I received my arctic-weight packlock parka a couple of days ago and wanted to give it two thumbs up. I can't comment on its insulating qualities since our Chicago weather has been unusually mild the past two days, but my expectation is that it will do a great job keeping me warm.

However, the quality of construction and especially the design subtleties are excellent and quite worthy of note. Bear in mind that I worked on the North Slope of Alaska for many years and have many, many times experienced ambient temperatures colder than 60 below (usually with wind), so I have a pretty rich experience base with what works to keep one warm.

The zipper is well backed with a layer of insulation that STAYS behind the zipper when zipped. The collar and hood are fantastic. As we all know, that's where most of trapped body heat is lost from inferior designs - not so with this parka. The collar zips up to just above the nostrils in front and to the middle of the head in back. At the top of the back of the collar is a draw cord which enables one to snug up the collar tightly around the face and head thereby defeating what Patrick appropriately labeled "the dreaded bellows effect". Then, if one pulls the hood up and over and snugs it down, very little more than the eyes are left exposed. Not that I want to undergo an emergency bivy with the parka as my primary source of warmth, but the way the top closes off around and over the head and prevents heat loss makes that prospect more endurable. The same way that a high-quality minus-40 sleeping bag will close up around your face leaving very little exposed - that's how you can close up this parka's collar and hood. Extremely well designed.

I don't intend to do much if any packing while wearing the parka (it will be in the pack while underway), so I can only imagine how effective the "lock" in the packlock line of clothing would work. But just feeling the "lock" material on both the outside and inside of the parka where the lumbar pad of a pack would go leads me to believe it would work like a charm. Very high coefficient of friction. The pass-through for the hip belt is a very, very smart feature.

This is one very well-thought-out garment. Patrick has done an excellent job of designing a truly functional piece of wearable equipment.

By the way, the XL size fits my 6'3" 225# frame very well, and allows enough space inside to comfortably wear long undies and something like a heavy fleece top. Perfect!

If you're on the fence I'd recommend placing your order before our new President makes it illegal to own such a fine piece of gear.