.

During warmer days I used a thin Polar fleece jacket under. Under really cold days (below -10 C) I used a thick fleece jacket under.

For extremely cold days I switch to a DAS Parka.

Minus:

If the hand pockets are open, your stomach will get cold.

I would like a extra chest-pocket on the outside, for the bus-ticket, on the opposite side of the inner pocket. It should be seated under the chest.

Plus:

The ventilation is excellent! And it is still windproof! A light rain forms into pearls and glides of.

I used to wear a North Face Redpoint Optimus Jacket before, for 3 years. It did not ventilate enough.

I was always sweating in it.

When the loft gets worm out, I will buy a new one. I will then use the old one on warmer winter days, and the new one on colder days.

Migas

Sometime I see people have their own mindset about what a jacket should do, but I see this jacket used by people and they get mad because they did not understand what they were buying, and think this is a a DAS Parka.

What several of us in my mountaineering circle use this jacket for is as a sound replacement from a fleece midlayer and additionally used as light summer insulation layer for in camp for some additional warmth on cool Alaska summer "dusk/night".

The reason we use this is fleece is very heavy and packs poorly (Bulky) for its relative warmth, and this is a great, actually nearly perfect alternative to a fleece midlayer on a cold climb or backcountry ski here in Alaska.

When insulated jackets are purchased, one would assume that the front of the hand-warmer pockets would be insulated. These are not! There's just a piece of nylon shell to "protect" one's hands.

If you have to have gloves to keep your hand warm in cool weather and run the constant risk of losing or misplacing them to make an insulated jacket work, it doesn't work. Don't get this unless you're really attached to wearing gloves.

Like the other reviewer, I have never before returned a Patagonia product for design error and have been buying them for many years.

Great insulation, Polarguard Delta, but the fabric is thinner than the previous Puffball Sweater. It would be great to have in a pack, as back up, if you needed to stay warm, but it does not seem to hold up around town. Seems like too many corners were cut to save weight. The first Patagonia I have ever had to return due to quality concerns.