Fill energy is used to measure the heat of the goose-down and duck-down insulation in down jackets, down sleeping baggage, and down quilts. Expressed as a quantity, fill energy measures the power of all the way down to lure the nice and cozy air heated by your physique in a down jacket or down-insulated sleeping bag. For instance, a down sleeping bag insulated with 900 fill-power down sleeping bag will probably be hotter, lighter weight, extra compressible, and way more costly than a 650 fill-power down sleeping bag, if each are insulated with the identical quantity of down by weight.
Sadly, the heat of artificial insulation just isn’t measured utilizing fill energy, which makes apples-to-apples comparisons troublesome. However as a rule of thumb, the artificial insulation present in insulated jackets and artificial sleeping baggage is equal to 550 to 600 fill-power-down insulation. which means that it requires extra artificial insulation by weight to provide the identical heat as the next fill energy down.
This can be a helpful comparability relating to shopping for insulated jackets and sleeping baggage, particularly if value is a consideration. It means you should purchase a a lot cheaper 650 or 750 fill-power down jacket or down sleeping bag that’s hotter, lighter weight, and extra compressible than an costly top-of-the-line artificial jacket or artificial sleeping bag. The producers of artificial insulation resembling Primaloft (Polartec), Coreloft (Arc’teryx), VerticalX (Out of doors Analysis), and others don’t exit of their approach to clarify this, however I believed you need to know, particularly you probably have budgeting constraints.
However the superior weight-to-warmth ratio and value aren’t the one causes to decide on 650 or 750 fill energy down over artificial insulation, however they’re essential elements to contemplate relying in your location and exercise stage, as proven beneath.
| DOWN INSULATION | SYNTHETIC INSULATION | |
|---|---|---|
| Finest For | Chilly, dry climate | Chilly and damp climate |
| Exercise | Stationary actions | Begin-stop actions |
| Materials | Goose or duck down | Polyester fibers |
| Execs | Extremely compressible | Dries shortly |
| Cons | Loses insulation capability when moist | Heavier, Not as compressible |
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