Best Patagonia Jackets: Temp ratings & more (Full guide)

Y'all know this is just my opinion... right? 

I'll cover Best Patagonia Jackets in 3 parts: 

• Shortest answer, 
• Short answer, 
• Long answer.

Best Patagonia Jackets: Shortest answer

Table data only applies to the most recent Winter 2024 models. 

As you see from this chart, the warmest Patagonia jacket is the AlpLoft Down Parka. 

Read more about the working principles of insulation in jackets: https://outdoorcrunch.com/jackets/

Some products might get discontinued over time. 

Best Patagonia Jackets: Long answer

All Patagonia jackets

Best Patagonia rain jackets

I wouldn't really recommend Triolet Jacket or Hose-Down Slicker Jacket. 

I'd simply get either one of other 6 options - especially one of the first 4 picks. 

Attention: No insulated pieces in here. I rather focus on waterproofing and general weather resistance. 

• For casual outgoings & recreational hiking purposes (waterproofing over breathability), I'd recommend you the Calcite Jacket. Quandary Jacket can mostly work as a cheaper alternative to it, although neither are packable. 
  • Get the Torrentshell 3L if you absolutely need it packed, or the Rainshadow if you can sacrifice weather resistance with more breathability in return. 
• For high output activities (breathability over weather resistance), this Storm Racer Jacket is a state-of-the-art, handsome, unique killer - especially for trail running and mountain biking. If you'd rather getting a more time tested, proven piece, then this Rainshadow can be a great pick. They're both packed super small into their own stuff sacks. 

A few more notes: 

• Patagonia discontinued the Cloud Ridge Jacket by 2020, and hence it isn't included in this review. 
• Rainshadow and Torrentshell saw complete revisions in 2020, so disregard any comments and reviews put forward before then. 
• Quandary and Torrentshell also offer insulated adaptations: Insulated Quandary and Torrentshell Insulated (discontinued as of 2020).
• Yes, Torrentshell is packed into its own size - despite what you might see/read on other blogs. I've shared its images here: https://outdoorcrunch.com/patagonia-houdini-vs-torrentshell/ 

Speaking of which, the larger the packed size score in the chart, the smaller the size. 

• Also, all these jackets are DWR coated - which is the number 1 thing you should look for in a rain jacket. 

Best Patagonia fleeces

A fleece is mostly used for either of these two reasons: 

• Casual everyday wear, 
• A mid-layer (or in some cases, outer-layer) to fine tune the warmth - breathability balance during outdoor adventures. 

Some fleeces lean toward the former and some to the latter. This is why it's impossible to give one-fleece-fits-all. Rather, it makes more sense to lay out best picks for each type of uses (which you'll see in the chart below). 

Now...

• R1 has 5,
• R2 has 6,
• Synchilla has 6,
• Better Sweater has 14 main configurations.

As you see in this Patagonia R1 vs R2 and Patagonia Synchilla vs Better Sweater posts of mine, I reviewed all of their configurations. 

Having said that, for this post, I picked out only one piece of each model (which are the best picks in my opinion), and put them together in this post. 

Some Notes

When choosing best Patagonia fleece for you, make sure you keep in mind that only the R2 Techface Hoody in this review comes with DWR coating. 

• If you're planning to use your pick as an outer layer AND possibly under wet weather conditions every now and then...

Then your only pick is R2 Techface Hoody, which is the perfect fleece for you. 

• If you almost only care about casual use... and don't care about performance at all...

Then I probably wouldn't get R1 or R2 Techface, and instead get the Synchilla. Or Performance Better Sweater, at the very least, since it's positioned somewhere between Synchilla and R1 in Patagonia's fleece line-up. 

Best Patagonia winter jackets & parkas

Before you say it, yes, Patagonia does not give their jackets temperature ratings. 

Their reasoning revolves around the subjectivity of the feeling of warmth, and hence causing difficulty of assigning such temperatures. 

Although I completely do agree with Patagonia, I think it still is possible to give rough ratings provided that some serious assumptions are also being made.

And that's what I do. 

Best Patagonia ski jackets

A few important notes I find worth mentioning: 

• I'd strongly recommend everyone skiing or snowboarding with Nano Air from time to time rather than prefer climbing/hiking/fat biking with Primo Puff, Untracked or SnowShot from time to time! 
• Yes, the top recommended two jackets (Primo Puff and Untracked) are pricey, but if you decide to go for them, you should know that they usually pay off, 
• All jackets come with an embedded RECCO reflector, 
• Lastly, I'm not an expert on clothing or textile, so take my advice with a grain of salt. 

In bagginess row, 5 refers to "true to size". 

I say genuine because there are other Patagonia jackets out there which I don't consider as genuine Ski & Snowboard Jackets, although you can use them as well. 

An example: Ascensionist and Triolet. 

They're advertised and designed as all-round alpine jackets, which can be used for skiing and snowboarding as well - in addition to other alpine activities. 

Other jackets such as Nano Air and Micro Puff are cover even a wider range of use, which in the end do manage to correspond to skiing and snowboarding needs, although noticeably less so than these 7 genuine jackets (Snowshot offers 3 configurations, which adds up to 7 at total). 

I didn't mention these all-round jackets in this post, and rather limited the context with jackets that are designed for skiing & snowboarding only. 

A few notes: 

• Lightweight Synchilla Snap-T Fleece Pullover (Men's - Women's) and the Better Sweater (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, I'd recommend the Dirt Roamer (Men's - Women's) 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. 

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

For 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. 
  • 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 my reviews and comparisons to one another. 

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). 

For casual Use

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.