What is a good jacket for Michigan Winter?

Can I find a decently-priced men's winter jacket after Cyber Monday?

• I'm in the market for a versatile men's winter jacket for outdoor activities such as hiking, running, etc that I can also wear out on the town without looking silly. I found a few on Cyber Monday that I really liked, but all of them were out of stock for my size/preferred color. I don't want to pay list price. How can I find a decent deal after the two biggest sales of the year are over? I'm looking for a quality jacket that is hopefully discounted a fair amount. I'm looking a jack-of-all-trades that I can wear as an outer/middle layer depending on the weather that day. Nothing too heavy. Versatility is at the top of the list, but it'd also be great to have that doesn't look ridiculous if I decide to wear it for a night out. I'm living in the midwest so it can get relatively cold, and there's at least a few sub-zero days during each winter. I don't want a down jacket, since I don't want to have to worry about being rained on. Here's some of the jackets that I liked most, pulled from this site: http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Insulated-Jacket-Reviews 1. Patagonia Nano Air 2. Atom AR 3. Rab Xenon X 4. North Face Thermoball I'm particularly interested in the first three (the Thermoball looks a bit like a trash bag. Maybe it's just the picture). All of them are from the insulated section of the site; the jackets on some of the other sections look too bulky or ugly for my tastes - but please let me know if you see one that might be worthwhile. If anyone can find any of these jackets on sale (I'm a large, sometimes medium), please let me know. I'd also love some other suggestions for outdoorsy winter jackets that are on sale. I'd like a quality brand, and am willing to pay up to $250, give or take. I'm fine with either hooded or non-hooded. I'm also willing to hold off for a few more weeks if there is a good shot of a jacket going on sale towards the end of December, but I don't want to wait too long... I'm cold!

• Answer:

  You might have to bite the bullet, or look for a lower cost alternative-- it's tough to find discounts on premium brands, in season. Your best bet at this point for those are probably for a post Christmas sale or coupon at a large outdoor retailer (REI, Moosejaw, X local outdoor shop). Even then, it's pretty common for North Face, Patagonia, and Arc'teryx to be excluded from store wide sales and coupons (Rab isn't carried as broadly-- probably even tougher). All of those are brands that tend to not be discounted until end of season, and the struggle is real to find something in that large/medium sweet spot. It can be a bit misleading because lots of deep discounts show-up late winter into Spring, but sizes tend to be very large or very small. I've had good look as a large-to-medium guy buying samples at outdoor consignment shops, but those are probably long gone for the season-- they tend to show-up mid-to-late summer, before stores start stocking winter gear.