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I am looking to purchase a ski jacket. I want it to be warm in the temperature range of -5ºC to -13ºC and have decent impermeability characteristics. I am female, my height is 163cm, my weight is 52kg. I have presently found two jackets that I am interested in:

  1. Helly Hansen Freedom

  2. Salomon Ice-rocket

I am stuck between both of these, because I can not find the temperature/insulation range characteristics for the warmth layers. Both have 20K mm of impermeability.

  • Helly Hansen has 60g/m2 of Primaloft Black ECO layer insulation.

  • Salomon 100g/m2 of Advanced Skin Warm.

Please advise, if anyone knows the difference between these two insulation layers "Primaloft vs Advanced Skin". Which jacket will suit better for the temperature range I require, of -5ºC to -13ºC.

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    There's no way to emperically test the insulation of these jackets. They're different thickness/materials, cuts, etc. Down often comes with some measurable values but these aren't displaying any of these (they probably wouldn't be useful anyway as these are synthetic). The only way to find out, is to try them out. – user2766 Jan 11 '18 at 13:35
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    The g/m2 just tells you how thick they are, but this doesn't necessarily tell you how warm they are. All things being equal the 100g/m2 one will be warmer but the materials could drastically alter this. – user2766 Jan 11 '18 at 13:37
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    One last point, the only way to remain warm (or cool) in all scenarios is to use a layering system. One jacket cannot keep you warm at -13C and (relatively)cool at -5C. – user2766 Jan 11 '18 at 13:41
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    without any data to back this up any answer to this would be totally opinion based I'm afraid. – user2766 Jan 15 '18 at 9:20
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    That is, as Charlie said. I have not received yet the proper answer between the difference of these two types of insulation systems, so the question remains open. – oxy Sep 17 '18 at 11:18
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Well, both are synthetic fibre fill. They are likely to be very similar, but there isn't a lot of technical info on composition and performances for those materials. Even on the manufacturer's website, you can't find spec sheets for Primaloft. At Salomon, this is the most detailed info I could find, which says close to nothing.

Outside from doing the research yourself and contacting Primaloft and Salomon for technical data, or actual employees chiming in with insider info (that might actually be locked behind a NDA), I am fairly sure your question cannot be answered.

Even vendors that get regular representative visits won't be able to extract that info out of them. The reps very rarely have technical answers past their marketing spiel.

There is an overarching problem too: nothing guarantees that any one of those jackets will work for you in the temperature range you describe. Some people need extra insulation for the same conditions. My partner needs 10°C extra sleeping bag rating compared to me in order to sleep comfortably in cold weather. That's why a lot of insulating garments don't provide a temperature range.

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