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Puffer jackets provide warmth without weighing you down, making them perfect for layering in extreme cold or for use as your only jacket on milder days
These compressible, packable jackets can tuck away into a bag, or in some cases, even a pocket,  so they’re ideal for travel or trekking.
The Cotopaxi Fuego Down Jacket is the bets puffer jacket we’ve tried because it’s warm, comfortable, and stylish. We also love that Cotopaxi is committed to sustainability and having a positive social impact.

Huddled down on a glacier two miles above sea level on the side of windswept Mt. Rainier, I had a revelation. The year was 2012, and my mountaineering career was yet in its nascence, my gear hardly amounting to a proper kit. As I briefly shed my parka to put on a fleece for added warmth, I watched in awe as a member of my rope team produced a small pouch from his pack, out of which he pulled a bright orange puffer jacket that he too put on under an outer shell.

We were both now warm enough for the summit push, but whereas my bulky fleece weighed nearly three pounds and was the size of a loaf of bread even when tightly rolled, his puffer could not have weighed more than a pound and packed down to about the size of a softball.

In the years since, my stash of gear has grown steadily. I’m not sure if I’m proud or actually a bit ashamed to admit that I now own no fewer than 10 puffer jackets. I can justify most of them based on waterproofing stats, packability, differences in insulation fill levels, and style, but really, to be honest, I’ve just grown to really like puffers.

And what’s not to like? Puffer jackets are warm, they pack down small, they’re perfect for layering in some conditions, as outerwear in others, and even as the stylish grace note to an outfit when picked with care relative to the rest of your clothing and the outing at hand.

When choosing the best puffer jacket for you, always start off treating the coat as a piece of technical gear and think through where you might use it with the most extreme potential conditions weighed the most. Do you ski, snowshoe, hike, or climb at high altitudes where wind and precipitation can present a genuine threat to safety? Then a hood and decent water resistance are critical.

Or are you more of a city dweller in the winter, where warmth is welcome but looks matter, too? Do you run cold and need maximum insulating power, or will you use your puffer for layering under a shell, so a thinner coat with a lower insulation rating might be better? And if you travel frequently or if storage space in your home is at a premium, look for maximum compressibility, because while all puffers pack down some, some puffers pack down amazingly well.

In this guide, I am specifically reviewing men’s puffer jackets, but every single coat I’ve included has a comparable women’s option that is as technically sound and as stylish.

Here are the best men’s puffer jackets you can buy:

Best puffer jacket overall: Cotopaxi Fuego Down Jacket
Best waterproof puffer jacket: Columbia Titanium OutDry Ex Gold Jacket
Best ultra packable puffer: Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket
Best extra warm puffer: REI Co-Op Magma 850 Down Hoodie
Best stylish puffer: Backcountry Silver Fork 750 Jacket
Best ultra light puffer: Outdoor Vitals StormLoft Ultralight Down Jacket

Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.The best puffer jacket overall
Cotopaxi

Why you’ll love it: The 800-fill Cotopaxi Fuego Down Jacket will keep you warm even on frigid winter days, and the company’s commitment to alleviating poverty will warm you all year round.

Based on its tech specs alone, the Cotopaxi Fuego Down Jacket is a good buy. Its 800-fill power down insulation provides plenty of warmth while the ripstop nylon exterior is water resistant and takes the sting out of the wind, too.

The elasticized cuffs and hood help keep out the chill and an adjustable cord at the hem allows for a comfortable fit around the waist while blocking icy gusts. The hood is also fully insulated, and the coat has four pockets, two zippered hand pockets and two stash pockets inside.

Next, let’s look beyond the specs and talk about sustainability. The Fuego Down jacket is insulated using certified sustainable down sourced from Allied Feather & Down, a company committed to “safeguarding the environment and the welfare of animals” and to a “safe, clean, humane supply chain.”

So that’s another plus. Then you have Cotopaxi itself, a company that genuinely cares. The company uses a portion of its revenue to “fund sustainable poverty alleviation,” directing targeted grants intended to alleviate poverty, improve educational and health initiatives, and empower people around the world to achieve livelihoods that lead to self-sufficiency and growth. 

With dozens of reviews posted on Cotopaxi’s site, the Fuego Down Jacket has a 4.5-star review among its buyers. A customer named Brian said he “absolutely loves” his Fuego, calling the coat “warm [with a] great color combo.” A Fuego owner named Zania called it the “perfect middle ground” coat for when a “heavy winter coat” was too warm and bulky.

