winter coat recommendations needed

[Doc4]

Having survived many a northern Canadian winter, I'll pass this on ... it's not the jacket that counts, it's everything else. Dress in layers, including long underwear (silk is warm without bulk, btw), wear good boots and gloves, and keep your head warm at all cost ... two square feet of shearling on your noggin beats twenty square feet of shearling made into a coat any day.

 

[Rossmeister]

I'm looking to buy a new winter coat, well, because my current parka sucks and does a poor job at keeping me warm in the brutal Minnesota winters. I'd like to get a down jacket of some kind and so far all i've come up with are a couple of coats by North Face. I'd like to keep the cost to $250 or less. The North Face Gotham jacket looks pretty cool, but i'm open to other companies so long as they're proven to withstand cold winters. Any opinions?

What kind of waather will you be facing? I say thick wool shirts with at least a windproof jacket as the outher layer. So many variables here, whether you'll be moving around and doing activities, or standing still.

EDIT
Doc4 said it: layered clothing. This way you can effectively remove clothes when you're indoors as well.

 

[Rushman2112]

You probably can't recommend a good brand of snow shovel, either, can you?

Doc - what is this "snow" of which you speak?

 

[Godan]

Having survived many a northern Canadian winter, I'll pass this on ... it's not the jacket that counts, it's everything else. Dress in layers, including long underwear (silk is warm without bulk, btw), wear good boots and gloves, and keep your head warm at all cost ... two square feet of shearling on your noggin beats twenty square feet of shearling made into a coat any day.

This is true for the Northern Rockies, also. There are some down coats around campus and in town,worn by kids and Whole Foodies to protect them between classes or braving the elements from their Volvo to the store. In the nearby mountains, everybody I know from ten seasons as a volunteer federal ski ranger wears layers, as Doc4 says. When wet, especially far from the trailhead, down can literally be a killer. Layers, including silk, poly, fleece and a GoreTex shell, with good boots, socks, mittens and a hat, are flexible, adjustable and suited to the cold, wind, freezing rain and snow. A final point is that most of the classrooms where we give classes or organize tours have a sign on the wall, "Cotton is the enemy." Down is, too, unless one takes heroic measures to keep it dry...and those measures often do not work.

 

[gaseousclay]

What kind of waather will you be facing? I say thick wool shirts with at least a windproof jacket as the outher layer. So many variables here, whether you'll be moving around and doing activities, or standing still.

EDIT
Doc4 said it: layered clothing. This way you can effectively remove clothes when you're indoors as well.

I live in Minnesota so the winters here are pretty bad. I'm talking about -30 windchill and lots of snow.

 

[whavens]

llbean, hands down. Bought one for my daughter when she was in 2nd grade, put it up in the spring. When I got it out the next fall I noticed the bottom hem had come loose. I called llbean and asked how to get it repaired. They said send it back and we will send you another. I bought another and they refunded my money when I sent the first one back. But before she hung up the lady said "this is a young girls size, would you like the next size bigger." Instant customer for life.

 

[Rossmeister]

Only buy fleece is you are certain it will NEVER get wet. Fleece is as warm as wool when dry, but you are up the proverbial s**** creek if you are caught outside in a wind chill, or any chill for that matter, with wet fleece. Wet wool is as warm as dry wool, sometimes warmer (if it doesn't freeze).

If you're looking for a hardcore, long-term solution, get hold of netted base layers. I'm talking about string vests, mesh shirts.. I dunno what you call it. It basically looks like this:

I would not recommend cotton, but synthetics are fine, even for -30 windchills. For these temps, wool mesh base layers (upper and lower), at least 400g wool upper and lower, plus gore tex upper and lower garments would keep you warm and dry. It's perfectly fine and even advisable to add a down jacket under the Gore-Tex, or just a really thick wool sweater, if you're going to be standing still a lot.

EDIT
Feel free to PM me if you need more tips. I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but I'm fairly knowledgeable when it comes to layered clothing.

 

[awolff]

L.L.Bean's Rugged Ridge Parka. This thing is warm as hell, and has gotten me through a few seriously cold upstate NY winters without breaking a sweat, if you'll pardon the expression. It's waterproof, rated to -40F, has good pockets & cinches, with a built-in, tethered microfiber cloth to boot. Oh what's up goggle fog? BLAM! GONE!

I got mine on sale at an L.L.Bean store for like $120, so investigate that option.

Oh, and the hood zips on and off. Bonus.

