Which Luke’s Rain Jacket for Virginia AT in Early October

John, I bought Luke's Silnylon jacket with pit zips 2 years ago, and ended up later getting the Pertex Shield. After hiking in Sil a couple times I realized the breathability was worth the little extra weight of Pertex Shield. Standing around in Sil is great, but I was wetting out from the inside in no time under anything other than a casual pace. YMMV

Why not the Pertex Poncho, you're getting even more breathability and a pack cover for a weight of 5 ounces? If flapping or what not is an issue for you, have Luke sew some loops near the waist area, and run some shock cord through with a micro lock on, easy to cinch up or release the poncho based on need, wind, etc.

If Pertex Endurance was more durable (it's a rather light coating of PU so not that durable), a Pertex Poncho would be one of my ultimate rain gear systems, super breathable, super light and protects both my pack and me.

@Justin: I just don't like ponchos, otherwise that would be tempting.

I'm gathering that silnylon is out due to lack of breathability. And GoreTex may be more jacket than I need.

The AGG rain jacket is a silnylon jacket, right? Just wondering if I should be considering it as well.

Dry ducks would be perfect

in a similar situation, just started taking my girlfriend backpacking. thankfully, she loves it after one fairly rugged trip.

my solution for our next trip was to get hiking umbrellas (these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OPO7L8/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and wild things gear is having a sale, so i also got her a wild things gear hooded windshirt for ~$35 (not the lightest solution, but cheap and versatile, with a dwr coating)

and then i got some driducks for cheap, light backup. (~$20 and ~10oz for both jacket and pants)

my plan of attack (should it rain) is to be able to use the umbrellas and windshirt to show her it's possible to be just as, if not more comfortable without full waterproof gear, but then have the driducks as backup just in case.

i also grabbed the zpacks pillow dry bag ( http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/dry_bags.shtml ) and the driducks will serve double duty as stuffing for pillows.

i also got her a set of the insulight jacket and pants from wild things gear (mostly because i can't resist a good deal, and they were on a tremendous sale). also, not the lightest, but she tends to get cold easily, and the jacket (with epic fabric/primaloft insulation), is still lighter, more water-resistant, and more insulating than the rei softshell she would insist on bringing otherwise.

with the epic/primaloft pieces she'll have something she can throw on quickly to warm up with when stopped if we end up getting fairly wet in our water-resistant windshells.

i wasn't aware of luke's gear, looks nice and reasonably priced. something i'll definitely consider down the road. thanks for bringing it to my attention. (if money was no object, i'd definitely be ordering some of those pieces right now)

"I'm kinda leaning towards the Pertex Shell with pit zips as the best balance of function and light weight. What are you guys' thoughts?"

I would do that one too. The pit zips would help with ventilation and it seems like a good balance of weight, features and price.

If the fit is odd or you're looking for something similar another option is the OR Helium HD (Pertex Shield+ with pit zips) for $150.

Dri Ducks. But if it must be from that list, the Pertex shell.

Ryan