Filson's Packer coat?

In the universe of interesting, useful winter coats, interest and information pertaining to Filson's (086) Packer coat is essentially nil on this forum. I'm in my second winter nickel-dicking on a coat purchase. Part of the problem is my antipathy toward investing $800 dollars, or more, to obtain some form of leather/sheepskin coat. I know nothing about Filson's Packer beyond what is on Filson's web site. I've never seen one. Nor do I know anyone who owns one. Mechanically, it appears to be well made and reasonably heavy. Aesthetically, the charcoal gray version looks nice. But is it warm and relatively wind resistant? Dunno.

One reason to want information from owner-wearers is its price -- about forty percent of what a top quality leather winter coat would cost.

Here's Filson's link and a graphic.
http://www.filson.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2092292&keywords=086

Buy it! I have 2 Filson coats and they are one of the truly great values on todays market. They wear like iron, look good, and use best quality materials and construction. The Wool Packer is one of the coats I would stake my life on in extreme conditions. Unfortunately I now live in the south and have absolutely no need for such a heavy coat. When I lived in Colorado I used a Filson Tin Cloth Packer with a wool liner in 20/30 below weather many times.

I second the endorsement for the Filson stuff. I don't have that jacket but I have an old unlined wool one plus a bunch of other Filson stuff and it is unbelievably tough and top quality. I have my eye on the Yukon Cape coat

I own lots of Filson clothing and I love them all, hats, shirts, pants, belts and overcoats. Some are for hunting and/or fishing and some are for casual wear. The ones that I hunt and fish with well, look like I hunt and fish with them. The double tin pants and hats show a lot of wear and soiling, but they are sound and have many years ahead of them.

The coat you have pictured, the Wool Packer, I do not own. I have a Mackinaw Cruiser, and a Shelter Cloth Packer Coat that I could review:
My Mackinaw Cruiser is made of the same heavy, dense wool as the Wool Packer. It is very well made with quite a few bar-tack and reinforcements at the end of stitch lines. My Cruiser has kind of useless pen pocket setup where there are four tiny slots each hardly big enough for one pen and a snap located in the middle of one of them making that one unusable (I think they redesigned it with just three larger slots). It's material will, for a time, keep you dry, but certainly isn't water-proof. It will, however, still keep you well insulated before it soaks through. Some people don't like the feel of this wool, I love it. The only draw back for me is it seems to find and hold onto every hair that falls off my dog.

The Shelter Cloth Packer Coat is fantastically warm, dry and comfortable. I ordered mine with the wool vest liner. I've not yet used it for hunting, but spent many hours in the rain/sleet/snow with it protecting completely from all the elements. It's cape, which may seem a bit superfluous, performs a vital task in heavy rain by shielding the inner layer of the jacket from most of the moisture. In short I've never gotten wet underneath this jacket. If and when my other oil finished coat of a different brand fails this one will take over hunting duties.

I've only had two small problems with the over 20 Filson items I own and they were very quick to honor their satisfaction guarantee. I take a lot of folks hunting and fishing, and most ask me about the Filson I'm wearing and are very impressed with the look and construction. Only a few, though, would rather pay more than what they've paid for their Columbia , Woolrich, etc. I say "Might as well have the best"

P.S. I've never thrown away a Filson item and I've used the hell out of some of them. I can't say that about the other brands I use.

Come-on, people. Let's not be wishy-washy about your attitude.
***
Okay, what about how they fit? I wear a 40-41 regular sport coat. Would I order 40, 42, or something else? I own a Steinbock (Austria) hunting coat, so this would be a universal winter, winter woods coat. I have strap-on detachable hoods with wolf fur, plus trapper-style hats, so the coat has but one job.

Seeley Lake winters are November-June, much snow but little rain.
***
Last bit of hand holding, would the coat have a useful life comparable with top-quality sheepskin garment, such as reproduction pre-war Irvins? I'm not even sure this is a reasonable question.
***
N.B.: The Steinbock coat compares with Filson's Double Mackinaw Cruiser jacket in the same way a Porsche 911 compares with a Miata -- in quality as well as cost. It was traumatic to put it to its intended use -- dirt, blood, burrs were torture.

Every thing I have from them runs true to size. If I were inbetween sizes I would go to the larger size, but you may want to call Filson. They will customize almost anything.

I wish they would make that coat in other colors-I'd like one in their green or brown wool-navy might look good,too.
I've got loads of Filson and vintage Pendleton coats, but I've had my eye on that coat for a long time,too.

jeep44 said:

I wish they would make that coat in other colors-I'd like one in their green or brown wool-navy might look good,too.
I've got loads of Filson and vintage Pendleton coats, but I've had my eye on that coat for a long time,too.

Click to expand...

Filson made the coat in Forest Green several years ago. And if they are as willing to make adjustments for their customers as Handlebar Bart wrote, creating a Forest Green coat is no sweat because they use the same material at same weight in that color for other garments.

Hope this helps.
***
If you have $900, Steinbock makes a Forest Green coat you would lust to own. I own one and the only thing I don't appreciate is the color.

