What rain gear are you guys using these days?

I use shakedry (kathmandu brand – nz equiv to rei I guess) most of the time – either if I think it will rain a lot and be cold, or if there is low possibility of rain, it’s light enough to use “just in case” and justify its place by keeping me warm when stopped. If it’s warmish I’ll bring a 15d silnylon poncho (packa).

The shakedry is somewhat breathable, but never wets out and doesn’t need treating. The silnylon is not breathable, and relies on mechanical venting. It does not need treating. I like the simplicity of these things (even if the shakedry is quite high-tec).

Relying on a forecast for a 4-5 day trip is a little more risky than just being out for 2 nights.  I’m a huge fan of The Packa, but it’s not the lightest thing to carry if you’re not going to use it.  Most of my trips are just two nights and, if we’re not expecting rain, I usually leave the Packa at home.  It’s worked for me.

I love the Packa for a couple of reasons:

• Huge pit zips (I generate a lot of heat when hiking and it’s great to be able to vent)
• It’s long, so things in my pants pockets stay dry
• My pack doesn’t get wet and I don’t have to worry about the shoulder straps wearing off the DWR on my rain jacket because they’re under the jacket
• It’s easy to don and doff while hiking without stopping

Outdry for me.  Got one super cheap and have been very happy with the single membrane.  I’m sold on the single membrane idea.  Would pick up another ourdry jacket or shakedry if they were heavily discounted. Being totally waterproof and somewhat breathable suits my climate more than being very breathable and fairly waterproof.

Still going strong with a Patagonia M-10 jacket bought at a local outlet at around half price.  No issues after many years of use.  To keep the feet dry, use light Salomon WPB mids and GTX gaiters made by a local cottage company.  Use shell climbing pants that are stretchy, resist wetting out and dry quickly.  Seldom need to take WPB rain paints, but have them just in case.  Since the gods have seen fit to eliminate locales, note hiking is now done in the north country of New England and in the Rockies, Colorado for the most part.

Anyone have rain pants they like?

I’ve been happy with the slightly heavier and less packable Columbia outdry ex-featherweight from several years ago.

For some trips though I yearn for a lighter, smaller, (hopefully not less waterproof) jacket. I may go back to the montbel versalite when I replace this Columbia.

I’ve been rocking the Kathmandu Shakedry jacket (which doesn’t appear to be available currently) also as it was the cheapest way to test Shakedry in New Zealand. It is quite amazing from a breathability point of view BUT it is really fragile. In my pursuit to find a more durable solution I am currently using and really enjoying the Macpac (another NZ brand) Tempo https://www.macpac.co.nz/macpac-mens-tempo-rain-jacket/120107.html This jacket uses a Pertex Shield Air fabric which has a similar MVTR to Shakedry, but is a three layer fabric. Obviously it still relies DWR.

For rain pants I use either an old pair Outdoor Research Paclite overtrousers but mostly just for dog walking in terrible weather, but rarely for for actual backpacking.

Stephen Seeber’s reports are well worth the time and energy diving into to help answer your question.

Hope this is of some help?

Cheers, Scott

Scott, it’s actually available on clearance, you have to search it on their website as it doesn’t seem to be listed under “rain jackets” which is weird..

But I spoke to a manager in the local kathmandu, and she mentioned that they’re officially a “lifestyle” store now, hence the clearing out of this sort of more specialist gear. So if you like it, get another now!

FWIW my previous columbia outdry was a better jacket – it seemed tougher (although delaminated badly at the end), and had quite generous chest vents. They no longer make it, and are incredibly vague and confusing with their product line up and specs.

Thanks Opogobalus, I finally found it! I don’t think I would rebuy now I have tried the Macpac Tempo. I have actually been testing a very similar fabric to the Tempo for a year or so now and it’s pretty damn good. Obviously does not address the DWR issue which is an ongoing problem for active garment makers (such as where I work). We’ve been asking Pertex to develop a better DWR or Shakedry equivalent to no avail. Seems a little Kiwi brand don’t have enough sway!

Funny that the manager said that about KMD, I suspect that has been true for some time ;-) I worked there as a “buyer” for a year (many years ago) and as much as they wanted to be a technical brand the majority of sales were always more lifestyle orientated.

Yeah, its a shame there aren’t more non-dwr shells avaialble, the uptake has been surprisingly slow. I suppose 99% of consumers aren’t well-versed enough to understand the issues with DWR and so the ‘membrane-on-the-outside’ concept doesn’t have much of a catchy selling point.

Mm. It does seem more of an “official” line on something that has been the case as long as I remember. But this was in reference to asking about some mountaineering boots they used to have (decent entry level boots for the price) and she seemed a bit sad about no longer selling “proper boots or rainjackets.”

Marmot precip full zip pants, Marmot precip jacket. Relatively inexpensive, works well enough. I live in the Pacific NW, and know all about rain, rain and more rain!  :-)

Homemade silnylon rain skirt. It keeps me considerably drier when it’s raining or when walking through wet brush compared to rain pants. It does get damaged if the brush is super pointy though.

At this point I would not buy a rain jacket that either was 1. Air permeable or 2. Did not rely on DWR. Unfortunately nobody has made one that does both of those things. The air permeable thing really does make it much more comfortable (like Pertex Shield Air or Neoshell) but also the advantage of never wetting out is huge in persistent rain. I have and use both for different conditions.

Gatewood.Cape also works very well as an on trail rain protection as it is basically a mini pyramid tarp + poncho and covers your pack

Christopher, does the shakedry/outdry concept not satisfy those needs? They’re not as breathable as DWR garmets, but don’t wet out and are noticable breathable. I do wish they would use mechanical ventilation – my Columbia Outdry featherweight had chest vents which were more effective than pit zips (in my experience), but no other lightweight membrane-on-the-outside jackets have done that since.

