Proposed Light Weight Rain Gear Test..

[7mag.]

Drawback to this kind of test is that you will likely see 100% passing rate with any decent gear. Keeping rain out is rarely a problem in my experience. It's water being forced through by walking through brush, crawling, sitting, rubbing on packs, etc that "fails" W/B rain gear.

Yk

I agree completely. I think a simulated rain or shower test is a good start, but any rain gear worth a damn, will pass that easily. I think this will have to be more of a comparison review. It is going to end up with the findings being based on personal preference, but with the real world conditions, and a variety of gear to compare, I think we will get a lot of useful information. Thank you, High Country, for taking your time to do this.

 

[Jay03]

When you get the kryptek in hand how about weighing all the jackets? I am curious on how the first lite, kuiu, and kryptek compare in weight with each other. Also thanks for doing this... I have sitka downpour raingear now and while I like it I am planning on upgrading to one of the obove mentioned before next season. The downpour is quiet but not very light and packable.

 

[luke moffat]

Any rain gear will leak IMO eventually in the brush/alders.....after accept that realizing that balacne between weight and robustness (is that a word ) that suits you is the most important thing so long as it fits.

 

[Aron Snyder]

Any rain gear will leak IMO eventually in the brush/alders.....after accept that realizing that balacne between weight and robustness (is that a word ) that suits you is the most important thing so long as it fits.

What Luke said ...

 

[Matt W.]

Still lots to do in this comparison.. But thought the pic might help some of you.

Starting at the 4" number going Clockwise, Sitka Dewpoint, Chugach NX, First Lite Stormtight, Marmot Precip, in the Ziplock sandwich bag is the Mont-Bell Versalite, followed by the original Chugach.

Using the First Lite's method I just pulled all of the jackets into their own pockets. The Mont-Bell does not have any pockets so I used a zip lock sandwich bag. Each jacket is fairly loosely packed. But it gives you an idea of how they pack down. They are all pretty darn similar in size except for the Mont-Bell. That is one tiny little jacket.

I'll update it more when the Kryptek's arrive.

To compliment field tests of breathability I came up with a way to standard the process. Going to utilize the spin bike in my house. This gives me a controlled environment that is always the same. I maintain the same cadence for each test and wear the same the base layer each time. I've been stuck at the house this weekend as my kiddo had a minor surgery late in the week (all is well) so that was my attempt at being somewhat scientific. I did the test with the Dewpoint today. I'll need to repeat with each jacket to see if any standout. Gives me a standardized process to compliment the field trips.

I'll use a digital scale and weigh them all in the same setting. However, the more I get into this the more I have to agree with what Luke said above about finding the right mix of durability vs. weight for your hunting style. Hopefully these comparisons will help provide some info hunters can use.

 

[bcimport]

As a guy who moved from Colorado to BC my perspectives have changed on rain gear. It was pretty easy in Colorado, something light was more than adequate for the occasional high country storm as most of the time you could hunker down and wait it out.
Since moving to BC I have tried quite a few different systems to stay dry(ish) and comfortable. Overall I have found a high end 3 layer jacket with big pit zips is best for me on top. This coat gets worn all the time as the shell, protective layer and devils club defense garment. If its light rain or rain soaked vegetation then most of the time light synthetic pants and gaiters will get you by. If its going to rain all day and you're going to be out in it I have found it best to just wear your long johns under the rain gear and stuff the pants in the pack to keep them dry. I can't see buying the top end 3 layer pants as they are going to get destroyed and will leak eventually too when forced through all day alders. A pair of 2 layer or pac lite type pants does a good enough job and they don't cost nearly as much to replace after they get shredded. Make sure they have full length leg zips so you can vent them from the top and away you go.

This test should be pretty interesting.

 

[Matt W.]

I received the Kryptek rain gear yesterday. Look forward to spending some time in it.

 

[n2horns]

looking forward to the test. I think my stand by gear might be the kryptek all gray suit. I like mountain mimicry if C4E holds up or someone knows of MM in another maker.

 

[Matt W.]

Last night I sat down and weighed all of the gear. Took a while and man is my notebook getting full of info. As my buddy and I sat in his living room surrounded by rain gear we were amazed at the quality and ingenuity that has gone into our modern gear. Drag up a jacket from 5-10 years ago, even a top of the line Gortex and its amazing. The "stretch" and comfort factor is pretty darn nice in our modern gear. We are sitting here nitpicking little items and all of it is light years ahead of yesteryear. With that said, there are pros and cons to just about all of the gear and I really hope that I am able to articulate this in a manner that helps you out. I have a few more weeks of testing to do, some photos to take / edit, and then a bit of time to put it in a usable format. Thanks for hanging with me! Once again kudos to First Lite, KUIU, Kryptek, & Sitka Gear for their participation.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

OP...add Russell's L5 Cyclone to your test.

 

[Matt W.]

OP...add Russell's L5 Cyclone to your test.

Do you have any contacts at Russell? I thought they were shut down and just closing out stock?
http://www.russelloutdoorsgear.com/
And to be honest, I have so much rain gear on hand I need to stop somewhere, or the results will never be posted. : )

 

[Olydog09]

Do you have any contacts at Russell? I thought they were shut down and just closing out stock?
http://www.russelloutdoorsgear.com/
And to be honest, I have so much rain gear on hand I need to stop somewhere, or the results will never posted. : )

I wish I had gotten in on the Cyclone raingear when they were selling it discounted to around $50 an item. Rumor has it that it is pretty quiet and works well. But Russell is getting out of the APX line for whatever reason. All I have been able to find online has been XL and 2Xl.

