Best Heavy Duty Rain Jacket

[Benjblt]

What's your go-to heavy duty rain jacket? The one you depend on to keep you dry no matter what and is durable enough to handle lots of abuse? Kuiu Kutana/Yukon, First Lite SEAK, Sitka, Helly Hansen, etc. I'm looking to put some money into one and I'd really like to know what everybody is using, why, and how the particular jacket is proven itself. Thanks for humoring me. . I personally sold the SEAK (not because it failed but because it fit way too big) and am thinking about going with the Kuiu Yukon. I want something that will keep me dry (obviously) and be durable. Thanks for the help.

 

[Jpott3]

I’ve had good luck with my Sitka Stormfront jacket. It has held up really well to the brush of western Washington. My favorite feature is the rubber cuffs for keeping water from running down your arm. It also has a built in lens cloth in the chest pocket which has come in handy more than once.


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[Krieg Hetzen]

Guy Cotten Menfall Jacket and Guy Cotten North Sea bibs... Unless you take a knife to it (and even then) it wont rip or tear, dries out in minutes (literally, its PVC inside. Wash that shit in the creek, put anywhere not directly in rain and its dry in 5 minutes later) and will stop any wind, snow, rain, or sleet combo you can think of. Downsides are that its heavy, doesn’t breath and cant compress. But youre dry!

 

[Napperm4]

Kuiu Yukon or the kutana storm shell if you’re looking for packable rain gear that can take a beating.

I am not a fan of goretex for waterproof / breathable. It’s just not. It’s military technology from the ‘60s. It’s too high maintenance. Needs to be perfectly free of skin oils to perform best and I don’t need gear that has to be babied. It’s outdated and there is are much better membranes out there.

eVent or Derzimax are my preferred membranes. They’re way more breathable than gore tex so they don’t wet out from the inside when you’re active in them. Even a lot of times without opening pit zips and pockets.

They’re designed for use in really harsh environments like the North Sea, Alaska as well as backcountry skiers and mountaineering. Coming from several of those backgrounds, I have a MEC eVent 2.5 layer rain shell that’s about 12 years old. I’ve restored the dwr a few times but that jacket has kept me dry for days of heavy rains on the west coast including a 10 day trip on the west coast trail. 9 days of the hardest rain I have seen in North America.

When I started adding backpack hunting into my regular backpacking I wanted something in Camo. I was an early adopter of Sitka so I picked up a cloudburst. I was wet out within hours of the first rain I was in. Especially under the shoulder straps of my pack. Gave it away I was so disappointed.

Looked into some research and found RAB and arcteryx using Toray Derzimax. The same membrane that Kuiu uses in the jackets I mentioned that I have now. The Yukon has been amazing and kept me dry every time. Active or not. It’s a bit overkill and too bulky for 80% of my hunting so I picked up the new kutana storm shell. Haven’t tested it extensively yet but I am impressed with it so far.

Nothing out there short of 100% rubber is going to be waterproof and super durable but it’s horrible for mobility and noise, is ridiculously bulky and heavy. I used it quite a bit for work on offshore oil rigs. Best I found was Helly Hansen for that type of gear.

 

[Benjblt]

Kuiu Yukon or the kutana storm shell if you’re looking for packable rain gear that can take a beating.

I am not a fan of goretex for waterproof / breathable. It’s just not. It’s military technology from the ‘60s. It’s too high maintenance. Needs to be perfectly free of skin oils to perform best and I don’t need gear that has to be babied. It’s outdated and there is are much better membranes out there.

eVent or Derzimax are my preferred membranes. They’re way more breathable than gore tex so they don’t wet out from the inside when you’re active in them. Even a lot of times without opening pit zips and pockets.

They’re designed for use in really harsh environments like the North Sea, Alaska as well as backcountry skiers and mountaineering. Coming from several of those backgrounds, I have a MEC eVent 2.5 layer rain shell that’s about 12 years old. I’ve restored the dwr a few times but that jacket has kept me dry for days of heavy rains on the west coast including a 10 day trip on the west coast trail. 9 days of the hardest rain I have seen in North America.

When I started adding backpack hunting into my regular backpacking I wanted something in Camo. I was an early adopter of Sitka so I picked up a cloudburst. I was wet out within hours of the first rain I was in. Especially under the shoulder straps of my pack. Gave it away I was so disappointed.

Looked into some research and found RAB and arcteryx using Toray Derzimax. The same membrane that Kuiu uses in the jackets I mentioned that I have now. The Yukon has been amazing and kept me dry every time. Active or not. It’s a bit overkill and too bulky for 80% of my hunting so I picked up the new kutana storm shell. Haven’t tested it extensively yet but I am impressed with it so far.

Nothing out there short of 100% rubber is going to be waterproof and super durable but it’s horrible for mobility and noise, is ridiculously bulky and heavy. I used it quite a bit for work on offshore oil rigs. Best I found was Helly Hansen for that type of gear.

I've looked for eVent lately and cannot find it. Do you know of a jacket in current production?

 

[JMDavies]

I've had a few different brands and really like Kuiu Yukon

 

[Researcher]

I use the Yukon and it allows me to hunt in any weather I have faced in late October / November in Idaho including rain and snow. I havent personally had to use it day after day after day in the rain like Napperm4 but my experience has been positive like him.

Post where you are hunting and what weather you expect to face as that can help with your choice too.

I also have one in size medium that I will be selling soon if you’re interested send me a pm.

 

[Benjblt]

I use the Yukon and it allows me to hunt in any weather I have faced in late October / November in Idaho including rain and snow. I havent personally had to use it day after day after day in the rain like Napperm4 but my experience has been positive like him.

Post where you are hunting and what weather you expect to face as that can help with your choice too.

I also have one in size medium that I will be selling soon if you’re interested send me a pm.

I sent you a PM. I live in Western Oregon. So I may use it for several days in a row but I don't plan on using it in backpacking situations. The heavy demand on the jacket comes when slogging through heavy brush that wet all day long or long rainy days. I need the durability as well as the reasonable waterproof-ness.