Marmot Men's Zeus Jacket $93.53 @REI

Where can you find a PDS for this price, I'd love to add a bright one to my collection. Feel free to PM me.

"Nice Marmot!"

anyone know how to wash these? is it a lot of trouble?

Only one way to find out, you try going to the backcountry for a few days when it's 0F - 15F and let us know how your jacket works out for you.

Personally I don't use down and prefer fleece to layer with - down is useless when wet - fleece isn't. It certainly will compress and is light however.

Yeah, most serious campers I know will always layer with a rain shell over their down.

I just washed my down sleeping bag and older eddie baur down jacket. Hand wash is the best, but if you run through the "delicate" cycle you should be fine. Just make sure and use a detergent made for down, otherwise the garment won't fully re-loft when dry and won't be quite as warm. I use this stuff, which is available at walmart for 6-7 bucks and is good for 18 or so loads:
http://www.atsko.com/products/lau...rgent.html

Drying might be a bit trickier. Since it has a DWR (water repellent) finish, you need a bit of heat after washing to keep the water-repellency working its best. However with down you need to be a little bit more careful with excess heat... putting in the delicate / permanent press cycle would probably be best. I don't wash my down very often so when I do I'm careful with it.



Also this is treated with DWR, so unless it's pouring, the down's not going to get wet. In that case you would definitely want a rain shell even with synthetic

If I were to do that, yes I'd take something else, like professional type gear specifically made for spending time in that type of environment. But how many of us actually do that? For a normal every day winter jacket, I was very surprised at the quality of the Free Country jacket. I stayed comfortable in 20 degrees, and its very well made with nice zippers etc...and well thought out, with a lot of nice details and many pockets which are all zippered. Easy care too. Best $20 I ever spent on outerwear.

Marmot Men's Zeus Jacket is $93.53 with code XTRA22
Link [rei.com]