Kuiu Superdown

[Ryan Avery]

Let's get back to the super down. I received my pullover yesterday in size large.

It's smaller than my other large Kuiu tops. The sewing looks to be very well done. My tag also says 700 FP. It's is more or less what I expected other than the sizing.

Stalker123, sorry for being Lame! But thanks for posting.

 

[sk1]

Let's get back to the super down.

thanks

i wanted to try the pants this year, but they chose to only run gunmetal initially it appears, wish they did camo

the 700 FP tag is a serious bummer....even if it's an honest misunderstanding on the tag like it seems, id still wonder about it if i owned one!

 

[dotman]

thanks

i wanted to try the pants this year, but they chose to only run gunmetal initially it appears, wish they did camo

the 700 FP tag is a serious bummer....even if it's an honest misunderstanding on the tag like it seems, id still wonder about it if i owned one!

The 700fp is just the minimum Toray will use, Jason has cleared this up already by saying it is a generic tag and they only use 850.

 

[AK Troutbum]

About a month ago (on the KUIU forum/blog) I posted some questions about the longevity of the "Quixdown" that is applied to the down feathers. I have yet to receive a response. Does anyone have any idea as to how long this stuff can be expected to work, regarding waterproof/water repellency? My main concern would be that after a couple washings, the Quixdown would wash out and I would be left with just another regular down jacket.

 

[TXCO]

Sierra design said it will lastmore times than youll wash it which i agree with. I believe they said they had 10 washes with no loss

 

[nosuperman]

Sierra Designs uses Dri Down. Kuiu uses Quix Down. They are not the same. I would think the results are very similar but they come from different places. As a general rule most DWR finishes (which this basically is a down feather treated with a DWR finish) have the 80 20 rule which is after 20 washes it is still 80% efficient.

 

[Ross]

I received my superdown today and as Ryan noted the sewing is well done. It does run a little bit smaller, but I have been wearing large in all KUIU items and the large will do just fine on this item as well. I have no complaints and look forward to using it shortly.

 

[slim9300]

I got my gunmetal hooded jacket today too. I ordered XL and L. I'm 6' 2" and 170 lbs. my arms are very long as in 36-37" sleeves. The L is a tad too tight and the sleeves are about 1-1.5" short. The XL fits perfectly with the draw chord adjusted correctly. For me it's night and day better than the Spindrift. Quality seems great to me. It's going to be the perfect in-case-of-shit garment for my backcountry hunts.

 

[Trout bum]

I think they could clear up the 700 FP tag issue by putting an 850 FP tag on the product. Seems like a simple, non-generic solution to me that is more in line with customer expectations.

 

[Trout bum]

Hey Stalker,

Welcome. Lots of great objective feedback to be had on this site. There is a lot of wisdom in the collective experience of the members here. I give more weight to constructive comments and objective observations than I do to the chest pounding, "I'm more of an expert than you" type commentary. I hope you enjoy the site as well.

 

[Nick Muche]

I got mine in the mail yesterday and wore it the rest of the day and evening. It kept me warm. I love it, but if my arms were any bigger I think the Large would be too small.. Luckily I don't have that problem

 

[slim9300]

I got mine in the mail yesterday and wore it the rest of the day and evening. It kept me warm. I love it, but if my arms were any bigger I think the Large would be too small.. Luckily I don't have that problem

I have skinny arms too. It's definitely not made for a guy that "picks things up and puts them down" for a living.

 

[Travis Bertrand]

I have skinny arms too. It's definitely not made for a guy that "picks things up and puts them down" for a living.

Haha! "And over here is our stretching area"

 

[Aron Snyder]

[video=youtube;eOSeOieLh7s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOSeOieLh7s[/video]

Just so everyone understands what these guys are talking about!

 

[Blockcaver]

Got a Superdown jacket Friday in XL. Wore it plowing snow on the quad and shoveling for an hour in light snow with temps just under freezing. When I came in the inside of the jacket was soaked with perspiration, but the outside was dry, despite light snow. It appears to have fabric that repels water but doesn't breathe much, if at all. This has me a bit concerned if you use it while active. I think it is warm and very well sewn with no quality complaints at all.

To follow up, I headed down for a ski trip along the South Thompson River in the same conditions I plowed in. This time I pulled out the Spindrift. After an hour in the snow the Spindrift was dry inside and pretty wet with snow and perspiration on the outside. Hmm, still wondering about the lack of breathing from the Superdown?

Other comments on the two:
The XL Superdown is much tighter across the chest and borders on being too tight with my usual Merino top and Microtex shirt under it versus the Sprindrift.
Sleeve length is good on both.
Both are adequately sized in the arm pits (had to send back the early Kuiu shell jacket as it was too tight in the pits for me).
The sleeves fit my skinny arms perfectly........great for shooting a bow with it on and are slimmer than the Spindrift.
The Superdown packs into about 1/2 the size of the Spindrift, both stuffed into their own inverted pocket........great feature!
The Superdown has an extra chest side open pocket, great addition...it serves as the stuff pocket for the coat.
The XL Superdown with hood weights 11 oz vs 14 oz for the XL Spindrift.
I am not as fond of the Verde camo as the Vias, but it will be OK.

