Rain Gear – again – Opinions Please

I'm not a fan of the ID Thru Hiker. I find it too short in the torso and a little narrow for female hips (but that is probably not a concern for you!). To me it would definitely come down to which jacket fit me best, followed by breathability, followed by price. Thus I'm sticking with my DriDucks even though I had to re-inforce some of the seams. If you want a Thru Hiker in a size large, I'm sure I could do you a deal!

In the breathability department, it's actually pretty straightforward: either something with eVENT or MontBell's proprietary "Breeze Dry Tec" laminate.

Goretex is a noticeably inferior choice (whatever the version and whatever the hype from Gore itself). Then comes Marmot, Mountain Hardwear — with breathability deteoriating steadily till you reach Sierra Designs jackets — and finally Red Ledge Thunderlight — which is just one step above non-breathable yellow raincoat — although Red Ledge do come with generous pit zips.

My husband works at a well known gear store so I have access to a very good discount and I still choose DriDucks. After a bad experience with a worn (and made of seconds) silnylon poncho wetting thru, I tested a couple UL options on a mid October hike in the Cascades (it rained and snowed and the wind blew hard) and I loved the way the DriDucks fit over all my gear & puffy down coat.

Rain comes in many forms and intensities. I try to match my gear to what I can reasonably expect to encounter. More intense or continuous rain takes beefier gear than occasional light summer showers.

For when the weather turns to absolute crud or for when I can expect days on end of off- and mostly -on rain, I carry the Montbelle Peak rain jacket; 11 ounces Breeze DryTec fabric, $198. To that I'll add the golite Reed rain/wind pants for another 4 ounces. This sytem also doubles as my wind gear so my wind shirt stays home.

For the lighter stuff (the JMT in August), I carry the more breathable but less durable RainShield jacket, 5 ounces, $45, and it doubles as a wind jacket. If I'm out for more than 3 days, my Integral Design Pertex Wind Jacket (4.5 oz) goes along because of durability concerns. The Reed pants stay home.

My older, dearly beloved Marmot Thunderlight rain jacket – 3 layer Gortex – hasn't left my closet for 15 years, but it was truly great for its time and never failed to keep me dry through some very intense multi-day continuous rains in the North Cascades. But at 24 ounces, it's a dinosaur now.

Bob:

I too have two rain jackets and use them similarly to yours:

1. MB Peak Shell for more serious rainstorms
2. Driducks for regular, UL use.

Can you provide a link to your Rainfair jacket?

RainSHIELD, not Rainfair – my bad. It's all 3Ms Propore fabric, like FrogToggs. Cheap, breathable, pretty good for light to moderate rains, but subject to abrasion. Don't try to bushwack with this stuff. Doubt it would survive a full day with shoulder straps rubbing over the surface…..but it can be easily patched with duct tape.

http://www.rainshield.com

Darnit Bob, you got me all excited there — thinking a new product — ultralight and ultra breathable! :)

Looks like our approaches to rain/wind gear are very similar.

I own the ID Thru Hiker and am very pleased with the performance. Event is great stuff. However, I agree that the cut on the ThruHiker is a bit weird. I had to size up to Large cause the medium was tight and I couldn't use my Patagonia micropuff under it. So I got the large for a bit more room. The arms are a bit long on me and I agree that the torso is a bit shorter than I had imagined from pics. But now I don't mind how it fits with my hipbelt. I was in the the UK and had a chance to try on RAB jackets. Better fit for me. But if you can get a deal on the ThruHiker it's a great jacket for rainy places. Note that the Drillium is a short cut too, so you may want to look at RAB's other jackets if you want a longer cut. Check out Prolitegear dot com. Hope this helps, Mike

Thanks very much for all of the comments. Based on all of this, and special thanks to Ben, I'm think I'm going to order the Montbell Peak. It wasn't even on my radar but this is huge testament to the great community behind BPL.