Tramping Equipment: Macpac Uber Lite down jacket

 ...My new winter clothing items...

Here is my latest outdoor equipment purchase the Macpac Uber Lite down jacket. I brought this recently in the Macpac winter sale and with the sale prices and club membership discount it cost me only $99 New Zealand dollars. 

The Macpac Uber Lite Jacket

I have previously owned a down jacket for using on my tramping trips but have not used it for several years as it became too small to fit my body. I could not do the zip up on the front as my advancing years and increasing chonk meant it was too small. You must be able to zip up your down jacket to keep in the air which warms you. 

Front zipper on the Uber Lite from Macpac

As you would have seen my go to warm layer is a Hunting and Fishing fleece top. these have many good features the best of which is ease of drying, warmth when wet and durability. The main problems with these tops is their bulk and weight...my fleece easily tops 500 gm's. 

Down jackets by comparison are super lite weights and pack down to basically nothing. this jacket is around 300 gm's and packs down to the size of a 600ml coke bottle. Down is significantly warmer for weight than fleece but they are useless if wet and are not as robust as your average fleece jacket. 

...the Uber Lite weighs in at 300 gm's...

Here are some specifications about the Uber Lite jacket:

Inner fabric: 100% Nylon

Fill Type: 90/10 RDS Duck Down

Fill Power: 650

Fill Weight(gms): 120 (4XL)

Main Fabric: 100% Nylon

Weight: 320gms (size 4XL)

The Uber Lite has a main zip up the front of the jacket from waist to neck and a padded collar around the neck to retain heat. It has two external zipped pockets and two internal pockets for gear storage. The fit is loose rather than athletic and sizes range from XS to 4XL in the men's jacket. There are jackets with and without a hood but hooded jackets go to size 20/3XL only!

Macpac Uber lite jacket...front

...zip pockets on the Uber Lite jacket...

The Uber jacket comes with a nifty waterproof Nylon bag which is the correct size to hold the jacket. Remember...stuff your jacket into the carry bag and do not fold it or roll it. All down products should be stuffed and not folded to prolong life of the insulation. 

Loose fitting through the back...Uber Lite

There are four colors with Black/Blue/Olive Oil/Tapestry and I currently own two Uber Lite jackets one in Olive Oil and one in Tapestry. Only the Tapestry and Olive Oil go up to size 24/4XL the black and navy blue variants are only to size 20/3XL...

The Uber Lite in 'Olive Oil' color...

Uber Lite jacket in 'Tapestry'

I have only worn the jacket a couple of times so far and I find it comfortable, warm and easy to use. I took it with me on my recent Christchurch 360 Trail trip and it worked well. I will put up some photos of the jacket in action once I take it out on some adventures. 

Wearing my Uber jacket on the Christchurch 360 Trail

Here I am at a park at McCormicks Bay on the way to the end of this section of trail...

At Indie's Park while walking from Scarborough to Mt Pleasant

You are sure to see my Uber Lite jackets going into the future and the next opportunity will probably be when I visit the Able Tasman Coast Track in early August. 

You Tube: Macpac Uber Lite jacket

Tramping Equipment: My summer and winter sleeping bags

New winter weight sleeping bags for Jon

I've been saving my shekels so I could buy myself a 3-4 season sleeping bag. I have Summer and Base Camp bags but needed one for winter and the shoulder tramping periods from May-September.

My summer sleeping bag: Domex Packlite (large size)

I wanted a down bag as I will be mostly in huts over these periods and they are so much warmer and lighter than comparable synthetic bags. Alas, they are very expensive, with prices ranging from $400-$1200 depending on brand and what type you buy.

The Macpac Escapade 700 XL

Recently Macpac had a 60% clearance sale so went down for a look at their wares. Macpac is one of the better New Zealand outdoor clothing and equipment firms. I brought one of their Escapade 700 series sleeping bags for a very reasonable price. Normal retail is $540 but on sale I managed to buy it for only $275.

Macpac Escapade 700 XL

XL sized for comfort and fit...

 The bag is an extra long, dimensions are 242x86x56, weight is 1.3kg. The outer cover is Pertex with a 80/20 blend of duck down as the filler. The loft rating is 600, which means it should be good for temperatures down to -2 degrees Celsius. 

Big Blue Escapade at Nina Hut, Summer 2016

With my silk bag liner and the addition of thermals as sleep wear it should be good to -6 or-7 degrees at least. One good feature is the ability to unzip this and use it as a quilt, which is what I often do over the Summer. 

Escapade 700 XL

Being realistic, buying a $1000 ultra light sleeping bag just isn't on my books, that's more than I spent on gear, food and trip cost for ALL of last year. This is not the cheapest, lightest, smallest or warmest down bag but I think it has a fair mixture of all those attributes. 

Update 2017: I have been using this bag for a couple of years now and have few complaints about it.  This is a high quality bag which fills its role well, it is now my 'go to' bag. It packs down to reasonable size, it is roomy and for around the same weight as my Packlite is immeasurably warmer.

My Escapade in Mid Robinson Hut, 2015

The Escapade on a trip to Magdalen Hut, Winter 2017

The Escapade is good but I'm currently researching sub 1 kg down bags as I transition to ultralight tramping gear.

My Te Araroa Trail sleeping bag

I'm section walking the Te Araroa Trail so I wanted a much lighter sleeping bag to fill the niche for those kind of trips.  Late last year I took advantage of a sale at Bivouac Outdoor to buy a lighter weight down bag.

My new sleeping bag is an Exped Lite 500, weight is 970 grams, temperature rating down to -4 degrees and packs down to a smaller volume than my Macpac bag.

My new Exped Lite 500 at Speargrass Hut, March 2018

Here is a blog post about my Exped Lite 500.

The Exped Lite 500 down sleeping bag

This has now become my defacto go anywhere bag.