Toray vs. Goretex rain gear

[moxford]

Has your stance on this changed in the last 7 years? do you still consider Kuiu to be on par with Arc'teryx? im stuck between Kuiu and Sitka.

I can only speak to Yukon compared to MH e-vent, Arc'teryx Alpha and Beta gear.

Yukon is heavier, cut is more baggy, and the industrial design seems not as functional (pockets wetting out,etc.)

None have soaked through.

Daily rainwear I reach for my Mountain Hardware e-vent. I love that that thing


Skiing and SAR work is almost always Arc'teryx in some form, mostly because of the hood. AT seems louder than my MH. Industrial design/functionality of both are excellent.

I really (really really) like the hand and feel of the Kuiu Yukon, but given its weight and pockets wetting out, I really only pull it out when stationary and raining really hard. The weave which makes it so nice also seems to make it more prone to snagged and then tearing. While both times were on barbed wire, and that stuff could easily tear anything, I have a gut feeling that other fabrics (slicker, louder) *may* have slid over instead of catching. Maybe.

I would like to try some Sitka gear at some point to compare, but have not done that yet. I have heard some good things about it, though.

Once you get into the higher realm with quality mfgs, you are kind of splitting hairs on the WP laminate side. It is a mature tech at this point, and even without Gore enforcing some level of quality, you are not talking about cut-rate knockoffs slapping a laminate in and destroying the laminate's branding.

At that point, go with fit, functionalty, and don't worry about the exact membrane if your trust the mfg and the piece has good reviews.

Do you want full-syn Penzoil 10w30 or Mobil-1? At some point things become so good as to almost be indistinguishable. (You run F1, you might care about the extreme nuances, but 99.9999% of the world would never notice the difference.)

I am testing some lightweight Helly Hanson gear right now. (No affiliation, but found a deal on various orange pieces, so it makes layering less annoying durring rifle seasons.)

Grid fleece is pretty good, lightweight hooded puffy shell is excellent except for a little constriction in the hood-view, the big down puffy seems really nice and warm, but not fully tested yet. And the rain shell seems good, but again, have not hit any good storms yet. And it's all orange (not quite blaze, but pretty close.)

Their heavy merino was a bit of a disappointment. It's comfy, but light on merino content so it does stink up quite a bit more like a normal synthetic. Been hunting with that for about a week, in the heat, chasing mule deer, and it's doing ptretty well.

Oops, tangent. Sorry.

Cheers,
-mox

 

[Bearwhisky]

Never heard of a pair of waders made out of Toray, but many are made of goretex. Do the math.


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[Poser]

Never heard of a pair of waders made out of Toray, but many are made of goretex. Do the math.


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Simms has Toray waders as well

 

[xBobby]

I can only speak to Yukon compared to MH e-vent, Arc'teryx Alpha and Beta gear.

Yukon is heavier, cut is more baggy, and the industrial design seems not as functional (pockets wetting out,etc.)

None have soaked through.

Daily rainwear I reach for my Mountain Hardware e-vent. I love that that thing


Skiing and SAR work is almost always Arc'teryx in some form, mostly because of the hood. AT seems louder than my MH. Industrial design/functionality of both are excellent.

I really (really really) like the hand and feel of the Kuiu Yukon, but given its weight and pockets wetting out, I really only pull it out when stationary and raining really hard. The weave which makes it so nice also seems to make it more prone to snagged and then tearing. While both times were on barbed wire, and that stuff could easily tear anything, I have a gut feeling that other fabrics (slicker, louder) *may* have slid over instead of catching. Maybe.

I would like to try some Sitka gear at some point to compare, but have not done that yet. I have heard some good things about it, though.

Once you get into the higher realm with quality mfgs, you are kind of splitting hairs on the WP laminate side. It is a mature tech at this point, and even without Gore enforcing some level of quality, you are not talking about cut-rate knockoffs slapping a laminate in and destroying the laminate's branding.

At that point, go with fit, functionalty, and don't worry about the exact membrane if your trust the mfg and the piece has good reviews.

Do you want full-syn Penzoil 10w30 or Mobil-1? At some point things become so good as to almost be indistinguishable. (You run F1, you might care about the extreme nuances, but 99.9999% of the world would never notice the difference.)

