Patagonia Frozen Range Review

The Patagonia Frozen Range Parka packs high-quality down insulation into a burly Gore-Tex shell and does it with style to boot. It is a fully-featured winter jacket that performs well in most cold and wintery environments, from slushy days on the streets to the bitter, dry, and cold winds of the Rocky Mountains. If the style of this jacket is appealing to you, look no further.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

The Frozen Range Parka is one of the warmest on the market. It features lots of high-quality, 700-fill power packed into interior baffles, which means there are no thin spots in the insulation.

Down baffling continues through the hood, including an interior rib of down insulation around the neck, taking up any empty space inside the jacket and preventing cold air from entering through the top of the coat.

The long hem provides warmth for the lower torso. This jacket is certainly warm enough for most winter conditions, especially if you start with a solid base layer. However, if you are one of the few that must weather the most extreme winters on earth, check out the Canada Goose Expedition Parka.

Weather Resistance

This jacket features a coarse, burly Gore-Tex shell with fully taped seams and a highly protective hood to seal out any rain and snow, and block the wind with ease. We had no issues with water making its way through the jacket.

The long hem and stretch-knit storm cuffs add weather protection. The hood's unique "snorkel" design provides a significant distance between wind or precipitation and the sensitive skin of the nose and face, a feature many testers love.

One downside is the lack of any synthetic insulation in this jacket. When water makes its way into down insulation, the feathers can quickly lose their loft, bunch together, and lose their insulating properties. The Frozen Range shell will keep most water out of the jacket, but perspiration or light precipitation entering through the neck and pockets is inevitable. We wish Patagonia had included some moisture-resistant synthetic insulation around the neck and shoulders of this jacket.

Comfort

Overall, this is a well-fitting jacket that is easy to wear, but some features get in the way of a perfect fit.

The jacket is neither too slim nor too baggy, making it very comfortable when putting it on for the first time. The shell fabric is stiff but doesn't feel nearly as plasticky or crinkly as other models. The stiffness of the shell can be felt when bending over or sitting down, but the 2-way main zipper allows for opening the bottom of the jacket to increase mobility. The down baffled neck rib and stretch-knit cuffs are cozy.

Each handwarmer pocket has a small mesh cell phone pocket sewn into the lining, which gets in the way of a comfortable hand-warming experience. When the front zipper closes completely, the hood's brim is pulled into the back of the head due to the elongated snorkel design of the hood. These two features are slightly distracting but, overall, aren't that big of a deal.

Features

This jacket provides an adequate amount of features to make life easier in winter. Two large handwarmer pockets with soft woven linings provide refuge for cold fingers, but the mesh cell phone slots are overkill. There is no insulation between the outer shell and the pockets, and we often wished for gloves instead.

The insulated and spacious chest pocket is cleverly hidden behind the large front zipper flap and provides plenty of room for modern smartphones. On the inside, the large elastic stash pocket has plenty of room for a pair of gloves, hat, scarf, or other winter essentials.

The hood was the most controversial feature of this jacket amongst our testers. The design may make or break the jacket in the eyes of most potential users. The snorkel design provides a large distance between the outside world and the face of the wearer, providing excellent protection from blowing snow and biting winds. It is clear that Patagonia designed this hood for stormy winters in cold cities. However, the hood can block all peripheral vision and is a questionable style choice, in our opinion.

Style

The Frozen Range Parka is designed with fashion in mind. It stands out from other products in this review as a sharp-looking jacket that is equally at home in fashionable urban districts as it is on the streets of posh mountain towns. Style is personal, and this jacket is proof. Some users will be enticed by its design, and others will immediately look elsewhere.

The jacket's cut, optional front button closure, and long hem suggest a trench coat look, and the snorkel hood is unique and polarizing. Our testers were dubious at first about the style of the hood, but over time, they warmed up to it and even appreciated the way this jacket stands out in a crowd.

Durability

This jacket is bomber. The robust shell fabric feels tough and is resistant to catching, tearing, and staining. The interior polyester fabric is thin but doesn't come into contact with any zippers, and none of the zippers in this jacket ever caught on nearby material during our test. The hood adjustment cord is hidden underneath a durable fabric panel and won't get snagged on sharp edges.

The apparent weakness to the durability of this jacket is the use of large buttons, which are attached with a small sewn fabric strand. These buttons have the potential to get hung up when picking up the coat or walking through crowds. However, there is a stylistic component to them, and the front flap does a good job of protecting the buttons when not in use. Thin mesh cell phone slots in the handwarmer pockets are also a weak point and sometimes get caught on metal keyrings or car keys.

Should You Buy the Patagonia Frozen Range?

This well-constructed jacket is one of the most expensive winter jackets on the market. However, Patagonia is known for its quality, consistency, and warranty, meaning that this jacket can be considered a long-term investment that will protect you for many winters to come. Plus, the urban style of this jacket can compare to much more expensive tailored jackets from mainstream fashion brands. But if the style is not your top priority, you may be better off looking elsewhere. If you like the style, and budget is not a problem, this is the jacket to get. It is warm, comfortable, weather-resistant, and incredibly durable; almost everything we could ask of a solid winter coat.

What Other Winter Jackets Should You Consider?

Keeping the cold at bay while keeping you looking sharp, the Patagonia Frozen Range Parka is an excellent winter jacket that is our favorite of all the options on the market. If you need an even warmer jacket for the coldest conditions on earth, check out the unmatched warmth of the Canada Goose Expedition Parka or the more affordable The North Face McMurdo Down Parka. If you are looking for a solid all-around jacket at a much lower price, the REI Co-op Stormhenge Down Hybrid Parka is the best value on the market.