Best Rain Jacket under $50 and 5 oz?

I have an Golite Wisp hooded pullover that might fit your bill. Light, hooded, and nearly waterproof as it's the old styal with the acrilic coating on the inside – so more waterproof then the Ion.
Brand new (I never used it), a nice navy blue, and how about 25 plus shipping? It would make a great 3.5 oz raincoat at well less then 50 dollers.

Cheers, Rob

hehe, thats a wind jacket. you would find yourself in a hairy situation in a storm w/ the ion. If you are looking to go light and cheap, consider the dri ducks suit. its pretty breathable and very waterproof, but fragile too. If you are careful, it will last a while, and at $15 for the whole suit, its easily replaceable. Get a size or 2 too big to help avoid rips. Mine weighs about 11 oz for XL jacket and pants.

http://www.thegearlessmachine.com/

Thanks Robert, I will consider it.

less than $50, and 5oz… dri ducks are the best bet. I have used them in moderate off trail conditions. Minor snags are easily repaired with duct tape. Something harsh like going through a thick brier patch would be a bad idea though. Some people wear a DWR windshirt over their driducks for added protection.

–mark

Might as well save your money and get the dri ducks. Shred them and get some more. Or shred the Ion then get the ducks.

…you could go up a bit in weight and $$ and get a very high quality, high feature $89. Gore-Tex PacLite parka from Cabela's. It's light but a very durable non-shiny nylon.

Eric

Any idea how much the paclite parka weighs? I couldn't find the specs on their site.

Hi Alireza! This may exceed your specs a little, but campmor.com has the Marmot Precip jacket on sale for 69.98. This is a full on water repellant/breathable rain jacket featuring taped seams, pit zips, ample hood, and weighs 12 oz. The pants (7 oz) are also available for 49.98. Happy trails!

I saw a reader review here on BPL that said it was around 16 oz. Not so light……..

Ashley,

My Cabela's rainy River Paclite parka, in size Large, Tall, weighs 15.8 oz. by my digital scale. I'd say for a Small, Regular you'd save several ounces.

Yeah, it's not strictly UL, but it's still very light and compactable for a breathable and durable (as opposed to, say, a Marmot Precip) parka.

AND it's cheap for a Gore-Tex PacLite parka. No pit zips but the mesh-backed large slash chest pockets work fine for me when zipped open B/C they have wide zipper flaps to keep out rain.

Eric

Thanks Eric. Not quite as light as I was hoping, but I guess it's not too bad considering.

The Precip was one of the first things to go out of my kit when lightening up. While the jacket is a decent deal, I think if you're not bushwhacking, the DriDucks are going to be very hard to beat, since you get better breathability (the Precip isn't very hot in this regard), and they're lighter and cheaper.

Mark's idea of putting your windshirt over the Driducks is a pretty good one, I hadn't thought of that, but I'll try that next time I'm on an overgrown trail.

Ben, if you liked the idea of putting your windshirt over the Driducks you might be interested in the WPB Jacket project I have been working on.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/11965/index.html

Read the whole thing if you are interested in how the idea developed or just skip to the second page.

Simplest thing you can do is to glue 160D or 330D coated WP cordura on high abrasion areas: shoulders, arms, and sides.

please do, if your really trying to keep your weight to about 3.5 oz, I`d go with either a Sili-nylon hooded pullover, or if your expecting less rain and are more concerned about breathability I`d go for something like my Wisp.
I think if you look arround there are some articals about useing stuff like the old styal Wisp as SUL raingear, as I remember the gist of them was that its a good option, esp. if you seamseal the seams.