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What's your favorite belay jacket that's similar to the "old" Das (~2010), but slightly warmer than that version? Sadly, the latest Das Parka versions use less insulation and have a poorer hood.
Assume cost is no object, but weight and compressibility are the most important criteria.

Could be synthetic, or down as long as the down is treated to be hydrophobic. Not looking for anything near as warm (or heavy and bulky) as the Absolute Zero parka...

Wild Things Belay Parka.

What Patagonia did to the Das is almost a shame...

Anyways, that was pretty much the top-end belay jacket. You'll struggle to find a jacket with more than the 180 g of PL. The Rab Photon X has 160 g. I think if you're going to want warmer than the old Das, you'll have to go with down. Something with box construction.

Rab manufactures jackets with exceptional quality and their down line is extensive. You should also take a look at the Mont Bell Permafrost. Then of course Feathered Friends or Western Mountaineering both make high end down jackets.

You may also want to consider layering with synthetics. Weight and bulk gain is made up for with enhanced versatility. Dane has a great article about this on his blog:

http://cascadeclimbers.com/synthetic-in ... ane-burns/

Unfortunately, this seems to be the way the industry is going. I tried to replace an old Patagonia Micropuff and discovered the new version uses an inferior version of Primaloft, much bulkier and less compressible. Looking at Wild Thing's offerings, they top of the line belay style jacket now uses Primaloft Sport, inferior to my old Belay parka. I recently purchased a Mountain Hardwear Super Compressor Jacket. Not as warm as the DAS or WT Belay, but their proprietary insulation at first blush seems better than Primaloft Sport/Black/Silver.

ExcitableBoy wrote:Wild Things Belay Parka.

As far as i can tell, Wild Things no longer makes the belay parka...
Regarding the Rab Photon X, is it not 240g primaloft total? 100 + 100 + 40 per the website (http://rab.equipment/us/shop/men/synthe ... -jacket-15)

And on a side note, ExcitableBoy, i also was also looking to replace my older Micropuff jacket, and the new ones just aren't as warm, light, or compressible, not even close. The old Micropuff even outperforms the new Rab Xenon X, which i purchased in hopes of upgrading it -- but it performs noticeably more poorly on almost all fronts.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. Ended up ordering a rab photon x, size L. We'll see how it fits!