North Face 5.4oz waterproof w/hood

[Dan Durston]

"Is this thing fullly water PROOF?"

I haven't used the Triumph Anorak, but I have the North Face Venture jkt which uses the same Hyvent DT membrane and I've been very impressed with how water proof it is. I wore that jkt when I rode my motorcycle across the country and despite spending three 12 hour days in non-stop rain at 60mph, the water never got through the jkt. So yes, the Triumph Anorak should be bomber waterproof.

In sustained rain for days on end, will it wet through?Does it have a coating that will have to be re-applied like dwr?"

Yes it has a DWR coating and yes it might 'wet out' after a long period of rain, but do not confuse this with the membrane failing (and you gettting wet). On my motorcycle trip the jacket was pretty much totally wetted out after a few hours but I still stayed dry. Just because the DWR fails and the outer layer of nylon gets wet (aka 'wetting out') that does not mean the wearer gets wet because you are still protected by the membrane, which is laminated to the inside of the nylon shell material. All waterproof/breatheable jackets have a DWR coating to prevent the outer layer of nylon from getting wet. This is important because once the outer nylon gets wet the jkt does not breathe nearly as well.

So yes, it has a DWR coating but it also has a waterproof membrane. I imagine that the DWR coating is a decent one, but even good ones fail eventually. How good it is doesn't really matter because you can easily re-apply a new one using whichever brand you like. You should be doing this with all your waterproof/breathable jkts every year or two anyways.

[Ike Mouser]

Looks like i will cough it up some day and get an event, being wet while freezing is too risky, but 5oz..so tempting lol

[Dan Durston]

What's eVent going to change? Any eVent jkt is still going to use a DWR coating that can fail, but the Event should hold out the rain just like North Face's Hyvent DT membrane. You should stay dry in both. I don't think going to eVent is any 'safer'. It will just be a smidge more comfortable to wear since Hyvent DT is about 15,000 breathability and even is 21,000.

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