Patagonia nano-air light pants alternative

Are there any alternatives? Looks like Patagonia is discontinuing them for some odd reason :( 

There's the Arc'teryx Atom LT pant.  Full side-zip, but a little heavier and bulkier.  

You just want a midlayer? The R1 pants work fine. 

Montbell Thermawrap UL Pants are pretty much nano air pant clones from what some others have said.  Breathable 40g stretch midlayer pants.  Those arcteryx are closer to a outlayer puff pant than an base/midlayer like nano air pants were. montbell.us/products/disp.p…

Very odd they are being discontinued imo. They were well regarded from what I can tell. Patagonia has been doing a bad job of keeping up/supporting with their product lines.  They change cut and lines every season making it hard to replace stuff, and they are not keeping high demand stuff in stock.

Nick B wrote:

Very odd they are being discontinued imo. They were well regarded from what I can tell. Patagonia has been doing a bad job of keeping up/supporting with their product lines.  They change cut and lines every season making it hard to replace stuff, and they are not keeping high demand stuff in stock.

And they ditch any product that is climbing centric enough to not be adept at running to starbucks within one brief season of production. 

Yeah. The thermal capilene onesie looks like it's gone. I blew through the zipper on my last one pretty quick and they replaced it, gonna be extra careful and hope this one lasts (or that they can repair it since there don't seem to be any more replacements). 

jdejace wrote: Yeah. The thermal capilene onesie looks like it's gone. I blew through the zipper on my last one pretty quick and they replaced it, gonna be extra careful and hope this one lasts (or that they can repair it since there don't seem to be any more replacements). 

THE ONESIE IS GONE?! 

What is you source for the pants discontinuation? Could they just be redesigning the pant and then relaunching it in the fall? 

Nick Drake wrote:

And they ditch any product that is climbing centric enough to not be adept at running to starbucks within one brief season of production. 

If they are not careful they are going to end up with a bad rep like North Face did when they went down the urbanite rabbit hole without maintaining a serious, quality climbing line.  (Having half your "high alpine" kit near vaporware doesn't count patagonia...) I am sure it was profitable for nf at first but now NF is considered a poor man's patagonia in terms of "cool".  (Though I will say they seem to have figured this out and are putting out some great gear atm).  I bet the climbing specific gear is not their money maker, but it is the loss leader that lends their brand "cool".  No doubt these companies lose money producing down suits but they lend the company legitimacy.

Are you guys sure they aren’t just cutting stock during the summer months then releasing more in the fall?

There was a post in another thread from a person who said a rep told him they were d/ced.   I had a rep tell me they wouldn't be back till fall so who knows. 

I am really perplexed by climbing companies waiting till fall to restock core gear they sell.   Summer is mountaineering season and lots of newbies going on their first trip buying entire kits at msrp. I am sure they have more market research and knowledge than me....  But it is strange Imo.

A rep from their headquarters told me they don't know when it's coming back out. So it looks like it might be discontinued. 

I was told by a rep that they don't know if things will return in the fall, they don't have that kind of access. I tried to find a large a month ago and all stores were out. Hope they bring it back.

I can vouch for the Montbell UL Thermawrap pants. It's a shame Montbell Japan is sold out. They can be had for under $100. But here they are from the US distributor:

https://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?p_id=2301302

You can get a 3/4 length here for $79. If you want to use them as a midlayer, it might be great:

https://en.montbell.jp/products/goods/disp.php?product_id=1101544

Here's the full deal. They breathe really well, but not as well as the Nano Air Light. To me this makes them better as an outer layer, as they are more wind resistant. They are also ostensibly less durable at 15d compared to the 30d Nano Air Light, though I have yet to damage mine after probably 30,000 feet of ice climbing and southern rhododendron bushwhacking. The pockets are really nice when worn as your outer layer. They are very trim fitting, which I like, but the bottom can be pulled over the tops of my Rebel Ultras.

I added 3 strips of Tenacious Tape to the lower instep of mine to act as a sort of crampon patch when worn as an outer layer. So far no rips or tears.

I wear Capilene Lightweight Bottoms with the UL Thermawrap Pants, and climb ice comfortably in temps from 10F to 40F. That's 10.6 ounces for the entire legs ensemble in men's medium.

edit: I mentioned that the Pants have two different fabrics, but I was thinking of the Parka, which I also own. The Pants are composed of just the stretchy fabric. I guess that's why they highstep so well. The Parka's chest and lower back are not stretchy. FWIW, the Parka is a decent full zip alternative to the Nano Air Light Hoody.

From the Patagonia Rep:

"Thanks for reaching out to us!

Unfortunately we are not going to be carrying the Nano-Air Light Pants this year. Not sure if we are coming out with something to replace it for we haven't received the stock yet but our fall product will be released around August 1st."

They are coming back but you won't see them in Fall 17, more likely fall 18 with a slight redesign.  I can't be certain why they aren't in the F17 line but my guess is that they were a very specialized pant that was a hard idea to sell to customers.  When they were in prototype stage they were a hard sell to ambassadors because no one really knew how they fit into the system.  That changed once people started wearing them though and realizing how versatile they were.  I'd say most ambassadors really love them at this point but they can still be a hard sell to a broader market. 

I think they were an awesome design.

As always, thank you for your insider knowledge Mikey. 

Mountain Equipment will have a 45g 30d breathable top and bottom for Fall 2018, the redesigned Kinesis Jacket and Pant. The Jacket's hood is said to be helmet compatible, which is an improvement over the Patagonia Nano Air Light, and it's offset full zip. $180 jacket and $130 pant

http://blacksheepadventuresports.com/2018/02/13/winter-2018-apparel/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCujZJFfAxA

Mikey Schaefer wrote:  I'd say most ambassadors really love them at this point but they can still be a hard sell to a broader market. 

I think that's the biggest problem for the entire outdoor industry. Everyone comes up with bullshit marketing jargon instead of helping the sales force figure out how to educate the consumer on concepts first. The nano air/active insulation shift has been great, but I still hear employees at some retailers arguing for the old gore shell 3 layer system of the 80s (which I personally think is shit for technical climbing and ski touring). It's been nearly 20 years since Twight tried to get people to open their minds to ditching hard shells except when needed and we're just now seeing the market shift. 

It's possible (like they did with the merino air -> capilene air) that it will go away for a bit and come back redesigned (or comeback exactly the same with a new name).

It has three common complaints: the baggy crotch/zipper resulted in some people finding the fit weird with the zipper having little functionality under most outer layers; it's too warm when worn with anything over it unless it's super duper cold, but most people aren't happy using it as an outer layer; the leg opening cuff is too tight to be pulled up many folks' calves.

A boot length version without the crotch zip could be awesome. yes, i know the crotch zip pairs with the Galvanized Pant, but I'm not very impressed by the Galvanized Pant