How to choose down jacket for outdoor wear
As an essential warming equipment for alpine climbing and winter outdoor activities, the protective function of outdoor down jackets is particularly evident. From the extremely thin air of 8,000 meters above sea level to the icy coldness of the snow-covered wilderness in the winter, the cold, the loss of temperature, and even lighter down jackets play an important role in outdoor sports. In the face of the extreme environment as described above, what kind of down jacket is adequate, reliable and worthy of commitment?
Down warm principle is mainly through the thickness of down fluffy to accumulate air, and use down jacket fabric to block the air flow, making the surface of the high-temperature air and the outside air less convection exchange, thus preventing heat loss. Therefore, the warmth of the down jacket is mainly reflected in how much air it can accumulate after it is filled with fluffy down, and the ability of the outer layer to block the cold air. In general, the thicker the outermost fabric of the down jacket, the thicker the fluffy thickness, the stronger the warming ability. The three important indicators refined from this principle directly determine the warmth of the down jacket.
1) One is the fill power. The standard definition refers to the value of volumetric cubic inches of down 30 grams under specified conditions. Under the same weight, the bigger the down cluster is, the more air is fixed and the more warm it is. So if you pay attention to observation, the cuffs of most brands of outdoor down jackets will have embroidery numbers, such as 650, 700, and 850, and this represents the fluffiness of the inside of down jackets. It is an indicator that we should first pay attention when selecting down jackets.
2) The second is the amount of down. Another important indicator of filling power is the amount of filled down feathers in the down jacket. Because of the higher loftiness of the down products, the more easily the down and fluffy flowers fall apart, resulting in unbalanced body temperature. Considering this situation, most of the outdoor down garments are designed with a higher loftiness and a lower filling volume. Down-filling power of down jackets is an important indicator for us when selecting down jackets.
3) The third is the outer fabric. Due to ultra-light down and high compression rate, but the dispersion is also high. So this requires an outer fabric to lock it firmly. The outer fabric used by most of the outdoor brands is the ripstop nylon fabric. The thickness is represented by "D", such as 10D, 20D, the bigger and thicker the number, the stronger it is. The lower the number of products, the lower the number of fabrics, the thicker the fabric, and the higher the number of products, the thinner the fabric.
