SUMMARY The Arc’teryx Zeta AR Jacket performs very well as a wind and rain shell. During my testing of it in severe conditions in the Western Arthurs, it kept me comfortable and dry for 5 out of 6 days. It only finally wet through after 7 hours of continuous wind and pouring rain on my final (retreat) day. I doubt that anything would keep you dry when you are sweating hard and trudging through that kind of slush in torrential – and often horizontal – rain. If it’s not the Holy Grail itself, it’s certainly the most effective and comfortable jacket I’ve worn in 37 years of bushwalking. Yes, it’s pricey, but perhaps I’m finally learning that you get what you pay for. I would highly recommend this as a rain jacket suitable for most situations and most weathers.
wildwanderer wrote:Lamont wrote:Two problems I reckon for what it's worth-
Respectfully, I reckon asking this question is like asking "I want the very best New Zealand music-which Dave Dobbyn album should I buy?" What do you reckon Wayno?
Are you after scrub/track/summer/winter-All- 2 days/ 8 days?
What does for 'Tasmania' mean for you? That's the question I reckon. Wouldn't areas of Victoria and ACT (NSW?) be similar?
The other, which has not really been addressed (Crollys poncho did I reckon ?) because perhaps it can't is-
"this jacket X has been used in all day rain, I put it on next morning and it was dry"-which seems to be the real thing you want (is it?) and likely (very) aren't going to get.
If you want it to hold up for one trip you'll likely be fine I would expect but have many stories of wetting on the first day and remaining wet for days even on a new/newish jacket.
Put it on the second/third day on your subsequent trips and it will likely be increasingly wet and likely stay wet as long as it rains. So I suppose I'm wondering what do you mean by 'stand up to rain' do you mean avoid become saturated on the outside?
I would be really interested to know if anyone has a jacket that basically has the DWR C6 as most resilient to rucksack rubbing -which stays put for the longest period.
Or is easily refreshed after a walk and really good for use soon after?
The Sack and scrub will wear away the DWR coating pretty quick won't it?
Outside wets pretty quick (DWR C6-coating on nearly all jackets) once you've worn the jacket a few times and you will always get sweaty (no matter what the marketing hype says) on the inside-scares me in the cold-wearing a wet piece of clothing in the wind.
Most of the jackets mentioned have the same DWR coating C6- Just wondering Crolly does the Arcteryx hold the DWR well after repeated rains/snow?
If that did I would seriously look at that- they make nice stuff. They make especially nice hoods!
I much prefer front vents/pockets over pit zips, but most jackets don't have them. Mechanical venting is a great help as a few have said.
Good hunting-I always like to hear what works for people so I will follow and don't forget to give an update of your experience with your new jacket!
ps-don't be afraid to pose this question as well over on BPL-(pay your basic subscription) they are really up on this stuff. You'll likely find not much support for 'permanently WPB' rain wear for the conditions that you describe but as Moondog said new stuff is coming and out quite often and we hear of it way after the Northern Hemisphere.
Cheers.
I reckon Lamont is on the money here.
DWR rubs off after a bit of time (maybe only a few days (hours?) of serious bushwacking/dirt clinging conditions). and then your wearing a fridge with a cold 'wetted out' outer fabric. Its not much of an issue if your returning to a car and a hot shower at the end of a day or a hiking in warmish conditions but is a serious pain on a single digit to zero degrees multi-day trip with constant rain and mist.
Almost as bad is sweating while heading up a spur and wetting your inner layers (and the inner of the jacket) out from the inside. Now i often take off everything but the rainjacket and shorts/gaiters when walking up hill
Currently Im using a Columbia outdry extreme jacket. It has a tough membrane with no outside fabric so it cant wetout. and has pit zips and front zips that vent.
Negatives: its not a long jacket and its cut quite snug (wish they made a thigh length, more loose fit one) and while it breathes ok it can still wetout on the inside due to sweat. Also when its really coming down you have to close the pit zips due to water runoff . So far durability of outer membrane has been excellent when walking through softer scrub. Though im careful not to scrap it against rock or push through heavy spikey branches.
Not sure what brand is the DWR C6 that lamont mentions? but ive found nikwash DWR treatment rubs off after a few hours in the scrub when used on RAB jackets Pertex 2.5 layer jackets and didnt last long on my old sierra designs Event jacket either.
farefam wrote:I have pretty much come to the conclusion that most rain jackets are windproof (which is very important), but that their claims to being waterproof and "will keep you dry" are pretty much completely spurious. I've yet to find a jacket that can withstand several hours of heavy rain or wet scrub-bashing. That includes heavy duty Wilderness Equipment and Mont designs (the middle layer of my Mont jacket for instance has completely disintegrated, in spite of being properly washed and cared for). My comments apply doubly for overpants.
Hence I generally stay put in my tent on really wet days, or simply grit my teeth and accept that if I do go out walking in the rain, that by the end of the day I'm going to be soaked. Hence on rainy days I just wear a thermal top and bottom underneath my rain gear to keep me warm enough to get to my next camp site.
If there are any other hard core off track scrub basher's out there who have found a jacket that will keep them relatively dry in Tasmanian or New Zealand conditions, I'd love to hear feedback about what they are using, as I'm in the market now to get a new one and feel that it is a bit of a lottery as to which model to choose (other than it will definitely be a long jacket).
Lamont wrote:
Most of the jackets mentioned have the same DWR coating C6- Just wondering Crolly does the Arcteryx hold the DWR well after repeated rains/snow?
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