Patagonia DAS Parka
MSRP: $259-269
My Price (via eBay): $169 + shipping
Rating: 4/5 stars
Acquisition Method: Savvy shopping turned schooled.

Important Note on Feeling Schooled-I was pretty happy paying $100 below MSRP for a brand new one on eBay. Until I came across it on Patagonia's website (linked above) for $99 bucks. But only in the color and size I procured. That's called getting schooled. Now, on to the review.

Simply put, if you can compare a big, puffy coat to a rock, this is the one.

Stretching similes aside, the Patagonia DAS parka is everything I'd hoped for and more for my chosen application, back country snowboarding in Washington's miserable (in a good way) winter weather. Cold, wet, wind, and more wind had me pondering purchasing a insulated jacket half heartedly for the last couple of years, but I never pulled the Visa trigger. With my nascent interest in ski mountaineering rapidly solidifying, however, the need for a real insulation layer for extended trips into the Great White North was quickly making itself clear.

I got to the point where the only thing stopping me was a healthy apprehension to down. Sure, it's great for yuppie Xmas shopping trips to Westlake or putting the finishing touch on the Big Outdoorsman on Campus look in the quad, but in the PNW a healthy mistrust of something that gets cold and dies when wet is well placed. So I figured synthetic was the way to go.

My criteria were few: built by a mountaineering company, 'cause snowboard industry product generally sucks, and hooded, 'cause that's how hood's roll. Google searches led me to believe I had exactly one choice meeting these parameters, the DAS. So I bought one.

Luckily, the one choice, at least without any basis for comparison beyond non statistically controlled individual comfort, seems to be the best choice as well. And reviews are all about the reviewer, right?

The DAS is roomy, warm, and seemingly impervious to the weather thrown at it to date. Heavy snow, high winds, broken clouds/bluebird skies, and 32.9 degree slush have all caught me in it, but I've yet to get wet or to warm.

The water beads off the Deluge DWR (which I think is the house blend of shell fabric) readily. Again, this also includes slush sitting on/melting off the shoulders and neck.

It'll need to make it past branches and snags successfully before it ever gets to need rewaterproofing, which is always a puffy's downfall, but assuming it does so I have every confidence it'll keep on performing. Also, synthetics are far easier to clean than down. Read cheaper.

And the thing is WARM-I've ridden in it from 25 to 32ish degree's in a bike jersey for a underlayer, and have remained, for lack of a better word, absolutely cozy. Its got a baggy cut for sure, which I, having fought in the West Coast Rap War's of the early 90's, don't mind one bit. I'm 5'11.9999" tall and 207 at the weigh in, and I might go for a large rather than XL next time, but the cut does allow plenty of room to carry skins, or a chihuahua, easily inside and hence warm. I've tried both so you don't have to.

The one thing I might've added to the parka, and thats might've, is pit zips. For the approach, thats likely a need specific to the PNW. But it rocks as is. Plus you look like Junior Mafia silhouetted on the ridge.