In summary, I'll keep the Superdown coat and check it out further before I rely on it in wet BC backpack conditions on the 2013 stone sheep hunt. Also, I need to drop a couple of the pounds I put on over Christmas so it fits better!

 

[dotman]

Got a Superdown jacket Friday in XL. Wore it plowing snow on the quad and shoveling for an hour in light snow with temps just under freezing. When I came in the inside of the jacket was soaked with perspiration, but the outside was dry, despite light snow. It appears to have fabric that repels water but doesn't breathe much, if at all. This has me a bit concerned if you use it while active. I think it is warm and very well sewn with no quality complaints at all.

To follow up, I headed down for a ski trip along the South Thompson River in the same conditions I plowed in. This time I pulled out the Spindrift. After an hour in the snow the Spindrift was dry inside and pretty wet with snow and perspiration on the outside. Hmm, still wondering about the lack of breathing from the Superdown?

Other comments on the two:
The XL Superdown is much tighter across the chest and borders on being too tight with my usual Merino top and Microtex shirt under it versus the Sprindrift.
Sleeve length is good on both.
Both are adequately sized in the arm pits (had to send back the early Kuiu shell jacket as it was too tight in the pits for me).
The sleeves fit my skinny arms perfectly........great for shooting a bow with it on and are slimmer than the Spindrift.
The Superdown packs into about 1/2 the size of the Spindrift, both stuffed into their own inverted pocket........great feature!
The Superdown has an extra chest side open pocket, great addition...it serves as the stuff pocket for the coat.
The XL Superdown with hood weights 11 oz vs 14 oz for the XL Spindrift.
I am not as fond of the Verde camo as the Vias, but it will be OK.

In summary, I'll keep the Superdown coat and check it out further before I rely on it in wet BC backpack conditions on the 2013 stone sheep hunt. Also, I need to drop a couple of the pounds I put on over Christmas so it fits better!

Great initial review, is it warmer then the spindrift? I where my spindrift everywhere and it has kept me toasty down to 15 of course with a fleece under it.

 

[Blockcaver]

The Superdown has more loft than the Spindrift, like double. I suspect it is warmer but have not tried it in cold weather (yet). I also plowed again and shovelled snow in the Superdown. It wasn't snowing and I didn't work as hard, so no perspiration accumulation inside the Superdown today. I do like the hood on it, bet it is good for glassing on windy ridges when I don't want to put on the Chugach rain gear with the hood.

Note that I am a fan (but not a boy anymore) of the Spindrift coat and find it excellent gear on long wet August backpack northern BC hunts. Time will tell on the Superdown. I did not find the Spindrift very warm when tree stand hunting whitetails on a cold weekend earlier this year.

 

[bounds]

I got my medium Superdown hoodie as a Christmas present today. Very pumped. I have great initial thoughts. The down distribution is great. I am 5'11" 162 lbs. I've got a 30 inch waist and am in good shape. The fit is great for me. I'm a little V shaped and could even use it a little more snug around my chest and down to my waist. But that is being very picky as it fits really well.

I have a 2010 Kelvin jacket that has 133 grams of primaloft. I've worn them side by side today and the Superdown is easily warmer and is roughly half the weight. I'm going hunting this week so I'll post up a good review next week.

 

[Wrongside]

It doesn't sound like the Super Down would fill the niche I hoped it would, for my personal uses. One of you mentioned a 'overfill' option, if that were available, I would probably go for a pair. As it is, the search will continue, for my ideal LW cold weather glassing setup...

 

[WesternBounty]

I rarely post but I am growing tired of guys on this forum trying to act like experts who do not know what they are talking about. My Super Down hooded jacket came earlier this week. I am a retired mountaineer, sheep guide and big time gear research nut. I wanted to weigh in on some of the comments from my perspective.

The sewing and craftsmanship is every bit as good if not better than several other down products I own from other brands. 10.5 oz is unreal for a Jacket this warm.

I consider the amount of fill perfect for a layering piece which from what I read, this was Jason's intent of this product. I have a Mont Bell Alpine Light Down parka (my belay jacket) with 4.3 ounces of 800 fill and it is way too warm for mountain hunting. The stretch is amazing for a micro packable jacket and makes a huge difference in comfort compared to my Mont Bell. In comparing the two I am amazed how much more range of motion I have. The fit is perfect (not bulky) for me as I always wear a large and the large fits me perfect for layering. Not sure why Todd would want bulky arms on a hunting jacket?? And the fill in my Jacket is better distributed than my Mont bell jacket in comparing the two.

Well done KUIU! Thank you for pushing the boundaries for us hunters.

Do you guys do anything but complain on this forum. Makes me not want to be part of it! Lame!

AMEN! And great points! KUIU has also NEVER let me down in fact they saved my life! See my first hunting experience was with Under Armour boy was that one hell of a mistake after actually wearing the gear and my pants ripping on the smallest twig yes I said TWIG!! KUIU may be expensive but I think what everyone is forgetting is this is top of the line material!! Merina wool, lightweight, breathable(except this down jacket cause last I checked down isnt suppose to be that "breathable" its purpose is to retain heat and keep you warm , reliable! Gear like this aint going to be like your $59.99 unreliable, cheap material stuff...