 

[Matt W.]

I wish I had gotten in on the Cyclone raingear when they were selling it discounted to around $50 an item. Rumor has it that it is pretty quiet and works well. But Russell is getting out of the APX line for whatever reason. All I have been able to find online has been XL and 2Xl.

http://www.kingscamo.com/Russell-APXG2-L5-Cyclone-Jacket_p_693.html
Some smalls and mediums in stock.. : )

 

[Olydog09]

http://www.kingscamo.com/Russell-APXG2-L5-Cyclone-Jacket_p_693.html
Some smalls and mediums in stock.. : )

Thank you, I should have prefaced I was initially wanting pants mostly but had forgotten that there were still tops available. I will probably be picking up the jacket early next week in Med. If I do I will get ahold of you to see if there is time to throw it in the mix. On a side note, I love the Kings' camo pattern.

 

[cwoodyt87]

Figured y'all might like to see this - Outdoor Life just ran a test on Rain Gear, including KUIU, Kryptek, and First Lite to name a few. Good results all around, it'd be tough for me to determine what to buy.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/hunting/2013/10/gear-test-best-hunting-raingear

Very interested to see your results as well, and glad you are testing a few that weren't tested in the above article!

Big kudos to all the companies providing gear for this test, and to High Country for setting this up.

 

[Matt W.]

I saw that test and decided to go with 12min 30 seconds for my rain shower test.. : ) Between the two a LOT of rain gear gets covered. That is good for all. I have just about wrapped up the test and am putting the final touches on it. I think / hope that folks will find this useful. As part of the review I have created a process through an Excel spreadsheet that allows a person the ability to mimic the test and add any additional rain gear or tweak the % weight I applied to any given criteria. The tough part is breath-ability. Its hard enough to measure when one has all the jackets in hand, but at least it gives a mark to compare against.

 

[First Lite]

I thought the outdoor life article was informative other than the fact that we currently don't make rain pants. They tested our softshell pants as rain pants. Although the pants they tested have a 10k laminate they are not taped, they are good in bad weather to a point but were never designed as rain gear. We were super pleased with the stormtight shell review though. We'll be offering pants to match the stormtight next year. the cool thing about High Country's test, is that he is going into the field and actually trying to recreate with some consistency true field tests. Its a super difficult thing to do and a pretty cool thing for roksliders to check out.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Why would they even test the FL bottoms?? Stupid!!

 

[Matt W.]

I did think it was odd that they tested soft shell pants as rain gear, but understand the desire to go with a "set."

In my mind a REAL rain gear test is a 10 day hunt in conditions that actually call for rain gear, and then repeated a few more times just for good measure. This is darn near impossible to do with as much rain gear as I ended up with for this test in anywhere near a reasonable time frame. In reality my test is a combination of things, and I had to utilize help to get through this much gear in the short time I have had it.

Each jacket was tested in a variety of ways, one being actual field use, but unfortunately limited to weekend trips of 2-3 days, some where I had good weather and so not fully utilized for rain protection (breathability could still be tested). We also tried to re-create field use during the week running, biking, hiking, shower tests, controlled environment test, etc. as best we could.

It was a lot of rain gear to go through and I learned a ton. Based on what I learned it is my opinion that rain gear should be tailored to your given activity and not necessarily is going to be a do it all piece of kit. I'll probably end up with four sets when I am done with this project, each tailored to a specific activity objective, and some with the ability to do a little cross over.

1) Helly Hansen / full on rubber rain gear (weight does not matter, breathability does not matter, all that matters is staying dry)
2) sheep (backpack) hunting set (Weight, Durability, and breathability ALL matter)
3) Sheep hunting plus set (I give a little on weight to focus on "comfortable functionality", but still focus just as hard on durability and breathability)
4) Base Camp hunting / Rafting / ATVing / fishing set - Something like the Kryptek Koldo (which I am also testing, but outside of this test)

Items 2 & 3 are hard to pick, and are the essence of what this review is about. I have all the gear in hand and am beating it up and running it and still struggle as there is no run away winner in the top half of the rankings. It really boils down to what specific features you are looking for (color/pattern, fit, weight, features, etc.). That is good news for us hunters. Most people will probably merge my items 2-3 and possibly 2-4. Hopefully this write up will give you the tools to do so. We have some quality gear out there to choose from and these companies are all pushing each other to make it even better. Win win for the consumer.

Having both a 2 & a 3 also allows me to do some long term testing and follow back up sometime next year. Helps me weed out the fold and be able to provide some value in a follow up long term review.

 

[Matt W.]

I agree completely. I think a simulated rain or shower test is a good start, but any rain gear worth a damn, will pass that easily. I think this will have to be more of a comparison review. It is going to end up with the findings being based on personal preference, but with the real world conditions, and a variety of gear to compare, I think we will get a lot of useful information. Thank you, High Country, for taking your time to do this.

Some gear did fail the simulated shower test. The gear that "failed" just seemed to sort of seep through and while they were not soaked, water was on the inside. In my mind that was failure compared to the top 3 jackets that all passed. I used a 12min 30sec test. I had to be VERY careful taking the gear off as you could easily allow water to get in and mess up your whole test. Hoods make a big difference as well, lot more than I initially thought. Biggest hole in the jacket is one for the head! : ) I dumped a ton of water down the drain the last few weeks....