MontBell Alpine Down Jacket

Like all Montbell down products, this jacket rocks! It's 800 fill insulation makes this jacket both warm and very compact and the fleece lined pockets are a nice touch.

So why the 4 stars vs 5? Blame the zipper! For some reason, Montbell went with a zipper with plastic components as opposed to a full metal zipper found on their UL jackets. The tab (male end) is made of plastic and requires some extra care to prevent the zipper from jamming.

After a year of use, the male end of my zipper split in two - thus making it near-impossible to mount. This is partly my fault since I used some extra force to free a zipper jam but it wouldn't have happened if the zipper was completely made of metal like their UL.

03-25-2010:

Just a follow up to my previous review. MontBell was more than willing to replace the zipper at no cost, even though I didn't have a receipt. (The jacket was purchased in Japan.) They replaced the plastic zipper with a metal one so I don't expect any more problems. Great service! I'll be buying from them again.

A really great jacket. The construction is like a good sleeping bag - no sewn-thru seams, so it is a lot warmer than similar "bulky looking" jackets, like the oh-so popular TNF ones. Good fit. Hugely warmer than the 20 oz down jacket from Cabela's, and only 15 oz. Really it is too warm for any body-heat producing activity, unless it is well below zero.

Light, warm, cut well so it fits -- what more could I ask? This is a great down jacket.