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There’s nothing worse than being stuck in the cold, without a jacket to warm you up. Whether you’re skiing, out for a walk, or simply trying to stay warm in the cold weather – you need some top-notch insulation.
In our experience (and after our testing) – there is a huge difference between an “okay” jacket, and the best ones. But don’t worry – we tried them all on for you, and can quickly tell you the best.
After aggregating tens of thousands of user reviews, testing the top styles, and researching heavily – we have you covered. Here are our top picks, for the best winter jackets for men.
Our Top Pick
Wantdo Mountain
This sleek jacket from Wantdo has it all – warmth, durability, thousands of great peer reviews – and a great price. We highly recommend this to anyone – especially if you don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a winter coat. Easily our top pick.
Other Great Picks
North Face Apex Bionic 2
The North Face is synonymous with quality, and for good reason. This jacket looks great, performs perfectly, and lasts for a long time. We love it – but some people may simply want to save a little bit of money, and go with a different option. A near-perfect product.
Carhartt Sandstone
With thousands of great user reviews, tremendous warmth, and excellent durability – the Sandstone is another excellent choice. Carhartt makes many great products, but this winter jacket is one of our absolute favorites.
Columbia Frost Fighter Insulated Puffer
If you’re looking for a great puffer jacket – check out this excellent pick from Columbia. With many excellent customer reviews, a low price point, and cool look – we highly recommend it. Nearly unbeatable, especially if you love well constructed outerwear.
Amazon Essentials Lightweight Puffer
Amazon’s Essentials line does a great job at offering affordable products to consumers, and this lightweight puffer jacket is no exception. With a very low price point, thousands of raving customer reviews, and a cool look – we were impressed. While you can spend more and go with a brand name – this jacket matched up just as well, in all our testing.
Machlab Pullover
This very affordable pullover really surprised us – it felt warm, comfortable, and frankly – like it cost 10x more than it actually does. Users note the thickness of the material, which we loved too. If you want a very warm, but still stylish choice – this may be the style for you.
Columbia Ascender Softshell
The second entry from Columbia on our list, this softshell style is a little bit lighter, but it’s still water and wind resistant. With thousands of glowing reviews, it also has a sterling reputation. A perfect look for anyone who cares about fashion, as well as function.
Arctix Performance Tundra
This tundra jacket performed exactly as it sounds – it kept us extremely warm. We were pleasantly surprised that the fabric was also lightweight, and we think the thermatech insulation is the real secret here. With thousands of great reviews, and an affordable price point, we definitely recommend this jacket.
Canada Goose Expedition Parka
Want a deluxe option? This absolutely stellar jacket from Canada Goose can survive anything you throw at it – and then some. While not a budget choice, if you want only one winter jacket for the rest of your life – make it this one.
Caterpillar Heavy Insulated Parka
This jacket from Caterpillar may be the perfect melding of quality and affordability. With extreme warmth, great construction, and a cool look – we completely loved it. It feels extremely well-crafted, especially for the low price point that it comes in at. Highly recommended.
What’s Important In A Winter Jacket?
There are many different types of jackets – windbreakers, light jackets, parkas, hooded jackets, fleece – it can truly get overwhelming. But when it comes to winter jackets specifically – there are two high-priority factors to consider.
The first? Warmth. You need a jacket that will keep you warm no matter what. This is especially true if you are an adventurer of any type.
If you are skiing, for example, you don’t want to get stuck on a cold mountain, with high elevation, and a jacket that doesn’t keep you insulated. That’s how people die (no joke).
So we heavily favored the warmth of a jacket, when determining its final ranking. That was the most important factor for us, and we think it will be for you, too.
The second most important factor? Durability. A winter jacket is a big purchase – often an expensive purchase, and you don’t want it to die after one season.
That’s part of why we love the way the North Face guarantees the durability of their jackets – it’s more of a lifelong commitment than a transitory one. Durability was hugely important in our ranking matrix, as the best winter jackets last for 10 years or more, in our experience.
What Activities Do You Need Your Winter Jacket For?
One of the most important things to consider, when it comes to choosing a winter coat – what exactly will you need it for? If you live in a fairly warm climate, and only need to walk to your car – you may be okay with just a light jacket.
But if you live in the tundra, or you’re a skier or a hiker – you will have completely different needs. No matter what activity you are pursuing, we have you covered.
Best Winter Jackets For Regular Use
If you’re like most of us, you won’t have too many desires for your coat. You just need it to last a long time, and keep you warm.
In these situations, we still recommend avoiding the absolute cheapest models, as a little more upfront investment almost always results in a very long lasting jacket. North Face is very famous for this aspect of their products, and we definitely recommend their winter jackets, if you want something that will last forever.
For regular use, a winter jacket also does not need to be terribly insulated. However, we still recommend opting for more insulation, rather than less.
This is simply because you can never add warmth to your jacket – so it’s better to have more, rather than less. And if you go on vacation to a colder climate – you’ll be very glad you opted for the warmer model.
Best Winter Jackets For Skiing
Skiing is a unique pursuit, and it requires a perfect jacket, to really do it in style. Not only does your skiing jacket need to be flexible, but it should be able to withstand extreme cold, as well as any spills you might take.
This naturally leads your choices to be more expensive, as only the best-crafted jackets will survive all of those rigorous requirements. The best skiing jackets may not be on our list above, as they tend to be specifically crafted just for the sport.
Best Winter Jackets For Hiking
A great winter hiking jacket is flexible, warm, and not too heavy. This is a small target to hit, but we believe there are many jackets out there that excellently fit this criteria.
Lighter-weight jackets that are still warm (like the North Face or Columbia models), are some of the best hiking jackets we’ve ever tried. If you opt for a jacket that is too heavy, you’ll be left schlepping it up the mountain – which is far from ideal, especially when you’re already exhausted.
