ZPacks Men’s Vertice Jacket

Ken, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more about it either.  My thoughts are the fabric may be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it’s unproven.  If I were going to spend that much money on a rain shell, I would go with the Mont-Bell Shakedry piece so I don’t ever have to worry about failing DWR again.  I also think that companies like Z-Packs struggle with patterning and fit for garments like this.

I used the same reasoning as Brad Rogers – why pay 250 (used to be 300) for a jacket that may eventually fail due to DWR issues. I have used the Columbia Outdry jackets and they work great – no wetouts. I used the heavier Reign on the PCT Washington section hike this summer and used it in 8 to 10 hour rainy days (multiple days) and did not have any wet out issues. I recently bought the lighter version Ex Featherweight version which is 7.5 oz and for $100. The only issue with these jackets are they are not as packable as the Zpacks or other WPB jackets.  If i put it in a stuff sack, I can make it more packable.

You may want to check out the John Abela’s reviews on these class of jackets – especially the Zpacks ones.

Also check out the current discussion going on in the topic DWR performance on this forum

I bought the Vertice roughly 6 months ago based on this review at Backpackers.com.

It is lightweight and very packable and went with me on a section of the GR-10 as well as on the JMT this summer. It did barely see any rain and I used it a couple of times as a wind jacket, where its pit zips made a big difference in feeling comfortable.

During a recent weekend hike in the rain at Mt. Tam, I used it for the first time truly as a rain jacket. I hiked with a light day pack for 14 miles in the rain with open pit zips and was completely wetted out within 2 hours. 20+ miles/hour wind on Mt Tam and being wetted out didn’t make for a great experience. Somehow the DWR failed from the beginning of the rain as the water didn’t bead on the jacket, but it looked soaked within minutes. I now washed it according to Zpacks instructions and will try to use it next week in the rain to see whether that makes any difference.