Best Patagonia Jacket

I've been studying Patagonia jackets for the last 3+ years (see full post list at the bottom). This post works as the blueprint to ALL Patagonia jackets. 

Overview

Temperature Ratings:

A few notes: 

• Lightweight Synchilla Snap-T Fleece Pullover (Men's - Women's) and Performance Better Sweater Hoody (Men's - Women's) are perfect casual pieces with family photo looks. Visit this post of mine to see how they compare to each other. 
• If you're looking for a rain jacket during mountain biking and/or trail running, I'd recommend the Storm Racer (Men's - Women's - read my review) over the Rainshadow (Men's - Women's - read my review) recommended in the chart above. 
• If you're looking for a synthetic insulated piece for stationary use (not during high output activities), then I'd recommend you to check out the Micro Puff (Men's - Women's) and Nano Puff (Men's - Women's). Visit this post of mine to read how they compare to each other. 

Lastly, I'd like to remind you the importance of reading the round-up posts of all product types. 

Summary

I also published a guide to top Arc'teryx jackets a few months ago, and it's getting quite a bit of attention. 

I noticed that most of you guys also search for Best Patagonia Jackets using the search button located at the top of sidebar. 

So here you go. 

Compared to Arc'teryx, Patagonia does not only reveal less information about their products, but they also focus more on the "looks" end of the line rather than "performance". 

Not to even mention that they offer less number of products compared to Arc'teryx. 

This is why, it's a little bit more difficult to recommend a suitable Patagonia jacket for each type of use, which is basically what I did with the Arc'teryx jackets.

But it still is possible to give some certain recommendations, which is what you'll find out in this post. 

To fill in the unclear parts of this guide, I contacted Patagonia Customer Service myself and shared the chat screenshots in each individual related post. 

I've been studying Patagonia jackets for years now. These are all solid picks, which I think it's pretty unlikely to go wrong with either one of them. 

Multi-use

If you're going to be using your jacket with multiple purposes, then check out these versatility focused recommendations: 

• Insulated (for high output activities)
  • If I had to choose one Patagonia piece I love the most, that would probably be the Nano Air (Men's - Women's - read my review). As some of you already know, it's my top synthetic insulated pick for high output activities. It's extremely breathable and surprisingly weather resistant. Being out there for years now, it's a time-tested, proven pick that is loved by many users including myself. Two almost equally versatile, non-insulated alternatives can be listed as the Houdini (Men's - Women's - read my review) and the Houdini Air (Men's - Women's - read my review). My second and third favorite picks. 
  • If you're looking for a fleece, then R1 Fleece Pullover Hoody (Men's - read my review) can be a great alternative here. Unfortunately Patagonia doesn't offer a women's specific counterpart, but this full zip adaptation can be a good option for women. 
• Insulated (stationary use): For little to no activity level, Nano Puff (Men's - Women's) would probably be your best bet. A good, packable alternative to it can be its sister Micro Puff (Men's - Women's) which can mostly be a pretty good option for traveling purposes (great warmth to weight ratio). Read their reviews and comparisons to one another in this post of mine. 

I wouldn't really recommend down products for multi-use. The main reason for this is the fact that they lose their insulating capability when they get wet (either from your sweat or from weather conditions). 

Casual Purposes

I'll assume...

• Very little to no output activities, 
• Power walks at most,
• That the style is almost as important as capabilities of the jacket,
• That layering is an option but not preferred since it's a pain in the butt because I'm assuming a warm indoors.

Extreme Cold

• Insulated: Frozen Range Parka (Men's - Women's - read my review). City Storm Parka (Men's - Women's - read my review) can be a good alternative to it. 

Cold Temperature & Foul Weather

• Top Synthetic Insulated Jacket: Macro Puff (Men's - Women's). If packability is one of your concerns, Micro Puff (Men's - Women's - read my review) can be a good alternative to it. 
• Top Down Jacket: This is where it gets tricky. You have two options, of which I have gripes for either of them. First one is Tres 3-in-1 Parka (Men's - Women's - read my review), although I'm not fond of 3 in 1 jackets and parkas that much. Jackson Glacier (Men's - Women's) is your second option - but I don't like it very much as you can see in this post of mine. 

My Other Helpful Patagonia Guides & Data Sets

Patagonia Down Jackets Fill Information and Temperature Ratings

Patagonia down jackets fill weights, fill powers, outer shell fabric designs and temperature ratings: 

Temperature Ratings of Patagonia's All Insulated Jackets 

How the temperature ratings of both synthetic and down insulated Patagonia jackets compare to those of Arc'teryx's: 

Round-up lists: 

• Best Patagonia Down Jackets: https://outdoorcrunch.com/best-patagonia-down-jacket/
• Best Patagonia Winter Jackets: https://outdoorcrunch.com/best-patagonia-jacket-for-winter/
• Best Patagonia Ski Jackets: https://outdoorcrunch.com/best-patagonia-jacket-for-skiing/
• Best Patagonia Rain Jackets: https://outdoorcrunch.com/best-patagonia-rain-jacket/
• Best Patagonia Fleeces: https://outdoorcrunch.com/best-patagonia-fleece/

Check out the bottom of this post for full post list. 

Lastly, here's a good video about Patagonia picks: