uniqlo ul down jacket first impressions

Sun, Oct 13, 2013

Carrying on from my previous post about the UNIQLO Ultra Light Down Parka, it arrived the next day! So this is a wee taster before I use it through the winter, on the hill and on the bike.

The first thing you notice about it is it’s very very light indeed. It’s even lighter than my Rab though by how much I have no idea as I don’t have scales. But it is much lighter. It has the same sort of shiny material:

both inside and out:

and when it’s packed into its carrying bag it’s around a Sigg high by two Siggs wide:

but if you compress it right down, it fits inside an Evernew 0.9L pot:

In terms of fill power, it’s 640 and from various sources across the internet I gather this is EU rather than US so it’s not in the same league as your Rabs etc. The DWR coating will be very handy though. I know from experience how useful this is in a damp tent.

It’s not a jacket for full on winter mountaineering but it’s not designed for that. It’s a stylish ‘man about town/tramp about bothy’ sort of jacket. Two zipped handwarmer pockets on the outside, two deep unzipped pockets inside, ideal for popping a music player into.

With lycra cuffs and hem it’s not too bad at keeping the breeze out but a potential problem is the neck as it has no drawcord and gapes open a fair bit. Now, that’s not the problem it could be as these days there are all sorts of ‘add ons’ you can use and a buff is a wonderful solution to problems like this.

I have a full on winter mountaineering Buffalo Big Face shirt which has the same problem though to a lesser degree. The neck area isn’t as snug as it could be and it’s designed for winter mountaineering. All is solved by a fleecy buff and that’s what I’ll be wearing with this jacket.

From various research across t’internets, this jacket has a loyal following among backpackers for lounging round camp and rock and ice climbers for belaying. I’m hoping to add cycling to that!