 

[KM-instructor]

Best winter jacket i have ever owned is a an Akademiks, its a heavy duty 600+ denier nylon with a down filling, has all the pockets, heavy zippers and wind flaps, hood with detachable fur, it is a seriously efficient jacket.

Pictures in a few.

 

[KM-instructor]

Pictures of my winter jacket, this teamed up with under armour BL keeps me very warm in the minus digits.

 

[ssultan]

Layers are the key here...you can survive in practically any jacket provided you layer yourself...if you don't layer, your options are limited to a heavy insulating jacket that won't breathe...something like a Canada Goose Parka for those extreme days...when I ski or plan to be active outdoors, I layer myself and top everything off with a comfortable Columbia wind-breaker/jacket...when I plan on standing for extended periods of time ...I don my Canada Goose Expedition parka...

 

[Doc4]

I live in Minnesota so the winters here are pretty bad. I'm talking about -30 windchill and lots of snow.

We have the same winters, so ...

Having survived many a northern Canadian winter, I'll pass this on ... it's not the jacket that counts, it's everything else. Dress in layers, including long underwear (silk is warm without bulk, btw), wear good boots and gloves, and keep your head warm at all cost ... two square feet of shearling on your noggin beats twenty square feet of shearling made into a coat any day.

I remember as a youth hearing the saying "have cold hands and feet? Put on a hat!" So true. You lose sooo much heat through your head! A good warm hat will keep a lot of body heat within your body, keeping you warmer.

Feel free to PM me if you need more tips. I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but I'm fairly knowledgeable when it comes to layered clothing.

... and wool socks. Don't forget the wool socks.

(Not to sound like a smart-@$$, but what Rossmeister is saying is pretty spot-on, actually.)


... to paraphrase Mark Twain, the coldest winter I ever lived through was a summer in Bergen.

 

[gaseousclay]

Just ordered a North Face Redpoint jacket. This is gonna be my jacket for Fall and Spring, so i'm still gonna buy a poofy down parka of some sort for those cold Dec/Jan/Feb months. Thanks for the recommendations everyone

 

[gorgehiker]

I have looked for many a month for a puffy jacket and everyone I put on swmbo says I look like the staypuft man......so I have filson tin logging coat and wool shirts and jackets, it has gotten me through many North Idaho winters, not as cold as MN....but its nice to know your wearing stuff made in the ol USA.

 

[jlanger]

Not nearly as warm as a good down coat with a gore tex/waterproof type outerlayer. I'll give you the durabilty piece but once you get below 10 degrees F wool doesn't quite do it for me IMO.

I've alway's liked REI's stuff, they have good performance wear for the price and will stand up to just about anything as well as north face IMO. Currently for snowblowing I use a set of carharrts insulated bibs and duck coat. It's water resitant but not nearly as good as goretex, but it's damn warm and very very durable. Carrhart Arctic wear is pretty good too. Not quite as water proof but much more wear resistant IMO. I've torn a few goretex and other membrane based coats, but I've never torn these.

 

[tvldatsi]

I didn't read every post but the best jacket I ever owned was a bonfire. Rock solid warmth in -16F (on mont tremblant), but then again, my foursquare did as well, but it's a little lacking in the zipper/overall sturdyness

most snowboard companies have manufacturing all over the world and it changes routinely so there's no way to really say from year to year, but I have no doubt that Bonfire's jackets this year are rock solid warm and waterproof as it gets
Never rule out Carhartt jackets either, those things are unbelievably warm and durable, not to mention well below your price range.

Just noticed that you already got one...

 

[Maduro 5]

If you are looking for a parka consider Mountain Hardware Sub Zero line. You might still find it on sale. They are really well made. If the money was not an issue I would say Canada Goose Manitoba is a really cool jacket.

 

[tsacain]

I would get a northface fleece/ base layer jacket and wear a carhart on top. The carhart will block the wind and keep you warm on its own. If you are not warm enough just wear a layer under. I use wool shirts myself.

 

[eastomjac]

check these guy's out,ive wor their coat in -32 ad stayed toasty:}
http://www.columbia.com/mens-jackets/men-jackets,default,sc.html

 

[norailya]

Those Carhartt coats look nice, I just might have to save up for one of those. This last winter I hardly even took my old parka out of the closet; it just didn't cut the mustard. I got through the great TC blizzards with an old oversized hooded Wilson's thinsulated bomber jacket I picked up second hand, with my polar fleece jacket on underneath, which it kept quite dry. Was good for whatever shoveling/blowing/trudging around I needed to do, but weighed a ton, haha.