Vests:Fleece or Down

[Zach Matthews]

My Patagonia micropuff is one of my favorite garments.

[mick mccorcle]

I have both, fish the Guad, and am a big Simms Windstopper fan.

[john michael white]

Yeah, believe it or not, it does get cold here….like in the 20’s, but usualy that’s only a few times a year.

[John Bennett]

Like Rods, theres a jacket/vest for different applications. Finding one to do it all is……………

Warmth.
Primaloft (yes its synthetic) doesn’t stand up to good down with a fill power of say 500 to 700. However, it packs better but more importantly (to me anyways) is that it layers better. I have a primaloft jacket by Merril that I wear as an outer layer or mid layer. And yeah, if you get down wet………………………………

Fleece.
Not as good as primaloft if you ask me.

Which to get?
All of them.

mix and layer as needed.

If Im going to be sitting still potentially for an hour its base layer, fleece, primaloft, heavy shell. If Im going to be active I tend towards a base layer, fleece hoodie, primaloft outer.

There are dozens of good manufactorers out there, my advice is don’t get stuck on those known for their angling gear.

Underarmor
Merrill
Arcteryx
plus so many more (north face, OR, and on, and on)

I have all the above, fleece windstopers and primaloft. Just bought an UA Ronin as a heavy outshell to replace my old one. LOVE the cuffs (wish a fly making would copy them) and pockets.

[Author]

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