Feathered Friends Helios Down Pants Review
Midweight puffy pants, perfect for camping in frigid temps
October 9, 2023 – When temps drop below freezing, it’s time to whip out the Feathered Friends Helios Down Pants. Filled with 4.4 oz of 900 fill power plumage, these are the warmest puffy pants in our arsenal, and the warmest pants we would conceivably need for 99% of cold weather hiking and backpacking. Shop now.
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- Price: $279 | Weight: 13 oz
- Fill Power: 900Â | Fill Weight: 4.4 oz
- Percent Down Weight: 34%
- Uncompressed Down Volume: 3960 in³
- Down Volume/Garment Weight: 305 in3/oz
- Fabric: 20D Pertex Endurance LT Nylon
- Pros: Incredibly warm. Lightweight. High warmth-to-weight. Good durability. Full length side zippers for venting and easy on/off.
- Cons: Bulky to pack. No pockets. Snaps can come undone. Two full-length zippers decrease warmth-to-weight. No women’s cut.
Compare these to more more great ultralight puffy wear in our guide to the best down jackets and down pants. And why not pair these with a lightweight down parka? You might also be interested in our Feathered Friends Helios Down Jacket review.
Construction & Features
Like its sibling, the Helios Jacket, the Feathered Friends Helios Down Pants are true midweight puffy pants with the warmth chops to back it up. We’ve reviewed a number of insulated pants, and these have more down fill and higher fill power than most. Despite the sewn-through baffles, 4.4 oz of down keeps the legs preposterously toasty, at times even too warm. Literal freezing is about the transition where they start to go from too warm to comfortable. 10-30F is roughly their sweet spot.
As the Feathered Friends Helios Down Pants were designed for mountaineering and ski touring first and foremost, you can understand why they come with a full-length zipper on both sides. This allows users to put the pants on over their ski boots or crampons, without having to remove their footwear first. It’s incredibly useful, arguably even mission critical, in that application.
However, ultralight hikers might find this to be a slight downside when not traveling in the snow. While the zippers increase functionality and user-friendliness on snow, they add significant feature weight, bulk, structure, and manufacturing cost, while reducing the overall warmth-to-weight ratio of the garment without much benefit. Therefor, we generally don’t recommend these if temps are merely “just freezing,” and if you aren’t traveling in the snow with foot attachment gear like snowshoes, skis, or crampons.
The elastic waistband and cuffs are both comfortable, and do a good job of holding the pants in place. The waistband seals off with snaps, for which their are two placements for tighter/looser adjusting. In pulling them on/off (without using the zippers), we sometime unwittingly undid the snaps, which then had to be redone. Not a big deal, but burlier snaps or a more secure closure system would likely be preferable.
There are no pockets and no other features to write home about, so we conclude this section by addressing the 20d Pertex Endurance LT nylon. In our opinion, it’s the perfect tool for the job. While we like our puffy jackets with a slightly lower denier, pants tend to take on a bit more wear and tear, so 20d is quite welcome.
Feathered Friends Helios Down Pants Review Verdict
At $279 the Feathered Friends Helios Down Pants are bit of a splurge on specialized winter equipment. But they’re $200 less than the jacket version of this design, and your legs will be glad you didn’t skimp on warmth. This is an exceptional piece of kit. They serve quad sport duty with relevance for mountaineering, ski touring, snowshoeing, and winter camping. These are true midweight down pants with a stellar warmth-to-weight ratio. And thanks to the quality craftsmanship of Feathered Friends, and durable 20d Pertex Endurance Fabric, these are likely the only down pants you’ll need for at least the next decade.