I've been wearing a Double Mackinaw Cruiser for about 10 winters, maybe longer. I really liked the Packer but passed on it because I was afraid I would stain the sheepskin collar beyond hope.
The coat is heavy, does well in wind up to about 30-35 mph and is warm to below zero (with a wool vest on underneath it). I have never worn it in a downpour, but it will handle light drizzle, snow, freezing rain, ice, etc. It's durable. I have often filled a pocket with nails and another with tools, haven't seen any seams come apart. The three small pockets on the left chest will hold small screwdrivers, pens, cartridges up to 416 Rem Mag or 45-90.
Mine is charcoal color, dirt brushes off but some short dog hairs have to be picked off (I have nine dogs and this is still a rare occurence).
Overall, a great coat. I wish I could come up for a reason for another one, I'd probably get the Packer since I'm not in the dirt and mud as much as I used to be. I'm a 42" chest, my coat is a 42" and measures 23" across the chest - since the shoulders are unconstructed (sorry, can't think of the correct term for no shoulder seam), it's easy to wear layers underneath.
Filson makes tough clothing. I have their Logger coat in tin cloth and it has just been abused beyond belief and keeps on going.
Hope this helps!

I found this Mackinaw coat on the web at an on-line retailer called riverjunction.com. It sells old west clothing that looks to be period correct. The price of $199.95 makes this attractive. Here is a photo and the link to the coat.

http://www.riverjunction.com/catalog/ccoats/mackinaw.html

Akubra Man said:

I found this Mackinaw coat on the web at an on-line retailer called riverjunction.com. It sells old west clothing that looks to be period correct. The price of $199.95 makes this attractive. Here is a photo and the link to the coat.

http://www.riverjunction.com/catalog/ccoats/mackinaw.html

Click to expand...

I own an extremely heavy wool, extremely well made Feld Grau (greenish gray or grayish green) Brolly Male by MacGregor in size 40 that is a near duplicate of this coat. This coat is now available for $100, plus shipping. The money will be applied to a Packer Coat.

Filson rocks!

I have the double logger coat in the Filson "Tin Cloth" in 44 extra long (dry finish, from about 10 years ago) and it fits true (not too baggy, not tight) and has worn like iron; I have had the mackinaw vest in 44L and it wore like iron until the moths got to it; I have had a couple of moleskin vests (46, slightly too big around and 44 custom made in long -- fits very well; I got the surveyor vest in 44 but they aren't kidding when they say it's bigger to accommodate tools: you could fit a theodelite and tripod in there) that have worn like iron.
They don't really ever go on sale and ebay prices are a lot closer to retail than any other brands; they hold their value because, well, they wear like iron...
I only wish they had a bigger selection of colors.

Finally got ahold of Filson's Customer Service. Forty-two is my size.

I have a Filson Wool Cruiser...awesome coat. I had a double cruiser but it was just too much coat.
You won't be sorry buying a Filson...highly suggested.

Naphtali said:

I own an extremely heavy wool, extremely well made Feld Grau (greenish gray or grayish green) Brolly Male by MacGregor in size 40 that is a near duplicate of this coat. This coat is now available for $100, plus shipping. The money will be applied to a Packer Coat.

Click to expand...

No disagreement there from me as the Filson coats are worthy and a sound investment ..... was just looking to be helpful by offering another option. Cheers

Akubra Man said:

No disagreement there from me as the Filson coats are worthy and a sound investment ..... was just looking to be helpful by offering another option. Cheers

Click to expand...

You bet. I am merely trying to make a $390 purchase less. If the coat were a little larger, we wouldn't be participating in this thread. Or maybe I could wear the coat without a shirt?

I'm a huge filson fan. I have their tin cloth field jacket with wool liner and a woolen mackinaw vest. They're expensive but worth every penny.

Don't mean to dredge up this topic again, but I want to voice my high praise for filson as well. In the order of their waxed cotton, I have had others but feel that their tin cloth is the best around, closely followed by their lighter weight shelter cloth. I have a pair of bibs, chaps, and coat in tin cloth. I have the field coat in realtree camo in shelter cloth as well as their bomber jacket and one other style of shelter cloth. I also have their wool vest liner which still looks brand new. The stuff wears like iron. I do a lot of trapping, rabbit hunting with beagles in the briars, do brush clearing and tree take down and removal in the fall winter and spring at work, work at home on the farm, and just generally spend most of my time outdoors. They make a great product and back it up. Short story. Opening day of hunting season here in upstate NY was like a monsoon. I sat in a tree with my gore tex rain pants under a pair of LL Bean wool pants. On top I had several layers topped with my realtree camo shelter cloth Filson hunting coat, style 435. On my head was an aussie outback wool cowboy hat. I sat in a tree in the monsoon until 2:00pm when I was successful in my endeavor. I found except for some wicking at my collar and cuff's I was dry and could have waited out the rest of the day. As said in the prior post, "They're expensive but worth every penny."

Lately, it's been bitterly cold here, and I've really brought out my Filson stuff-the Mackinaw wool bibs and the mackinaw wool vest especially. I'm toasty warm, and a bit smug as I look at all the people around me dressed so inappropriately for the extreme cold. I'm still itching to pull the trigger on that sheepskin-collared Filson Packer coat. I'm torn on whether to get the grey,or the "Elmer Fudd" red and black. My vest is this same color combo, and the red is brilliant and rich-looking-like a Hudson's bay blanket.

Speaking of hudson bay blankets