Note that several customers did say the fit was too tight, especially around the armpits, so watch out for that if you’re on the larger end of a particular size, and consider sizing up. I’m rather tall and slender myself, and I’ll say mine fits perfectly.

Pros: High fill power, elasticized cuffs, company committed to social impact

Cons: Runs tight around chest

Buy the Cotopaxi Fuego Down Jacket for $250

The best waterproof puffer jacket
Columbia

Why you’ll love it: You could blast the Columbia Titanium OutDry Ex Gold Jacket with a hose and not a drop would get through, so just imagine how well it repels rain and snow.

I have worn my Columbia Sportswear OutDry ExGold Jacket in downpours, blizzards, and in howling winds, and it has yet to let a drop of precipitation seep through to my skin or a biting breeze chill my core beneath its rugged, seam-sealed exterior.

In fact, during one drizzly high altitude hike, when a fellow trekker even commented on how he had never seen anyone wear a puffer as an outer layer in the rain before, I proudly told him that my ExGold puffer was completely waterproof.

With that waterproofing thanks to the water-blocking exterior comes a bit less flexibility than you expect from a standard puffer, and while breathable, the OutDry fabric holds in a bit more excess heat and moisture than most puffers, so sweating can be an issue if you’re exerting yourself while clad in this generally excellent coat. But that’s a fine tradeoff for a jacket that keeps the rain, snow, and wind outside where it belongs.

The OutDry ExGold’s narrow, evenly-spaced baffles provide good heat retention, while the 700 fill power down insulation is suitable for mild winter days with only a single base layer or for colder days with decent thermal gear underneath.

While itself waterproof, you can always wear this coat under an outer shell as part of your layering, though things are going to get mighty toasty that way if you’re doing anything all that aerobic. I use my ExGold as a unique hybrid of shell and layering puffer that’s perfect on cold but not frigid days or nights.

One Columbia Titanium OutDry ExGold Jacket owner put it perfectly when he said how “convenient” it was to “not have to worry about having two separate layers, one for stating warm and one for staying dry.” A writer from Outdoor Gear Lab called the coat “completely waterproof” but did call it “lacking in warmth.”

Pros: 100% waterproof exterior, external taped seams, durable baffle bonding

Cons: Not as warm as other puffers

Buy the Columbia Titanium OutDry ExGold Jacket for $250

The best ultra packable puffer jacket
Patagonia

Why you’ll love it: The Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket weighs less than 12 ounces and packs down small enough to fit into the pocket of a pair of blue jeans.

To be honest, I’m not sure why you would want to pack your nice warm puffer down into the cramped pocket of your jeans, but a few months back I did indeed stuff my own Patagonia Nano Puff into the front left pocket of my pants just to see if I could. I also tried to get a few other puffers packed down that small and to no avail.

This coat really does pack down smaller than any other genuinely warm jacket I have ever seen. Now, that’s partly true because it doesn’t have a hood, while most similar coats do. But it’s mostly the case because the Nano Puff is a thin, lightweight jacket.

Despite weighing only 11.9 ounces, it’s pleasantly warm thanks to the 60-g PrimaLoft Gold insulation. PrimaLoft Gold is a synthetic insulation made from 55% recycled material and that mimics the performance of down save for one unique facet: It retains about 98% of its insulating ability even when wet. Of course, unless you fall in a lake while wearing your Nano Puff, that probably won’t be an issue, as the shell is highly water repellent. The shell is also windproof.

I often wear this jacket over a T-shirt on cool days and am perfectly comfortable. With an additional layer, I’m warm enough even for winter weather. And while I sometimes miss the hood when the breeze picks up or the drizzle sets in, I actually choose this puffer on many days precisely because it doesn’t have a hood and is more comfortable for casual wear for the hood’s absence.

With nearly a hundred reviews posted on Patagonia’s site at the time of this review, the Nano Puff enjoys a four-star rating. One shopper speaks for many when saying: “This jacket is perfect for all temperatures. I have gone snowboarding in this jacket and used it under my shell… and [it] has also kept me comfortable all the way up to the mid 60s.”

A Gear Junkie write up called the Nano Puff a best-seller “for a reason: It packs, puffs, stuffs, and warms with remarkable versatility.”

Pros: Extreme compressibility, comes in multiple colors, insulation made from 55% recycled materials

Cons: Some issues with stitching along baffles

Buy the Patagonia Nano Puff for $199

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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