First of all this jacket makes no sense to me.
Second of all I think it looks awesome, but really needs to be two tone in color to really bring out how unique it looks.
That said the reviews that Norrona has listed on the product page are completely generic and terrible. I think there’s only one Aussie or Tasmanian bloke (Mowser) that has performed a comprehensive review of this on YouTube. He really likes it in spite of its not being super duper ultralight. I think he overstates the warmth of it, but then I run cold. I like the move away from “all ultralight all the time” to having something that works better for your specific needs….which usually means picking something warmer and/or heavier.
A much warmer, but more expensive and lighter jacket is the Norrona Lyngen down 850 hooded jacket. Basically higher fill power down and it’s all down. Also that hood is not only helmet compatible, but absolutely the best hood in the business as it works perfectly with or without any sort of helmet, hat, beanie etc. or just your bare head. Tradeoffs are price and more fragility, however I owned mine for a year and had no issues in that regard.
Secondly, to summarize my experience and what the internet and experts have found is that down insulation just isn’t as fragile as everyone thinks. I’ve walked around in a pretty solid rain (in town) for maybe 30-45 minutes at a pop in the Norrona Lyngen down850 hooded jacket. When I arrived at the bar the jacket was pretty wet. Down was fine. Dwr did its job and jacket was more or less dry before heading off to the next bar. Then again in the rain for a while and never felt cold, down never clumped and it wasn’t the DWR treated down which they’ve shown just degrades the down.
So what is the point of the hybrid down/synthetic construction then? For me it is that the synthetic sheet fill (which the Falkentind is made up of) breathes a little better, gives it a different look and most importantly, especially in the shoulders, doesn’t lose all of its insulation value when compressed. Plus, having synthetic in the pits is a decent idea if that area is basically soaked all the time because if totally soaked it will dry faster than down.
But then, if you’re wearing a pack with this jacket, or any puffy, then why (for the compression reasons above) isn’t the majority of the back panel a thicker synthetic sheet fill that would work even when you’re wearing a backpack?
Maybe I just need to play with designing my own jacket.
Back to the Falketind.
I think this is in the midweight category in terms of insulation. What I mean by that is the Ghost Whisperer or Nano Puff would be in the lightweight category. So this is solidly in the middle of the midweight category. A Cumulus Incredilite Endurance would a middle to higher end midweight puffy, along with the Lyngen Norrona jacket previously mentioned. What is good about the Falketind is the hybrid insulation design gives it a wider comfort range much like a merino vs all synthetic piece. I think that gives it a better performance as a daily driver because there’s a lot of stop start activities in your normal world. If it’s 30F outside then I feel this is not enough as a static piece for very long and only too much as a moving piece depending on what I’m wearing underneath and how long I’ve been walking.
So what would this replace if you purchased it and wanted to slim down your jacket inventory? Well that’s a tough call. A 1 to 1 replacement would be in the realm of a Patagonia Down Sweater Hoody. Although I think the Patagonia would be warmer because it’s 100% down. You could replace a lighter jacket like the ones mentioned above, but you would be wearing just a tshirt or sun hoody or something underneath the Falketind which you may or may not like. Also, then you’re always carrying a heavier jacket. So it depends on your use case.
I think this jacket is very well suited to travel/daily driver mainly that has some adventure thrown sprinkled sporadically. For very cold days you would throw a full gore Tex shell over top of it and for summer it would slightly overkill or a cozy cocoon. For shoulder seasons it would be perfect so slightly under warm. The durability and “hybrid-ness” would be well suited to reducing rips and tears and overall comfort. The non helmet compatible hood may pose an issue though.
That said…
As far as a technical piece, especially mountaineering specific it makes no sense to have a non helmet compatible hood. It sort of works with a climbing helmet but definitely pulls the jacket up in to the armpits. However you can sort of put the hood under the helmet but because it is down filled you’re going to reduce the insulation. But perhaps a beanie and/or shell over top solves this issue for sporadic adventures in a “good enough” way.
The jacket has no interior stuff pockets which Norrona seems to never put on their jackets…hopefully their belay jacket has them. I like them and use them a lot while ice climbing and for everyday wear. Also, if big enough you can put skins in them. There are two hand pockets that are decent sized, but not fully hipbelt compatible. There is also a large chest pocket, which is handy.
Subjective Land: One thing I’ll say about Norrona is they just ooze quality. They feel nice, the down even somehow just feels puffier and better. Hard to describe until you’ve owned one after owning all the other brands beforehand. Zippers seem to just work properly. The hoods work perfectly. Beards don’t catch on anything generally. The face fabric seems to me, even with stitch through baffle construction to be completely windproof. Other jackets I’ve had do not feel like this much of a fortress. I think one place, that I haven’t tried yet would an aerobic activity, or mostly aerobic activity in very cold conditions. Also any sort of outdoor maintenance work due to to the stop start nature and the beefed up parts would help with wear and tear.
As far as fit goes, I’m narrow shouldered but 165 lbs which is think is 46 stone, six foot two inches tall and the large fits me pretty much perfect. I’m in the lower range of the large so I have great flexibility for what I can layer underneath. It never feels restrictive or baggy. The best part is it fits slightly slim and long. Reaching up I don’t get the hem lift or the wrist and forearm getting exposed. The same is true in a medium, but I can only wear like at most a thin flannel underneath. Even a tight fitting futurefleece hoody starts to make the pits feel binding. Norrona in general fits slimmer and longer than American “regular fit” items. Perfect for tall or tall/skinny people.
So my conclusion is this is a fantastic jacket but not “ultralight.” If you’re not sure what you’re going to be doing and you expect to have a wide variety of temperature, activities and adventure then it would be a great choice. If you want a daily driver as well it would be a decent choice. If you don’t already have a midweight (in terms of the amount of down/warmth) puffy jacket, then this could certainly fill that need. I highly recommend it for these purposes, or even if it’s your first puffy ever. I believe the first puffy should be a midweight puffy as it has the most useful range.
Have fun out there.
