Down Jacket
Himali Accelerator Down Jacket
$330, 12.5 oz./354g (males’s medium)
Sizes: males’s S-XXL, girls’s XS-XL
himali.com
On cool mornings and windy evenings within the low 40s Fahrenheit (4-6° C) in campsites whereas backpacking the Skyline Path in Jasper Nationwide Park and the Nigel, Cataract, and Cline Passes Route within the White Goat Wilderness within the Canadian Rockies in August, my Himali Accelerator Down Jacket saved me completely heat over only one or two base layers. By many measures, this midweight puffy hits the goal for three-season mountain adventures in its stability of weight, packability, heat, supplies, water resistance, and options—all at a aggressive value for a high-quality down jacket.
Actually, it’s tempting to name the Accelerator the Goldilocks of down jackets, as a result of it appears so preferrred for tenting within the mountains within the usually cool climate of summer season and fall, or spring and fall within the desert Southwest: It’s not so skinny and light-weight that it’s by no means fairly heat sufficient for many individuals, but additionally not overly heat, which might make it unnecessarily heavier and bulkier.
For lots of people whose private metabolism falls someplace between the people who find themselves heat sufficient in an ultralight down jacket and the individuals who want the fattest puffy jacket even in summer season, the Accelerator might really feel good.
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At 12.5 oz./354g (males’s medium) and packing all the way down to a bit bigger than a liter bottle, the Accelerator is a middleweight amongst three-season insulated jackets—in between fashions weighing 10 ounces/283.5 grams or much less and people weighing as much as round one pound/453.6 grams. (Insulated jackets over a pound are usually designed for winter—or not for the backcountry.) That reality and its mixture of supplies and design options give it a number of benefits over many opponents.
Full of 4 ounces of RDS-certified, 850-fill, water resistant HyperDry down, the Accelerator delivers a very excessive warmth-to-weight ratio that competes with the few best down jackets at this or any weight. Excessive-quality down creates extra space between feathers, rising heat-trapping effectivity, which interprets to extra heat per ounce of jacket. And only a few down jackets have down with the next score than 850-fill—with most of these being lighter and/or considerably dearer.
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To forestall moisture out of your physique compromising the loft of the down feathers, and consequently, the jacket’s heat—particularly if circumstances require you to put on this jacket when on the transfer—Himali positioned artificial insulation in high-moisture areas just like the underarms, for its skill to lure warmth when damp. That’s a uncommon design function in down jackets that you could be reap the advantages of while you most want it.
The Pertex Quantum ripstop nylon shell with a DWR (sturdy, water resistant coating) and water-expanding thread additionally assist maintain moisture out. The light-weight material compares with many down jackets made for the backcountry: Sufficiently sturdy for regular use however train all due warning with it.
That mixture of mapped artificial insulation and the waterproof HyperDry down and shell material give the Accelerator a big efficiency benefit over commonplace down jackets in persistently moist climate and conditions the place you want to put on this jacket earlier than you’ve stopped transferring for the day—and need it to stay heat when you’ve reached camp.
The one-hand adjustable, under-the-helmet hood closes snugly round my head, making a seal round my whole face with the zipper pulled as much as my chin—the sort of match that retains chilly air off your neck, which insulated jackets with a looser match and inferior hood don’t obtain. That match means the hood turns together with your head (saving you from the annoying expertise of the hood protecting one eye).
Anybody searching for an insulated jacket for year-round backcountry use would possibly discover the Accelerator delivers the correct quantity of heat for these quick relaxation breaks when you want to throw on one other layer and for transferring in very chilly situations, particularly downhill (though it’s not heat sufficient to operate as your major insulation when tenting or for an sudden, emergency in a single day bivy). The water resistant down would assist stop moisture buildup from perspiration or precipitation—and also you’d put on a shell over it in any important precip—and its warmth-to-weight ratio would exceed that of virtually any artificial insulated jacket.
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The glorious match permits layering it over a few base layers and presumably one mild insulation layer for some folks: With a 38-inch chest and 30-inch waist, I used to be capable of put on a lightweight fleece hoodie beneath the boys’s medium Accelerator. Nonetheless, there isn’t an extreme quantity of area after I put on it solely over one or two base layers, so thermal effectivity is excellent.
Plus, the entrance zipper closes comfortably snugly at my chin (with a delicate, fleece chin guard), maintaining chilly air off my neck, and the adjustable hem and stretch cuffs seal in warmth. Good articulation within the sleeves and shoulders prevents the jacket from bunching or driving up when transferring round or elevating your arms overhead. It additionally is available in 5 males’s and ladies’s sizes.
The two heat, zippered hand pockets are spacious sufficient to suit a pair of heat gloves in both of them and the jacket packs right into a neatly built-in stuff sack within the left hand pocket. The one inside zippered pocket is bigger than a smartphone.
Himali additionally affords a non-hooded model of the Accelerator Down Jacket ($310).
The Verdict
With a really excessive warmth-to-weight ratio, good water resistance and packability, an incredible match, and what could also be an ideal diploma of heat balanced with a modest weight, the Himali Accelerator Down Jacket simply often is the preferrred puffy for a lot of backpackers, climbers, and different adventurers.
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You may help my work on this weblog, for gratis to you, by clicking any of those affiliate hyperlinks to buy a males’s hooded Himali Accelerator Down Jacket at himali.com, a girls’s hooded Himali Accelerator Down Jacket at himali.com, a males’s non-hooded Himali Accelerator Down Jacket at himali.com, or a girls’s non-hooded Himali Accelerator Down Jacket at himali.com.
See “The 10 Best Down Jackets” and all evaluations of insulated jackets and outdoor apparel at The Massive Outdoors.
NOTE: I examined gear for Backpacker Journal for 20 years. At The Massive Outdoors, I overview solely what I take into account the very best out of doors gear and attire. See categorized menus of all of my gear reviews at The Massive Outdoors.
—Michael Lanza