Insulation
Insulation is very important when it comes to a winter jacket – we know, we tried some without any insulation, and the results weren’t pretty. Choosing the right level of insulation is crucial in determining the best jacket for your specific needs, as light jackets will feel very different than parkas.
Materials
Winter jackets are crafted from many different materials, and they offer a variety of unique benefits. For example, if you choose a jacket made from materials that provide water resistance, you will truly be impervious to almost all of the worst weather.
But if you choose a peacoat (which is made from entirely different materials) – you will have a much different experience in harsh conditions. We ranked the warmest jackets as some of our top picks, because jackets made from thicker materials also tend to last longer.
Since you’d rather have more warmth (rather than less) – we recommend choosing a jacket made from materials that are heavy-duty, and will keep in your body heat. Lightweight jackets may be better for those who live in warmer climates, however, as you will look pretty ridiculous wearing a parka in Southern California.
Weight
Weight wasn’t terribly important for our overall rankings, but it does make a difference. This is especially true if you plan on hiking or skiing with your jacket.
You have to strike the right balance between warmth and ease of movement, if you’re partaking in either of these activities. For the average person though, weight is not hugely important in choosing the right winter coat.
Layering Ability
This is often overlooked, but if you want to achieve peak warmness – don’t choose a jacket that is slim fit. This will greatly hinder your ability to layer other clothes underneath it, resulting in a much colder experience.
Bigger, looser jackets provide much opportunity for layering. This means you can get a t-shirt, a long sleeve tee, and a sweater in there – all before you even add the jacket.
Zipper Type
We noticed several different zipper styles, across the wide variety of jackets we tested – but truly did not notice much difference between them. Our one piece of advice though – always opt for a sturdier zipper, as you absolutely do not want your zipper to break off – especially if you’re in the middle of skiing or hiking.
Do You Need A Waterproof (Or Water-Resistant) Jacket?
If you really plan on being outside during the cold months, you’ll want either a waterproof or at least a water-resistant jacket. These jackets will be either completely impervious to the rain, or at least strongly able to deflect it.
There is usually not much of a price increase in choosing a jacket that is either waterproof or water-resistant, so we recommend that you opt for one of these models. Even if you are in a semi-warm climate, you never know when it will come in handy to have a waterproof or water-resistant jacket on your shoulders.
What About A Down Jacket?
Down jackets are very warm, and usually extremely well-crafted. If you are silly enough to just wear a t-shirt during the winter, you might consider going with a down style.
Down itself is not great when it gets wet, but most winter jackets made from down will have an outer shell that has some kind of waterproofing on it. Even in the coldest settings, down is a great insulator – so we definitely recommend it, as a good fabric choice.
Gore-Tex Jackets
Gore-Tex is a very unique, waterproof material. These jackets can pretty much withstand anything – including the worst winter weather.
Gore-Tex works in the arctic, in the cold winter streets of New York, and never lets anything stick to it. To give you some idea of how great Gore-Tex can be – one of our staff members has had the same Gore-Tex jacket for over 20 years – and it still looks brand new.
One of our only gripes with Gore-Tex outerwear, is that it tends to be a little bit more on the pricey side. That being said, if indestructibility is what you’re after – Gore-Tex may be the best choice for you.
Do You Need Multiple Winter Coats?
This is very common, and people living in moderate climates often have more than one winter coat. For example, you might want a parka for the coldest excursions, but only a light Columbia jacket (perhaps with Omni Heat?) for other days.
If you live in a very cold climate, you may be able to get by with only one winter coat, but we’d still recommend grabbing a lighter jacket. You will probably want it in the early spring, as well as for more casual engagements in the winter – like going out to dinner.
Do You Need A Parka?
This one is easy. If you live in a very cold climate – you most definitely want a parka.
Many cold locations also tend to be windy, so look for a jacket that is also windproof. A quilted jacket will be quite warm in cold climates as well, and down jackets with high fill power can also be very warm.
What Are The Best Winter Coats For Longevity?
We are big fans of longevity – who wants to have to replace a jacket every year? Jackets made with heavier materials, as well as special fabrics like Gore-Text – tend to last the longest.
More delicate materials (like peacoats or some lightweight jackets) – generally aren’t as durable. One exception is Patagonia, who make jackets that last a long time – even though they tend to be a little bit lighter weight.
Does The Price Of A Winter Jacket Matter?
While we certainly love a good bargain – it’s generally not a good idea to skimp on the price of a winter jacket. You’ll end up with a broken zipper, a jacket that only lasts one season – or worse.
A little bit more of an upfront investment, can result in a lifetime of jacket-wearing happiness. The better materials also tend to be slightly more expensive, but in our experience – it is well worth it.
It’s better to have a winter jacket that can withstand anything the world can throw at it – than one that falls apart of leaves you shivering. For our top picks, we tried to hit the sweet spot between great features, and a price point that would still be acceptable (for most people).
The Best Winter Jackets For Men
There you have it – our top picks for the best winter jackets for men. Whether you want a handwarmer, a helmet-compatible hood, or a face mask – we’ve got you covered.
There are great options with faux fur, synthetic insulation, and even great breathability. You can choose a cool bomber jacket for your morning commute, or choose a Gore-Tex jacket that will withstand everything (even sleet).
There are heavyweight, water-repellent jackets, as well as simple rain jackets. Depending on your climate, you may want a model with down insulation – or simply a packable hoodie jacket.
No matter which option you go with, we recommend choosing a wintry men’s jacket that can withstand as many of the elements as possible. There are many other great outdoor fashion options out there too, so be sure and take a look at some of our other top product reviews.