gauvins

Seriously considering getting one, but wanted feedback if any one had tried these.

​​​​I rarely wear rain jackets. I don't mind being wet, my concern is with hypothermia. My current rain shell is an OR helium, leaking at the seams and probably through the membrane as well.

A silnylon jacket would be 100% waterproof, like a tent. Downside is that during high exertion activities one gets wet from the inside...

My assumption is that such jacket, worn on cold and rainy days, would prevent hypothermia.

A simple silnylon pullover goes for < 100$. A jacket with pit zips is 3 times as much. Too much.

Any feedback? (I will not consider a traditional rain shell. Silnylon packs the size of an apricot. That wins the day)

andrewclaus

That's my favorite rain gear ever. My hiking partner is good with a sewing machine and he made anorak/pants sets for both of us. Each piece packs to the size of a small fist and weighs several ounces. But yeah, you're basically wearing a plastic bag. You won't be wearing it when it's not raining hard.

I've been packing it on every trip, even day trips, for fifteen years. It's smaller and lighter than the piece of fruit I always carry.

It's been my experience that nothing truly keeps you dry in heavy sustained rain. When breathable fabrics get soaked, they stop breathing. But they're great in intermittent showers, if you choose to buy and carry them.

djb

hi gauv, Im sure it will do a good job, we have a couple of cheap , small in volume rain jackets and they do the trick as you wish--and are great in being so physically small.
My wife bought a pair of cheap rain pants that are probably similar to silnylon, again they would be sweaty in warmer riding, but great and small for the use you mention-to stop getting really cold and wet.

Touring I do prefer having my rain pants, rain booties and helmet cover for heavy rain and or rain in cooler temps, because I really don't like being cold and wet, and I can live with carrying my rather light full rain setup, even if it does take up some space.

I figure we all have priorities, and for me carrying the stuff is a compromise thats okay for me. Both my rain jacket and pants are pretty lightweight (I have the numbers written on their tags, I weighed them but cant recall the weights right now) and my shoe rain booties and helmet cover again are quite light, so it's all the compromise I can live with and happy with them when the conditions make me really happy that I have them with me.

Yan 

I have both a $750 jacket and a $60 REI outlet discounted jacket (original price $150). There is minimal functional difference between the two. Maybe just get something like that. All this jacket crap is just a bunch of marketing BS. People have been sewing coats for thousands of years. Goretex patent expired decades ago. There is nothing new here.

imi

Eek! I didn‘t even know a jacket could cost that much 🥴