Rain jackets

bykfixer

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I've been wearing FroggToggs rain suits for years in a summer storm. Then I found one by Port Authority made of water proof neoprene. It was nice and had pockets in all the right places. One day I went to dig it out from my jacket box in my work truck and it was not there. No biggy except it was a Chris Kyle Frog Foundation edition. There aint no more of those.

With hurricane Dorian threatening to end all life in my city sometime between 8am and 11pm I searched again for that jacket to no avail. Well Dorian zig'd instead of zag'd so my town was spared. Now part of my storm prep was the FroggToggs suit, but it has no pockets. Good enough for staying dry in a rain storm while fixing a flat or finding a lost cat in a hurricane. But the lost one had pockets. I wanted pockets.

For work I picked up a PortAuthority bright yellow highlighter colored number. It has pockets. But I do not always want to wear a rain jacket Stevie Wonder could see as Mrs. Fixer and I dash into a steak joint or ease into an office at work. So I stopped by a local owned Sporting Goods store. One not afraid to be a member of the NRA like Richards…… One that has gear for boaters, fisherman and that sort of thing. They had some over priced rubber like Carharts and FoggToggs that end at your belt line. That pretty much means rain runs down the crack of your hoo-ha when you bend over even the slightest. But those had pockets. Then I saw these ones by a company named Grund'ens

Weight-wise it was as light as a FroggToggs, zipper with a few segments of velcro, a hood with a rain gutter, a zippered area under the arm pits for airflow in a downpour, drawstring hood and bottom area like my Kris Kyle one had, length down past my wallet pocket and pockets. Exterior is a water proof nylon with a coating to repel water droplets, which is great when going indoors and not leaving puddles. Inside is a thin breathable liner so in humidity it should be as cool as a FroggToggs jacket.
Turns out this small Swedish company has been making rain gear for longshoremen over 100 years. So I bought one of those in a nice unobtrusive light gray color.

It's bright and sunny now post Dorian, but there will be a time when that packable in it's own self jacket will come in handy. It's called "Storm Seeker".
 

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gurdygurds

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Nice writeup Mr. Fixer and cool jacket. How well does that bad boy breathe? I got a Frog Togg suit a few years back for fishing trips with my Dad. Got it because of the good reviews and it was CHEAP. Not the greatest thing in the world but did it's job when I was sitting out on a boat in the middle of a lake in Canada in the pouring rain. The suit I got also has no pockets. That's a negative for sure. I have a Columbia rain jacket as well that's ok but I'm not in love with it. I'm pretty picky when it comes to jackets. I'll check this brand out. :thumbsup:
 

PartyPete

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I've had a North Face rain jacket for years. It's holding up well but like every one I've owned the inner lining is starting to peel. Although, with this one it's done so much slower than the others.

Port Authority is good stuff too...I've had one of their winter coats now for 12 years and it's perfect. Love the material too, really warm but not bulky at all.
 

usdiver

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If you guys have never heard of Wahler out of Germany look em up. Excellent breathable gore Tex and you can't tear the stuff up
 

bykfixer

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Wahler is great gear, but comes with monthly payments for folks like me. Years ago I bought a Gander Mountain GoreTex ball cap because I just liked it. I set it in a bath tub upside down and it floated so I submeresed it a bit and it stayed dry inside. Later I set it right side up over a hot cup of coffee and steam was escaping out of it. Amazing stuff. So I wear GoreTex lined boots in winter, which really helps with cold feet issues from sweating feet.

GG, it was a nice sunny breezy day by the time I bought the jacket so other than trying it on I cannot comment on how breathable it is (or isn't). I'll probably wear it around the house for about an hour today just to see.
 
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I dressed head to toe in my Kuiu Northridge rain gear and Scree Gaiters to walk the hood after Dorian. Was a good test. Stayed dry and more importantly the gear breathes very well, so no sweat.
 

Poppy

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About 30 years ago I went goose hunting with some friends in the winter and my fear was of freezing to death. They recommended a Columbia Gortex Quad Parka. About $300 at the time. I went into price ticket shock, but figured my life was worth it and I bought it. It was cold enough that the salt water around us froze, and there was a constant 10 mph wind at our backs. I survived and became enamored with Gortex.

