Crazy Levity Review | Outdoor Life

Claiming the mantle of “lightest weight” is a reasonably large deal for outside gear. Titanium pots, carbon fiber tent poles, Dyneema backpacks; every class has its materials du jour. For puffer jackets, producers are seemingly in a goose down arms race: 700 fill energy, 800 fill energy, 900 fill energy—after which, most just lately, 1,000 fill energy. So when the Crazy Levity got here throughout my rader, claiming to have 1,000 fill energy and a 6.1-ounce weight, whereas nonetheless being heat sufficient for winter actions, I needed to test it out.

• Claimed Weight: 6.1 ounces (males’s); 5.4 ounces (ladies’s)
• Fill Power: 950 to 1000 fill energy
• Fill Weight: 2.9 ounces (males’s), 2.4 ounces (ladies’s)
• Shell: 7D nylon
• One zip pocket at left chest (males’s); one zip pocket at inside proper waist (ladies’s)
• Hooded
• Downpass licensed 

The Crazy Levity jacket is an exceptionally light-weight puffer jacket. It has 950 to 1,000 fill energy down—the best I’ve seen marketed for a puffer jacket. To perceive why that’s important, let’s have a look first at what “fill power” means. Down, whether or not it’s duck or goose, works by trapping sizzling air contained in the wispy filaments hooked up to the feather’s shaft. But not all down is created equal. Some have lengthy filaments that may lure extra sizzling air, referred to as “loft,” than others. To measure down’s loft, 30 grams of down is positioned in a cylindrical tube. Higher loft down will fill a higher quantity: 600 cubic inches versus 900 cubic inches, say. So 30 grams of 1,000 fill energy would fill 1,000 cubic inches. 

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It’s pretty widespread with outside producers to promote the fill energy of a specific jacket or sleeping bag. But that’s solely half the story. Even if a puffer jacket is boasting a excessive fill energy, if it doesn’t have very a lot of it, it’s sacrificing heat. The Crazy Levity has 2.9 ounces of fill (2.4 ounces for the ladies’s), virtually half of the jacket’s claimed whole weight. Here’s the way it stacks up in opposition to different 1,000-fill energy hooded puffer jackets. 

Next, Levity lower virtually all non-essential options: No zip pockets on the waist, no cinch cords on the hem or hood, and the barest hint of elastic on the cuffs and the hem. This allowed Levity to chop much more weight out of this jacket with out affecting its skill to maintain you heat. This received them right down to a claimed 6.1 ounces for a males’s medium and 5.4 ounces for a ladies’s medium.  

Finally, the Crazy Levity jacket took an traditional method to baffling. The motive baffling is necessary in puffer jackets is that, with out it, the down can begin to redistribute and sink downward, leading to chilly spots. The overwhelming majority of puffer jackets sew the baffling in, usually in horizontal strains. But the Crazy Levity eschews thread, opting as a substitute to connect in small horizontal ovals at common intervals. The concept right here is to avoid wasting a bit of little bit of weight by eliminating the necessity for thread, and in addition to forestall down from poking out via the seams of the jacket—a standard means that down coats lose feathers, particularly when they’re new. 

Testing the Crazy Levity within the Field

I wore the Crazy Levity in quite a lot of completely different situations, from sleet to ice to snow to rain, whereas climbing, snowboarding, and simply sitting round. Typically, I paired it with nothing greater than a easy base layer (typically only a T-shirt) and, if mandatory, a light-weight rain shell. After having been burned by quite a lot of so-called light-weight (actually mid-layer) puffer jackets, I wished to ensure the Crazy Levity truly did what puffer jackets are presupposed to do: Keep you heat in chilly climate. 

Verdict: Yes. While I’m not going to advocate this puffer jacket for Alaskan winters, in my expertise it was hotter than different customary puffer jackets just like the REI Magma Hoodie or the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer II—whereas nonetheless weighing the identical or lower than different extremely light-weight puffer jackets. Perhaps most surprisingly, the down has but to redistribute; these sparse glued-in ovals truly work. 

I’m used to tremendous light-weight clothes having a good match, so I used to be glad to see that this wasn’t the case right here. I’m 5 foot 5, with an unusually lengthy torso, and tried out a lady’s small. The hem simply pulled right down to mid hip. The sleeves had an additional inch on the finish of them. Even the cowl and hood had been generously sized—I may have simply match a second complete puffer jacket beneath the Crazy Levity. 

So, is the Crazy Levity truly the lightest weight hooded puffer jacket in the marketplace? After utilizing this jacket for a number of months, I lastly received round to weighing it. The ladies’s medium that I had got here in at 6.1 ounces—over half an oz heavier than claimed. On the off likelihood that some errant water weight was contributing to this (moisture will get in every part within the PNW finally), I caught the jacket inside a small room with a heavy-duty dehumidifier for a number of hours. When I took it again out once more, it nonetheless weighed 6.1 ounces. While there’s at all times going to be some variability within the weight on the margins of merchandise like this, .7 ounces (or 20 grams) is greater than I’d have anticipated. 

In my expertise, a 7 denier shell can also be a hair too skinny for a jacket stuffed to the brim with down. Even in case you are extraordinarily cautious, and by no means brush the incorrect bush or rock, the top of the down’s shaft can poke via the fabric. If you see this occurring together with your puffer jacket, it’s finest to withstand the urge to drag on it, as the fabric will begin to tear much more because the feather (and inevitably three extra after it) pulls via. 

I did respect that Levity anticipated that customers would possibly must patch the shell and offered a easy sheet that may be lower to dimension and ironed on. But whether or not or not you assume the trade-off of weight for sturdiness on this occasion is price it’s possible subjective. 

What the Crazy Levity Does Best

The Crazy Levity solutions the query, “How lightweight can a puffer jacket get and still actually keep you warm?” This jacket is ounces lighter than different best-in-class puffer jackets and nonetheless seems to be hotter than the likes of the 8.8-ounce Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer and seven.3-ounce Norrona Trollvegen. And it does that with out sacrificing protection. If you’ve been hesitant to go all-in on certainly one of Montbell’s UL choices because of protection issues, you gained’t have that challenge right here.

What the Crazy Levity Does Worst

At $650, that is an exceptionally costly jacket—a whole lot of {dollars} greater than its rivals. Its sturdiness points over the course of a single season of testing had been additionally important sufficient that it’s unlikely this would be the final puffer jacket you ever personal. While some could decry the dearth of pockets or cinch cords, my feeling is that Levity took the method of reducing again on the “features” to the very edge, however didn’t step over the road. 

Final Thoughts

The backside line right here is that if weight is your solely consideration (and I do know you’re on the market), then the Crazy Levity is actually vital. Until somebody figures out how one can safe and measure 1,100 fill energy down or creates a strong 2 denier shell material, the Crazy Levity is more likely to rule the roost because the lightest winter-ready insulation layer obtainable.