A Puffer Jacket also known as a “Puffy” is a lightweight jacket insulated with down or synthetic insulation used as a warm layering garment by hikers and backpackers. It’s so-called because the insulation is sewn into small pockets called baffles that trap air body heat and puff up. Puffer jackets are usually weigh less than one pound.
Puffer jackets are best worn as a warming layer when you take a rest break on a hike or as an outer layer in camp when you’re less active because they’re designed to trap warmth but not perspiration. If you need an extra insulation layer while actively hiking and perspiring, you’re better off wearing a highly breathable pullover or jacket made from polyester fleece. Fleece is very good at venting moisture and will dry if it gets damp from perspiration. If you still need more warmth, it’s good to layer a highly breathable windbreaker or windshirt over a fleece to block the wind, trap your body heat, and release moisture instead of wearing a puffer jacket since it will make you sweat and soak your baselayers.
Down Insulated Puffy Jackets
Puffer Jackets are usually waist-length and often have a very sparse feature set with a non-adjustable hood, elastic wrist cuffs, zippered handwarmer pockets, a zippered chest pocket, and hem adjustment to seal out drafts from below. They’re usually “sewn-thru” in terms of construction, where the inside and exterior fabric layers are stitched together to create pockets to hold the insulation. While this leaks warmth through the resulting needle holes, it’s done to keep the cost of manufacture low.
Puffer jackets differ from Parkas, which are usually hip length, much heavier, and much warmer. Parkas usually have a better feature set, too, with a one or two-way adjustable hoods, hook-and-loop wrist cuffs, and internal drop pockets. Parkas are often made with box baffling to hold their insulation in place, which, though more efficient and much more expensive to manufacture, provides much better warmth than jackets with a sewn-thru construction.
Synthetic Insulated Puffy Jackets
Puffer jackets are available with down or synthetic insulation. While the heat retention characteristics of synthetic insulation have improved in recent years, it’s still only equivalent to 550-650 fill power down, which isn’t that impressive compared to puffy jackets insulated with 800, 850, 900, or even 1000 fill power down. Despite the difference in thermal efficiency, the weight of down and synthetic jackets is pretty close. The heaviest component in both jacket types is the fabric used to make them, not the insulation itself.
Are there advantages to having a down-insulated puffy vs one made with synthetic insulation? The biggest difference between the two, besides thermal efficiency, is compressibility. Down puffies tend to compress better when stuffed in a backpack, which is helpful when packing. They also have a longer lifespan because synthetic insulation loses its insulating power over time when compressed repeatedly, while down-insulated garments retain it with age. While synthetic insulation will stay warmer longer than down when it gets damp, if you ever saturate your puffy or soak it with perspiration, you’re probably doing something wrong. Very wrong.
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