Rain Gear Suggestions

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Lately it has been raining alot here in the Northeastern United States. Much of the time the thermometer has stood at near the freezing mark, making for extremely dangerous survival conditions. For those of us who spend much of their time out of doors hypothermia is an ever present danger in these wet cold conditions.

In general there are two basic types of clothing designed to protect you from the rain. Breathable raingear and non-breathable raingear. Both have their merits and their disadvantages.

Non-breathable raingear is often made of the traditional plastic or rubber-like materials. This kind of raingear is often the best at repelling water. The downside is your sweat is also repelled - right back at you, which means if you are sweating you can become wet and clammy.

Breathable raingear attempts to allow your sweat to travel outside your layers of clothing and back into the environment, while at the same time repelling the rain. This sounds good in theory, but does not always work in practice. 

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Alan
Abu Dhabi, UAE
I've tried Gore-Tex, Sympatex, Waxed clothing and various synthetics over many years of working and living outdoors in Europe, but by far the best has been my Ventile smock. Ventile is an all-natural tightly woven cotten fabric that is breathable but 100% waterproof. It has been around for many years, it was used in immersion suits for the RAF in WW2. I have no affiliation with the company Snowsled, but I bought my smock from them and it will probably be the only waterproof I will ever need. I think breatheability is essential for physical activities, especially in the cold. A friend of mine had to be medivaced from a mountain in Austria while climbing. The sweat condensed on the inside of his non-breathing outer layer and froze. For more static pursuits such as fishing, breathability is not such a big issue.
Ron
I am going to look into Ventile. Sounds like one of the best ways to stay dry when active.
sdf
sdf
Wade
I do not prefer Gore-Tex either. I like the old fashioned rubber raincoats
richard
the sunshine state

here in the subtropics there is no such thing as "breathable". even in the winter, the rain comes in advance of the cold front....so its warm when it rains. when its cold here, its almost always clear. the only effective raingear for all but the coldest times consists of gore tex gaiters and a umbrella.

jon wht hunter
nevada

i like a milatary style poncho which has unlimited options of staying dry.  You can wear it over a backpack while walking in the rain or tie it up in a tree sit down and light small fire.

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