Down parkas and cold shoulders

I have a Montbell down parka (the heaviest they made, I dont recall the name) and the down has settled within the shoulder baffles leaving me with big cold spots on the shoulders.   Which is lame for a parka I use only when  its single-digit cold.  I have not had this problem with my heavier Denali parka (FF Khumbu), my lightweight down jacket (ME something or another) or any of the dozen or so synthetic coats I've owned over the years. 

I hope and suspect this is a one-off problem.  Anyone experienced this with other down parkas?

I think it may have to be related to high fill power in ultralight down gear. Higher fill power has more tiny down pieces vs, say, 550 fill which has more substance. The higher fill power down doesn't have the support for the straps and migrates away or crushes under the force. Montbell gear is mostly targeted for the highest fill power and the least weight.

I have noticed the same problem with high fill power ultralight ( Montbell ) down bags getting cold spots due to the same problem. Go to Montbell and look through an 800 fill bag at the light and then look at the 550 bag and you will see what I mean. I much prefer the 550 bags even though they are a few ounces heavier.

I have a great low temp car camping bag from Cabelas that has synthetic on the bottom and down on the top. Unfortunately it is a big bag and too heavy for backpacking, but the concept is a good one. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any other gear manufacturers exploit the idea for bags or reinforcing pressure points like the shoulders in jackets..

David Pneuman wrote:

I think it may have to be related to high fill power in ultralight down gear. Higher fill power has more tiny down pieces vs, say, 550 fill which has more substance. The higher fill power down doesn't have the support for the straps and migrates away or crushes under the force. Montbell gear is mostly targeted for the highest fill power and the least weight.

I have noticed the same problem with high fill power ultralight ( Montbell ) down bags getting cold spots due to the same problem. Go to Montbell and look through an 800 fill bag at the light and then look at the 550 bag and you will see what I mean. I much prefer the 550 bags even though they are a few ounces heavier.

I have a great low temp car camping bag from Cabelas that has synthetic on the bottom and down on the top. Unfortunately it is a big bag and too heavy for backpacking, but the concept is a good one. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any other gear manufacturers exploit the idea for bags or reinforcing pressure points like the shoulders in jackets..

Arcteryx does exactly this in their Cerium jackets: synthetic in the shoulders, the cuffs, the armpits, and on the tiny bit that is in front of your mouth when full zipped up. These are the places with both the highest wear and highest likelihood of getting wet.

I had an REI sleeping bag back in the '70s that's built this way (synthetic bottom, down top), and I've seen sleeping bags like this offered by REI once or twice since then. My own experience was that as I moved around in my sleep, the bag got twisted around enough that the synthetic ended up on the top and the down on the bottom, or I had synthetic on one side of me and down on the other. This was especially a problem on nights that weren't cold enough for me to burrow all the way down into the bag and zip everything up tight. Since then I've found that an all-down bag and a ground pad with a high enough R-value work best.

@Jake907 , yes, my GooseFeet gear parka has the same problem.

Although higher fill power might be part of the issue*, the biggest issue is baffle shape, size and whether or not, and how much, the inner fabric has a differential  cut from the outer.  The other big factor is  (over)fill amount in those baffles.

But, you have what you have. Try washing it properly and then the super long dryer session with tennis balls. It’s always surprising how much loft down loses slowly without one noticing, just from wearing and using it.

Then, you could do what I did, which is open the chambers on the shoulder on the inside, add down, then pinch the cut and sew it shut. That way, you add fill which helps, and you are creating more of a differential between the inner and outer sides of the chamber too.

*After all your FF parka doesn’t have this issue, and they use pretty high fill power right? My Goosefeet uses 850, so not super high, and it has serious issues with cold shoulders.