Feb 6

Feb 6 Arc'teryx Magnus Coat (2019)

Arc’teryx Magnus Coat (2019)

Type: Parka / Use: Lifestyle / Face: Nylon / Insulation: Synthetic

Technologies: GORE-TEX 2L, Coreloft 80g

Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. The Arc’teryx Magnus, also, has layers. And it’s a fantastic layer itself. For $550, however, one can’t help but want more.

Before we dive into the subjectives, here’s the hard facts: the Magnus is a thigh-length technical lifestyle parka. There’s a 2L GORE outer with a supple, drapey N60p nylon face. Behind it lies a slim fill of 80g CoreLoft, Arc’s synthetic insulator. The inside lining feels nice next to skin. An insulated hood keeps weather out.

For all intents, the Magnus is a lighter, slimmer, non-down Camosun, a fact the “Everyday Coat Comparison” on Arcteryx.com wholly acknowledges. After owning both coats, however, I’m just not convinced the niche the Magnus was built for is big enough to be worth it - especially in the humid cold of a Northeastern winter.

By design, the Magnus is not super warm. Stuffing it with insulation would ruin the slim lines. Upping the potency would edge its already high-enough price towards “pinnacle” range. But that isn’t supposed to matter. With its slim lines and GORE outer, it seems like the Magnus is intended to be either a) the “warm enough” option for mild, PNW-style winters or b) an insulated finishing piece to wear over sweaters or suiting when minimizing time outside.

Neither case demands a coat capable of walking 20 blocks in 20° F. And for someone who wears button-ups to work and doesn’t want to double-layer for a weekend walk to the deli, that can get frustrating.

While it may be cut like a topcoat, from a New York perspective, the Magnus is more like a weatherproof, extended-length fleece. That’s how I thought of it during testing. “Oh, it’s too cold to walk out in just a Denali - but if I threw a hoodie on, this would be ace.”

And oh, dear reader, it was. The long lines and matte silky outer give the Magnus an air of sophistication, one that I styled easily and often. I particularly liked the Robotica colorway shown. It reminds me of the pastelly, textile-based near future of movies like Her. The canvas-like combo of pliable nylon and 2L GORE made it a natural fit alongside wool trousers and leather loafers.

For those who wear dress non-#techwear, the Magnus is one of the most stylistically (and perhaps, by its docile nature, functionally) versatile coats in the Arc’teryx line.

But at $550, it’s just hard to love this niche-filler when the Atom LT - a super-warm, super-breathable, not-GORE-but-still-weather-fighting synthetic midlayer exists at less than half the price.

Theoretically, the $290 difference between the Atom and the Magnus (or, for that matter, the $100 difference between Magnus and the Atom’s yuppie cousin, the Koda) can be chalked up to some combination of “GORE-TEX is expensive” and “there’s an extended length.”

They just don’t feel like material benefits here.

Throughout a winter’s worth of testing, there was never a moment where I reached for the Magnus without thinking, “I bet an Atom and a rain jacket would do the same.” Similarly, there was a single day - 47, sunny, slight breeze - where I reached for the Magnus without second guessing what I was wearing under it.

If the intangibles of the Magnus catch you, it’s certainly a very nice thing. The manufacturing is high-quality. The materials feel great. And, as mentioned, it’s one of the easiest of the investment-grade tech parkas to style.

I just can’t understand why anyone where temperatures go below freezing would choose this as their all-in-one winter parka.

Here’s how I’ll wrap this up.

If you live in San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, or LA: this is your winter jacket.

If you do not, but have other winter parkas and a spare $550: it’s worth looking at as a style piece.

If, and only if, you’re trying to get ahead of climate change’s effect on fashion with a coat that conforms to pre-Anthropocene seasonal stylings but acknowledges our changing climate: do I have the jacket for you.