I am testing some lightweight Helly Hanson gear right now. (No affiliation, but found a deal on various orange pieces, so it makes layering less annoying durring rifle seasons.)

Grid fleece is pretty good, lightweight hooded puffy shell is excellent except for a little constriction in the hood-view, the big down puffy seems really nice and warm, but not fully tested yet. And the rain shell seems good, but again, have not hit any good storms yet. And it's all orange (not quite blaze, but pretty close.)

Their heavy merino was a bit of a disappointment. It's comfy, but light on merino content so it does stink up quite a bit more like a normal synthetic. Been hunting with that for about a week, in the heat, chasing mule deer, and it's doing ptretty well.

Oops, tangent. Sorry.

Cheers,
-mox

Thank you for that great write up. you're absolutely right i am way over thinking it. for everything i would ever need it to do it would be just fine. Arc'teryx will always be my favorite brand for climbing / mountaineering things but i think ill give KUIU a shot for the hunting aspect, even though sitka is made by gore i just am not that into what they are putting out.

 

[Bearsears]

Ill add my unsolicited 2 cents.

I had Kuiu Yukon rainwear a few years back. The first year the jacket's DWR wetted out almost immediately while hiking on a snow sleet day. I was soaked when I got back to the truck. I emailed KUIU and they sent me a new jacket. For the next few years it was pretty dry in my hunting area so it just rode around a lot.

Then 3 years ago backpacking into my rifle spot with a buddy we had near the same conditions of rain/ snow/sleet which I think really tests rain gear's ability to block external moisture and move internal moisture. Well the Yukon jacket did great blocking the external moisture but horrible at moving my internal moisture from sweat. It flat out didnt breath. I was layered in only my base and moderating pace so I shouldn't have been overwhelming the system. My buddy right next to me had on a Sitka Cloudburst system and he said he was pretty much dry and he was. Standing there looking at him, you could literally see his jacket steaming because it was moving moisture so well. This went on for days.

So I sold my Kuiu stuff and bought a Sitka Cloudburst set. Last year we were hiking out in the dark in the mid 40s and heavy rain. I stayed bone dry and had the same experience seeing my jacket literally steaming off moisture on the outside. I'm sold and most likely wont be switching from Goretex in a Sitka piece from now on.

A couple caveats:
You could make the case that the Cloudburst was breathing better because it was lighter weight construction than the Yukon which is more comparable to the Sitka Stormfront. However, I havent seen many reviews that say the Stormfront doesnt breath decent.

All laminate rain gear struggles to move moisture some just struggle less.

If you don't keep your rain gear clean and the DWR working and re applied, you are just asking for your rain gear to wet out and fail.

I try not to be biased but after having raingear from all the big three hunting brands, for me Sitka has outperformed them all. Admittedly, since my experience with their rain gear, really getting to understand their systems approach to clothing, really understanding John Barklows approach to layering and design, and having each piece Ive bought from Sitka do exactly what they say it will do in real world conditions I have moved virtually all of my clothing to Sitka for hunting.

 

[Benjblt]

Gore will drop any company that uses other fabrics.....

So if Cabelas used eVent material on something (the best in my opinion) gore would drop them for any other products.

I tried to find some event a few years ago when I was watching the Prolitegear youtube channel. It was just getting phased out (gore pushing them out of the market). Gore is the standard in my opinion . . .NOT THE BEST.

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[Benjblt]

Never heard of a pair of waders made out of Toray, but many are made of goretex. Do the math.


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Read the first part of this thread and you'll know why.

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[SonnyDay]

If you don't keep your rain gear clean and the DWR working and re applied, you are just asking for your rain gear to wet out and fail.

^^^ This.

Hard to compare brands/fabrics/product lines based on the various anecdotes shared (all of which are welcome and appreciated!). How you take care of your gear has a huge impact on its performance. And, as always, the conditions and base layers matter as well.

Guess this is why we have so many choices!

Could be worse...

 

[n2horns]

Daily rainwear I reach for my Mountain Hardware e-vent. I love that that thing

@moxford - which MH model do you have with e-vent?

 

[moxford]

Snowpocalypse with Dry.Q Elite (eVent membrane with different facing.)