By Amber King ⋅ Senior Review Editor ⋅ Nov 12, 2018
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The Patagonia Nano Puff is a classic go-to lightweight layer for rock climbers, alpinists, and hikers alike. This minimalist jacket is ideal for clipping to a harness or tossing into a backpack - it compresses down to the size of a big deli sandwich, while still providing an excellent warmth-to-weight ratio. Although it doesn't have some of the cozy features that other jackets offer, it is an incredible workhorse piece that you can quickly toss on during a big adventure. It's perfect to wear on its own in the shoulder season or under a jacket in the colder months. Cute, versatile, and light, its wonderful for hiking, climbing, and alpine adventures.
New Colors
Birch White, shown above, is one of this season's colorways for the Nano Puff. The specs and features of the jacket are the same as the model we tested for this review.
March 2020
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Patagonia Nano Puff is a classic lightweight synthetic jacket offering versatility and technical features. Wear it while hiking, biking, backcountry skiing, or just around town.
Performance Comparison
Brittany is feeling comfy in this coat. Despite its high quality and smooth fabric, the puff jacket has a fairy boxy fit with a shorter torso. Not one of the most stylish, but still cute none the less.
Credit: Amber King
Warmth
The Nano Puff relies on 60 g/m2 of PrimaLoft Gold Eco insulation, which offers great warmth through the Spring and Fall, but is limited in the Winter. This jacket features hydrophobic insulation, so it will still keep you warm if it gets wet. The full-zip jacket and hoody have hand pockets and a pull cord at the hemline to seal in warmth, but the pullover version of this product skimps on both these features and instead serves as a much more minimalistic piece. Stack it with a great base layer or shell to add additional warmth, or wear it as a mid-layer piece of insulation for skiing at the resort in the winter.
The brick baffling holds 60-grams of PrimaLoft insulation.
Credit: Derek Stoddart
Weight & Compression
This contender is super lightweight and ultra compressible. It features a stash pocket in the chest that, when put away, packs down into its chest pocket to about the size of a small bag of almonds. Our testers agreed that this was the jacket's single greatest attribute. It also comes equipped with a sturdy gear loop to clip it to a harness or backpack; a perfect option for stashing away for longer adventures on the trail. As a result of this lightweight and compression, its a great option for backpacking, rock climbing, and the like.
This is one of the most compressible jackets tested.
Credit: Amber King
Weather Resistance
While the Nano Puff does feature a shell with a DWR and a Nylon construction, it is not very weather resistant. During our water tests, water initially beaded up then saturated through the material to our base layers pretty quickly. This is due to the numerous stitching patterns on the fabric.
When it's close to freezing, a windy and shaded belay is not ideal. Luckily Alison could layer her Patagonia Nano over a soft shell to both lock in heat and cut the wind. This layer doesn't hack it on this exposed, frigid belay.
Credit: Amber King
This piece offers some wind protection, but because it has a thin construction, a cold, sharp wind can cut through the fabric at the site of the stitching (one again). That said, the Nylon shell does a decent job at functioning as a windbreaker, and when worn with an appropriate layer, it performs well. Overall, not the most weather resistant, but performance is on par with other quilted competitors.
Comfort & Coziness
As a minimalist jacket, this product isn't that comfy or cozy. While the materials are slippery and smooth and allow for easy layering, it does not exhibit any comfort features like a fleece-lined chin guard or pockets. It does have a garaged zipper, full helmet-compatible hood, and nice big hand warming pockets, perfect for stashing away a few items. The fabric doesn't stretch a whole lot, which some of our testers loved, while others preferred a mobile face fabric.
While this jacket is not helmet compatible zipped up, it does work with the collar is a little unzipped.
These pockets are super roomy!
Breathability
Similar to most of the quilted competitors, the Nano Puff demonstrates a great level of breathability while outside playing. The materials are thinner, while the insulation isn't super stacked. Also, because of the quilted design, there are tiny perforations throughout the material, allowing air to move in and out quite easily. These features make it a great option for hiking, climbing, and use as a mid-layer during the winter months.
Style & Fit
This jacket features many cute colors with a complementary baffling design. While Patagonia advertises this piece as having a "regular fit", most of our testers (with an athletic build) found this jacket to be very boxy. The sleeves are long enough for fairly long arms, but the cut is a little shorter and rides up when putting arms overhead. We enjoyed wearing this piece out on the town as its quilted design is quite stylish and perfect for a casual evening out.
A look at the style and fit of the Nano Puff.
Credit: Derek Stoddart
Want to ditch the hood? This insulated contender comes in a jacket (without a hood) and even a vest if you want an even thinner layer.
Value
The hoody jacket comes with a higher price tag. While the construction looks high quality, we aren't impressed with the stitching. We noted many fly-away threads on this piece, signaling a lack of craftsmanship. That said, for its purpose and the many other highlights of its performance, no other jacket is this inexpensive. As a result, we'd say its at value, with a few caveats.
Patagonia is happy to take on repairs for any of their products. If your zipper stops working or stitching begins to deteriorate, send it over to them, and they will repair it for you.
Take this jacket hiking, around town, or climbing. We love it for a variety of purposes and its highly versatile.
Credit: Amber King
Conclusion
The Patagonia Nano Puff Hoody is a great go-to piece when you are looking for an awesome mid-layer on colder days or a lightweight jacket for hiking, climbing, or just wearing around town.
GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison.
