Marmot Precip Jacket reviews ???

I have worn mine hiking only a couple of times. It is a little on the heavy side ( but this helps keep you warm when it is cold outside ) and you will get wet from perspiration if you hike in it but I had no problems with it keeping me dry in a downpour. Obviously EVENT would breathe better but if you got it on sale like I did then it is a decent buy for the money

I think the biggest issue with them is the DWR. My brother and I stood outside in a rainstorm in Blue Lakes basin outside of Telluride, and I watched his jacket slowly wet out in the miserable rainstorm. We were to afraid to sit in the tents, the rain was causing miniature rivers to form everywhere and boulders were beginning to slide. The ground was rumbling with the boulders and the thunder. He finally gave up and went back in the tent after his shivers became uncontrollable. I am a bit nervous after that to trust anything but Gore-Tex or the Patagonia H2N0. I was wearing an Arcteryx Beta AR and was fine. I have not tried the eVent yet, to many jackets right now.

I know that rain storm is not that common in the summer Rockies but when it does it is rough. There was a lake underneath our tent, but the old Marmot Nutshell stayed dry.

There are lighter better jackets, for a price. I would go with a Cabelas Gore-Tex Paclite jacket for the same price and similar weight.

I bought a 2006 model on sale for about $30 two years ago. I washed it probably about 5 times before I noticed any problems with it this past fall. I still have yet to reapply any DWR.

It doesn't leak water, but it does now wet out. I don't get soaked by any means, but it is no longer effective for extreme conditions (cold/windy/wet). I continued to use it through this winter, and I will hang on to it for this spring and summer, but will replace it for the upcoming fall.

I don't think it's such a horrible raincoat. It's just like most other lightweight raingear, where you shouldn't really expect it to be effective for a long time.

My Precip, bought in 2006, has always shed rain just fine, even in day-long rainstorms. The problem with the precip is that it has essentially zero breathability. To wit: when I hiked Mt. Washington on the AT, the weather was 35 degrees with 40+ mph winds (that's balmy for Mt. Washington). I was wearing a poly t-shirt, DriClime windshirt, and the Precip on top. When I got to the top, the outside of my windshirt was completely covered with sweat that had wicked through the first two layers–I don't think a drop got out through the Precip, even on a very dry, very windy day.

I decided it had too many entry points for water; anytime you have a zip somewhere, it may leak. Partially fixable with duct tape, but then they end up looking ghetto.

This led me to prefer pullovers to jackets. Less zip means less leakage and less weight. My favorite top has been a breathable one from Cabela's. It's just 8 oz, but you have to put up with camoflage colors. The armpits & pants crotch have started to leak a little, but they're about 4 years old now, so it's expected.

I'm trying to decide between a precip the new Mica jacket or something with eVent. I think the precip is the old standard but I want something that breathes a little better.

Thanks for the input everyone. I feel better now,when I first read the review sites I was bummed,they slammed it pretty hard. I bought it on sale for $60 shipped. I knew it would not be high-end at that price,but I was hoping it would shed water for some time.

I grabbed one on ebay for below $40 a few days – I have precip pants and like them, even though the full length zipper makes them a bit heavier than I like, however, at least they are water proof. Last summer I had some Sierra Designs super light "water resistant" pants on during several storms in the Sierras – they basically were useless. Wet to the skin in no time.

The Precip jacket will ahve to compete with my vintage Gore-Text jacket from Schoeffel (red one on myu avatar, picture taken in 1986, worn daily in winters and on hikes year round since then), probably my favorite gear item ever. Let's see how the lighter Precip fares this spring in Wisconsin…