Yea they definitely satisfy that. They are not air permeable so they are not nearly as comfortable to wear (or dump as much moisture) as the air permeable membranes but the fact the DWR cannot wet out is huge. I have found Outdry much more durable than Shakedry. I am still using the Featherweight + Gore R7 but I mainly use the Gore R7 for very lightweight stuff. Resort skiiing or some winter trips I use the air permeable membrane stuff as it breathes so well that I sweat significantly less and even heavy snow is unlikely to overcome the DWR of the majority of the jacket since it slides off so much easier.

You could add pitzips to an outdry jacket probably without too much difficulty – maybe do some seam sealing after with a liquid sealer. I also like the chest zips although I think they work the best when paired with back zips (sort of like pit zips but farther back – basically just at the edge of where a pack might cover them but just outside that edge. Angled properly with a little overhang flap rain actually has trouble getting in and you will get amazing cross air flow from the front to back. Zips on the shoulders and the same zips on the back also work very very well.

I’ve only used my shakedry a handful of times, due to a long term injury that happened hte day after I purchased it! So I can’t compare in real world experience, but it certainly seems that’s the common user experience, and feels like it’s probably true based on how the fabric feels. I wish columbia had a less confusing product line up, accurate weight specs etc on their products. I’m not really sure which of their jackets are actually lightweight.

I don’t trust my skills enough to slice zips into a jacket ;)

Yea Columbia sucks. Its too bad they have all the Outdry EX patents now. Epic could have kept them and we could have had tons of companies using them.

I dont get why Mountain Hardwear doesnt make jackets using it – they are owned by Columbia so there should be no conflict – they could probably make something designed really well that would be awesome. And maybe we could finally get good Outdry EX pants as well.

In warm weather I just get wet. When cooler I have been Shakedry  for several years… currently is V1 of the Gore R7 I picked up in early 2020. I been very happy with it’s performance.  After two years it still doing ok. Held up to the light I can see pinholes in the shoulder area but so far hasn’t leaked. The jacket has been used around 250 miles under a pack. It’s been used an additional 800 hours without a pack (running, cycling, hiking).

In the past I found Outdry not sufficiently breathable.  I found eVENT DVT breathable enough but it would wet out in extended rain.  non waterproof EPIC + fleece was the best solution when I needed durability.  That hasn’t been an issue the last few years… been sticking to trails in CA with few really extended rain storms.  Random other notes on my rain-gear page.

When it wears out I will likely try a poncho ago.  Drew Smith’s article reminded me of the reasons I have try using a poncho (4 extended attempts — 1 for a couple of years) only to return to rain jacket. Maybe 5 will be the charm.  esbits and toe socks each took three different attempts before I loved them  :).  I would really like my rain gear to be a buy it for life item.

Christopher, I feel like Columbia’s marketing around this stuff is very vague – unless you understand the technology, there isn’t much that makes it clear what is different about it. And as said, they’ve got a vague and confusing product line up there.

I wish Gore (or someone) would do an H7 – i.e. a “hike” variant of the shakedry fabric that can handle backpacks and scrub a bit better, but with mechanical venting.

I don’t find my shakedry (made from the “hike” fabric) noticably more breathable than my outdry – but the shakedry jacket i have is much more athletic in cut and doesn’t have chest vents. The outdry was quite boxy.

Shakedry has a higher MVTR but neither are air permeable so really they would both benefit a ton from mechanical ventillation. With the more air permeable fabrics (mainly powershield pro) you can actually feel a strong wind through the fabric and it does a decent job of cooling you down a bit. Of course nothing like a higher CFM windshirt. I sweat a ton though and it really does make a difference.

What we really need is a mountaineering tent made from Outdry :-)

I’m very happy with a rainshell I got from Montem–good price, really well made.  Works nicely.

I bought a pair of rain pants for a trip to Patagonia, the place, not the brand, and they seem fine. But I usually hike in the Sierra in the summer, so from the waist down, I usually just drip dry.

That said, if I’m hiking in the rain, I am wet, either from the rain, or from the condensation in the rainshell,  You choose.

Around camp, the shell is great if I have to get out of the tent…which I did this week.

Rain?  What is this “rain” you speak of?  /s

(Sorry, I’m in California)

The last time we had a really rainy winter I made a silnylon mountain poncho/Parcho kind of thing.  It seems to have kept me from being seriously rained on ever since, merely by taking it along on a hike…I suspect it has mystical powers.

I did actually buy a new rain shell from Montbell recently I really like – it is the “stretch full zip” pants (their own membrane). Its a 3 layer membrane and fairly new and seems actually quite different than their old stuff. Could be Neoshell relicensed or eVent or who knows what. But the full outseam zips are very nice, its relatively lightweight, and between the mens and womens you can mix and match different sizes and inseams ( or if you really need different inseams Montbell Japan has the same pants with even more choices). I am not seeing it on Montbells website currently which is dissapointing – hopefully they are going to re-release it. This is the old listing:

https://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?p_id=2328161&fo_flg=1

My only complaints:

1. It is a single zipper pull instead of dual zipper pull which makes venting harder

2. It does not have a snap or velcro at the top of the zipper or the bottom. This is super useful for making sure less stress is put on the zipper and again useful for venting. Would be nice if there was a snap at the top (or even multiple snaps to adjust waist tightness), a snap at the bottom, and a snap or two partyway up for venting. Would add minimal weight.

Probably a little heavy by the standards here but I mainly use them in winter conditions and they seem to breathe quite well comparatively. They might be slightly air permeable – hard to say exactly.

Montbell Japan version:

https://en.montbell.jp/products/goods/disp.php?product_id=1128576

OR helium rain gear for 3 season use.