About 25 years ago, I bought a EMS Eastern Mountain Sports rain-suit, Gortex lined, with a zip in-out fleece jacket. It is beautifully designed with zippered ventilation under the arm pits, and an adjustable hood that is gathered around the face, with a small brim, and gathered at the back of the head to adjust where the brim sits on your fore-head. I wore this as a three season jacket for I don't recall how many years. When camping, it is now my grandson's go-to gear.

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Two years ago, I replaced my Cabella's Gortex lined 3 season parka with a Columbia Interchange system 3 season Gortex parka. This one has zippered armpits, and the Mylar reflective dots embedded in the fleece liner jacket. It is more light weight than my previous jackets, and just as warm. This one also has multiple tension cord adjustments to the collar, and hood. The adjustable hood feature is a requirement for me.
 

bykfixer

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I've had a North Face rain jacket for years. It's holding up well but like every one I've owned the inner lining is starting to peel. Although, with this one it's done so much slower than the others.

Port Authority is good stuff too...I've had one of their winter coats now for 12 years and it's perfect. Love the material too, really warm but not bulky at all.

I had bought a PortAuthority rain jacket for fall use a few years back and the textured felt-like lining makes it plenty warm on a cloudy, cool day when stuck in the rain for a period. But it is way too warm for summer use. I wish I knew the model of the Chris Kyle version I had. It was like wearing a loose fitting wet suit of about a millimeter thick and had all kinds of handy pockets for stuff like a celphone and car keys. It seemed pretty rugged but never really got put to the test of walking through the woods and such. Now it's just gone so I'll never really know it seems.

I've been wearing the Grund'en over a tank top over an hour in my den that is about 75 degrees. My FroggToggs feels like wearing a scuffed layer of stiff paper where the Grund'en is more like wearing a slightly brushed (inside) trash bag. So neither is like wearing a cotton t-shirt. But it's a summer weight rain jacket. It's water proof polyester.

I find the Grund'en much more comfortable against bare skin due to its flexability and light weight. No clammy feel at all actually, which has been a pleasant surprise. It's like wearing an unlined coaches wind breaker jacket. The feel reminds me of a material used for a rain jacket my grandmother had from Miller & Rhoades when I was a kid. The kind of lightweight rain jacket well dressed people wore long before North Face, Columbia and such dominated the market. Perhaps made by London Fog some other high fashion clothier.

Edit: In anticipation of the impending forecast of rain measured in feet from Dorian I cleaned out my house gutters and covered my front yard with grass clippings and ground up leaves for the annual September fertilize. A 50/50 blend ground up leaves and grass clippings mixed all summer makes a mighty fine lawn fertilizer. My creeping red fescue under oaks trees was in a coma in most spots due to the mature trees siphoning hundreds of gallons of water from the soil each week combined with a prolonged spell of no rain or heavy rain that quickly runs off my yard by August. The mixture I place also adds a loamy texture to the surface during spring rain events. Well Dorian didn't travel as forecast so we got no rain to speak of.

After wearing the new rain jacket indoors a while I decided to water my lawn thoroughly. Instead of standing in a spot with a garden hose I decided to try a sprinkler I found under my house when I move in. It was not working properly to say the least. The oscilation was spotty at best but at least it sprayed well. A slight breeze from the north changed to from the south while watering for 2 hours. I use a coffee can to check the amount of water applied. An inch in the can means an inch was sprayed over a given area. While working on the sprinkler I kept getting soaked. Turn it off? Hell no, that's for sissys. I have a new Grund'en rain jacket.

Temps were in the low 80's with a mild humidity so it wasn't like wearing it on a July afternnon in the Florida Keys, weather-wise. But neither was it like wearing a plastic bag or scuffed cardboard like a FroggToggs suit jacket. Not bad. Not bad at all. I was in part sun, part shade. I could feel the breeze when it hit from the rear. So it does actually let some heat escape it seems. Was it a cool breeze like when it hits wet cotton on your back? Nah, not really, but it's a rain coat. Physics applies here. Now after wearing it for two hours I could definitely feel a difference when I took it off. But my shirt was hardly wet at all. There were times I got plastered by the spray pretty good but none got through the jacket I had zipped up.

Now I definitely would not expect it to hold up in a briar patch but it did snag a couple of times on low hanging limbs from the oaks I've yet to prune this year. No rips, no tears nor scratches showed. So for the money I think this one is a winner for lightweight duty or standing/sitting around in the rain. Time will tell if if becomes brittle from the suns rays or father time colaborating with mother nature to turn the shell or liner back into the original chemicals pre-man made combination of compounds.
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