Cold spots. They’re the bane of all puffy jackets and sleeping bags. Most often, they occur at the seams where the baffles are stitched. To prevent heat loss between the baffles, the new 900-fill Heatzone 1000 has unique overlapping seam construction that all but eliminates the dead spaces where heat can escape.
That’s not all: to further boost its warmth, Columbia’s designers stitched a layer of thick synthetic insulation in the middle of the jacket and then lined the entire thing with heat-reflecting microdots that act like a perforated space blanket, boosting warmth by reflecting body heat back at the wearer.
It may not be the warmest jacket on the planet, but it is damn toasty for its weight—and we can’t wait to see how it stacks up against truly frigid temperatures later this winter.
Read about our other Gear of the Show winners from Winter Outdoor Retailer 2015.Â
$450,