AntiGravity Gear Raincoat

[Rog Tallbloke]

For summer downpours I use one of those emergency PVC ponchos. Weighs 2oz, packs small, costs £1. Basically a giant trash bag with a hood and arm holes. Goes over me and the pack, vents ok. Easily holed, and just as easily mended. If I keep my arms inside and push the front out, I stay totally dry in a downpour.

[EndoftheTrail]

The PVC poncho will at least vent better than the AGG jacket.

[Bob Gross]

I always found ponchos to be OK, as long as the rain was coming straight down. As soon as you add a lot of horizontal wind blown rain, the ponchos tend to find themselves wrapped around heads.

A poncho can be good if you are carrying a big camera.

–B.G.–

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

Well okay maybe I'll hang around for a bit. The venerable trashbag is not so bad for dodging summer deluge type storms when temps are warm. It is ultralight, ultra waterproof, ultra cheap, and it can't vent any worse than my sil anorak. Just pair the drum liner up with a rain hat and add a piece of cord for a waist sash in case of high wind and voila you have the ultimate dirtbaggers rain gear. Is there something funny about dirtbagging with a trash bag? I dunno it makes me chuckle anyway.

[Bob Gross]

That certainly makes a fashion statement.

–B.G.–

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

Well high tech fabrics are the only thing that differentiate hikers from the homeless anyways.

[Lynn Tramper]

Getting back to the OP, I haven't any experience with the AGG product, but I have used the Packa jacket/poncho made out of silnylon. I have written a review in the reader reviews on it. I basically agree with Ben about the limitations of silnylon as rainwear, even with a better vented product such as The Packa. However some folks (Bob, Roger C and his wife) swear by the stuff. It's a lot tougher than DriDucks, so your investment will last longer. But hiking any distance wearing silnylon…Ugggg. I'd rather buy three pairs of DriDucks for the same price.

[Bob Gross]

Jeffrey wrote:
"Well high tech fabrics are the only thing that differentiate hikers from the homeless anyways."

Next time you see a homeless guy out sleeping on the sidewalk with nothing but a piece of cardboard underneath him, ask him what the R rating of that cardboard is.

–B.G.–

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

A thru hiker fed me that ideology in the form of a joke while I was doing a section hike in the Smokies last week. The joke went as such "what distinguishes a thru hiker from the homeless?" Answer- "Goretex" If you have ever thru hiked the AT there is something amusing about this statement. It made me chuckle at the time but perhaps the target audience for such off color stuff is limited to the AT thru hiker trash community of which I am a part. Sorry if any found this off color humor offensive. I apologize if I tread where I should not have.

I might be a little bit more callous than some regarding the issue of homelessness and street people having grown up around the Cleveland area. As an older teenager I had a panhandler try to attack me when I offered him a hand up instead of the handout that he was requesting. Probably a rare occurence for sure but it is the kind of thing that sticks with someone. I also spent my fair share of time working on habitat for humanity houses in East Cleveland as a teen and young adult.

[Rog Tallbloke]

Well I thought it was funny. Anyway, the answer to Bob's question about the R value of cardboard is:

Remarkably high.

Following on from Bill Fornshell's thread a few months ago about cheap UL gear, I have been MYOGing quietly away in the background with some ultracheap fabrics including Tyvek, row cover, painters sheets, balloons, beer cans etc. I anticipate my ultra light-ultra cheap kit will come in at under 10 pounds baseweight, and under 20 pounds in cost.

Dirtbaggin' – because we can.

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

Thanks Rog I was starting to feel like an insensitive jerk for a minute. Glad at least one other guy was amused.

Dirtbag on my friend. I would be interested to hear about the final results of your ultralight and ultracheap dirtbagging project.

[Bob Gross]

Over this past weekend, I had gone ski/snowcamping. I had started out wearing a couple of thin layers since I was moving uphill on skis. Once we chose a campsite, the wind was picking up, so I donned a jacket. I had specifically left the good Goretex parka in the vehicle, and I had carried the Anti Gravity Gear rain jacket that I had described earlier. I had carried it since it weighed only 4 oz.

To my surprise, it worked perfectly. It was the perfect wind shell, and there was only a little snow flying around in the wind. Once we had dug in and I was just standing around in the evening, an extra layer went on under the jacket. By the next morning, another extra layer went on under it. I don't know what the wind speed was, but the temperature was about 15-20. The wind would have sucked the life out of me without it. We skied back out with more fresh snow coming down.

–B.G.–

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

Disclaimer -Bob doesn't sweat he could wear a garbage bag.

I enjoy using a windshirt in the winter myself since it is actually somewhat breathable as compared to sil nylon.

[Bob Gross]

Well, seriously, it was cold enough and I was using the right layers, so I really didn't seem to be sweating inside the jacket. Garbage bags don't have elastic or zippers or velcro for altering the venting.

–B.G.–

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

I don't trust a hiker who doesn't sweat at least a little. The body gives off perspiration even at rest and hiking doesn't qualify as rest. Even while modifying my clohting system en route it is a safe bet I will sweat a bit. If the wind is really tame sometimes I don't even use a shell of any sort in temps of 20 degrees so that I can keep my heat production under control.

