UKC

Anyone understand the the differences in types of primaloft insulation with regard to weight vs R value and type of primaloft 

Basically it's my 40th coming up soon so looking at maybe renewing my belay jacket.  I'm looking at the new ME Fitzroy. The fill is as follows:

PrimaLoft® Gold High Loft Ultra insulation with Cross Core™ aerogel technology [120g body, 80g sleeves and hood]

I currently have a Montane Ice Guide which is about 6+ year old but still has a bit life in the old dog. It's fill is;

Dual density zoned PRIMALOFT® ECO insulation with internal baffle anchors: 210g PRIMALOFT® ECO insulation to front of body. 133g PRIMALOFT® ECO in arms and 170g PRIMALOFT® ECO elsewhere

Wondering if it will much any warmer etc.  Obviously it has a gore tex outer which will make it more weather proof. Its seems its as confusing as down fill power 

I found this video a good comparison of different synthetic insulations being used.

youtube.com/watch?v=2F7oKrRCstk&

What do Primaloft themselves say? Surely they have some comparison data on their website?

The most important difference - they can charge more for primaloft gold (TM) than primaloft eco (TM).

Gold cross core is almost twice as insulating as anything else they make on the last r value comparison I saw.

Then I guess if I spring £330 on a new jacket I'll climb almost twice as hard?

Hoping this philosophy works for me

It's hard to compare different generations of insulation and 6+ years of development has definitely had its effect on the insulating capability of different types of synthetic insulation but in broad strokes higher weight per sq/m=higher warmth.

As an end-consumer it's often very hard to find statistics on these types of things but what I have been able to find out with a bit of googling is that Primaloft Gold offers a Clo value of 0,92, Silver is rated at 0,79 and Black is at 0,65 - I really would want the market to be more open about these kinds of things. At least for down some manufacturers state their fill weight, CUIN and down/feather ratio but synthetics are often marketing mumbo jumbo. 

I would wager that at the time of the release of your old jacket they used (slightly) different names or slightly other insulation and I would say that something designed for alpine guiding would have a rating in between Gold and Silver at the time. So let's say 0,85. That still puts it ahead of a more modern jacket with lighter insulation, even though the material is newer - and lighter, which might influence your purchasing process.

Would it make a practical difference? That is REALLY hard to say as that is dependent on so many (personal) factors. 
 

They have barely any real information on their website.