Trash bags ohh so comfy and cheap…

Wind shirts are nice for winter as they actually breathe as compared to silnylon and trash bags. Wind shirts also have the fancy cuffs, velcro, zippers and stuff. Although trash bags don't have all that fancy tomfoolery they seemingly vent well and are easy to regulate with a length of cord around the waste or better yet a custom sized piece of elastic cord tied into a loop and placed about the waste. Sizing of the self punched arm and head holes is another way to help your trash bag vent well for you.

Hmmm. Maybe I could market a hooded trash bag with zippers and elastic.

That AGG jacket might make a halfway decent VBL too.

[Bob Gross]

"I don't trust a hiker who doesn't sweat at least a little. The body gives off perspiration even at rest and hiking doesn't qualify as rest."

Thank you for that vote of non-confidence. You may notice that I stated that I wasn't hiking with the jacket on. I wore the jacket around the windy camp, and I wore it while skiing back, mostly downhill in wind and snow.

Yes, I thought that I heard that AGG was selling a vapor barrier suit, but I have no details. This thing is way too spacious to be a vapor barrier on me.

–B.G.–

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

Well I wasn't there so I don't know for sure but your post does indeed say that you donned it in the evening adding extra layers under it not once but twice before the morning when you skied out with it all presumably still on if I am reading your post correctly. You are clear that you were skiing and not hiking but rather unclear on what you were wearing when you road the stix out of there.

Still though your body gives off perspiration even when at rest and you were not resting.

Parting shot. I think silnylon rain jackets are silly and I want everyone who reads this thread to know that.

[Bob Gross]

Yes, I try to be a stickler for details. Yes, it was cold and windy as I skied back, mostly downhill, so I had all of my layers on under the rain jacket.

"You don't sweat much for a fat girl!" That's about right, I wasn't sweating much. The snow pellets bounced off the rain jacket pretty good.

If I had been out on some long unsupported trip, then I probably would have taken a 24-oz Goretex parka, but for a simple ski/snowcamping trip where we stayed within 5 miles of the road, it was no big deal.

–B.G.–

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

It is my duty to inform you that 10 oz waterproof breathable jackets are available.

[Bob Gross]

Let's see, I have Goretex stuff that weighs 32 oz and 24 oz. I have a Gore Activent thing that weighs 8 oz.

Now I have this 4 oz AGG thing.

Somewhere in between I have non-waterproof wind jackets and such. I have some that I made.

Now you are suggesting that I buy a 10 oz waterproof breathable jacket also? Is that with or without hood?

I feel kind of jacketed-out.

–B.G.–

[Jeffrey Kuchera]

Nobody likes repetition. So since Bob cut and pasted or maybe even retyped my post which had previously appeared here and posted it directly below, (he must be part of the editing police force) I changed the posting appearing here yet again so you don't have to read it twice in a row now. Over and out.

[Bob Gross]

"Such a stickler for detail should realize that I made no reference to buying a 10 oz goretex jacket as I believe there are better and cheaper 10 oz waterproof breathable jackets available for purchase. So yup maybe you need to head out and buy another one or fab one up if that is what you like. Opt for the hood. Me smells a troll of the worst sort (not me own scent) or maybe you are just cranky cause I pinned you down pretty good on the stove and bottle thing. Okay I will quit poking at you then. Over and out.

Edited by frankenfeet on 05/11/2010 01:38:12 MDT."

Wow. This reads a lot different from the way you posted it first.
–B.G.–

[Lynn Tramper]

Wow, why all the vitriol? Bob was merely telling us his experience with the AGG silnylon raincoat. He freely admits he uses it in situations where he does not perspire excessively, and at the moment I've been sleeping in a cuben quilt that doesn't breathe, and am surprised to see how little moisture gets trapped inside when I'm not actively exercising. So for around camp in the rain, as a windshirt when not exercising hard, etc…there is nothing wrong with this kind of system. Would I wear it lugging gear uphill in above freezing rain? No way, but for Bob's uses it's fine.

[Bob Gross]

Besides, vitriol is far too heavy these days.

–B.G.–

[John S.]

My thoughts on wearing the original DLG top while hiking…

http://tinyurl.com/2dokvex

"…I took the old DLG silnylon rainsuit to mess around with. We ended up having rain (drizzle mixed with sleet) nearly every afternoon of our 4 night/5 day hike.

The first time I used the jacket (never needed the pants), I had my hipbelt over it in front, the chest strap on and the neck drawstring closed without wearing the hood (was wearing a Tilley LT5B). As we hiked, I got warm even with temps in the 50's.

The second time I used it dayhiking I decided to alter a few things to see if it made a difference. I kept the neck drawstring loose, did not wear the hood, pulled up the front over the hipbelt and unlocked the chest strap so the whole front end could move air through it. I found I was comfortable the entire time I wore it and never heated up.

Silnylon rain suits may still be a good option if worn in this way. Equinox makes one, but their jacket seems to have too many features with that 6 oz. advertized weight."

[Author]

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