Hiking

10 Best Backpacking Rain Jackets of 2023

March 1, 2023

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What do you have to search for in a rain jacket for mountaineering and backpacking? While having a water-proof/breathable jacket could be a plus, it’s fairly simple to overwhelm their potential to vent moisture within the rain once you’re perspiring with a backpack strapped to your again. You’re actually higher off shopping for a extra reasonably priced jacket that has options that hikers want like a completely adjustable hood, pit zips, velcro wrist cuffs, and hem adjusters. Tracking down rain jackets that match that description takes a bit of leg work, however we’ve carried out it for you under.

We’ve additionally included waterproof/breathable rain jackets in addition to ones made with non-breathable materials since you’re going to perspire once you’re sporting them within the rain, regardless of how a lot they price or what they’re made from. If staying perspiration-free within the rain is vital to you when you’re mountaineering down a path carrying a loaded backpack…possibly you need to decide one other sport. You’re going to sweat. Think of a rain jacket as a part of your bigger layering system as a substitute. Its finest use is to maintain you heat when it’s raining or the wind is blowing arduous, usually together with a mid or base layer. Perspiring is inevitable. Your objective needs to be to remain heat and keep away from hypothermia.

Here are the ten high (fairly priced) rain jackets that we advocate for hikers and backpackers.

1. Patagonia Torrentshell 3L ($149)

The Patagonia Torrentshell 3L Jacket is a fully-featured rain jacket phrases with an adjustable hood, pit zips, velcro wrist cuffs, hem pull wire, and aspect pockets. While the Torrentshell has been out there for years, Patagonia lately up to date it and made it a full three-layer waterproof/breathable jacket with improved breathability and luxury. This together with its spectacular function set makes it a really enticing jacket at a comparatively low worth level. It is on the market in males’s and girls’s sizes.

Check the newest worth at:
REI | Patagonia

2. Black Diamond Stormline Stretch Rain Shell ($170)

3. REI Rainier Rain Jacket ($100)

The REI Rainier Rain Jacket is similar to the Marmot Precip Eco listed under. It has a 3-way adjustable hood that may be folded away when not in use, velcro wrist cuffs, pit zips, handwarmer pockets, inner drop pockets, and a drawcord hem. It’s made with REI 2.5 waterproof/breathable Peak membrane and has an exterior DWR which is able to have to be refreshed periodically when rain stops beading on the jacket’s exterior. Available in males’s and girls’s sizes. Read the SectionHiker Rainier Rain Jacket evaluate.

Check the newest worth at:
REI

4. Outdoor Research Foray II ($225)

The Outdoor Research Foray II is an up to date model of OR’s hottest waterproof/breathable Gore-tex rain jacket. It is loaded with options together with a three-way adjustable hood with a entrance brim, velcro wrist cuffs, chest and hand hotter pockets, YKK Aquaguard zippers, and elastic hem adjustment. But what units this jacket other than all others are its full-length torso-flow side-zips which may be opened like pit-zips however prolong all the best way down the perimeters of the jacket so you’ll be able to totally ventilate the jacket like a poncho and even put on it over your hip belt to maintain it dry within the rain. The girls’s mannequin is named the Outdoor Research Aspire II.

Check the newest worth at:
REI | Outdoor Research

5. Montbell Versalite Jacket ($249)

The Montbell Versalite Jacket is a fully-featured ultralight rain jacket that has pit zips, a four-way adjustable hood, hook and loop wrist cuffs, hip-belt appropriate chest pockets, an internally managed hem adjustment, waterproof zippers, and taped seams. While it’s by far probably the most breathable Gore-tex jacket on this checklist, it’s made with 10-denier nylon ripstop that’s simple to wreck and skinny sufficient that it’s finest utilized in extra average climate when much less heat is required. The Versatile jacket is on the market in males’s and women’s sizes. Read the SectionHiker Versalite Jacket evaluate.

Check the newest worth at:
Montbell

6. The North Face Venture 2 ($110)

The North Face Venture 2 is a fully-featured rain jacket that’s corresponding to the Marmot Precip Eco (under), though it’s made with heavier weight, extra sturdy materials. It has a completely adjustable hood, pit zips, velcro wrist cuffs, zippered aspect pockets, and a drawcord hem adjustment. The Venture 2 is made with The North Face’s DryVent proprietary waterproof/breathable cloth. This jacket continues to be an excellent worth for the value and is pretty light-weight. It’s additionally out there in males’s and women’s sizes. Read the SectionHiker Review.

Check the newest worth at:
Backcountry | Amazon

7. Marmot Precip Eco ($100)

The Marmot Precip Eco is a very fashionable backpacking rain jacket as a result of it’s cheap, however totally featured with pit zip vents, a completely adjustable hood, velcro-wrist cuffs, and a hem adjustment. The jacket additionally has two mesh-lined entrance pockets that are nice to retailer gloves or a hat and supply extra air flow. The Precip Eco is made with Marmot’s proprietary waterproof/breathable cloth which will get the job carried out however will have to be reproofed when the DWR coating wears off. While the Precip Eco is priced at $100, you’ll be able to normally discover it for much much less. The Precip Eco is on the market in males’s, women’s, and youth sizes. Read the SectionHiker evaluate.

Check the newest worth at:
REI | Marmot | Amazon

8. Lightheart Gear Rain Jacket ($125)

The Lightheart Gear Rain Jacket is a fully-featured rain jacket with an adjustable hood, pit zips, velcro wrist cuffs, inside, and exterior pockets, and a drawcord hem. It’s made with siliconized polyester (silpoly) which is a completely waterproof cloth, so that you’ll by no means want to revive a DWR layer as a result of it doesn’t have one. Lightheart Gear is a cottage producer that sews all of its jackets. It’s additionally out there in a pleasant number of colours. The sizing is unisex. Read the SectionHiker evaluate.

Check the newest worth at:
Lightheart Gear

9. Frogg Toggs Xtreme Lite ($60)

10. Columbia Sportswear Watertight II ($100)

The Columbia Sportswear Watertight II Rain Jacket is a low-price, primary waterproof/breathable jacket that’s totally seam-taped, has an hooked up adjustable hood, velcro wrist cuffs, zippered aspect pockets, a drawcord hem, and mesh lining. It’s fairly sturdy however nonetheless comparatively light-weight. It lacks pit-zips just like the Marmot Precip Eco and Patagonia Torrentshell Jackets, nevertheless it additionally prices a lot much less. The Watertight II Rain Jacket is made with Columbia’s proprietary waterproof/breathable cloth which will get the job carried out however will have to be reproofed when the DWR coating wears off. This jacket continues to be a wonderful worth for the value. The Watertight II is just out there in males’s sizes. The corresponding girls’s jacket is named the Columbia Sportswear Arcadia II Rain Jacket.

Check the newest worth at:
Backcountry | Columbia Sportswear

Backpacking Rain Jacket Selection Criteria

What are a very powerful options to search for on a mountaineering and backpacking rain jacket?

Adjustable Hoods

Unfortunately, many rain jackets have outsized hoods which might be supposed for skiers and climbers who put on protecting helmets. What you need to search for is a completely adjustable hood with a rear quantity adjustment so you’ll be able to shrink the hood measurement to suit your head, aspect pulls so you’ll be able to regulate the scale of the face opening, a wire or shapeable brim to protect your eyes from wind and snow, and a excessive collar that covers your neck and mouth. All of those options will assist shield your face from the chilly and wind and enable you to keep hotter.

Zippered Pockets

You can’t have too many rain jacket pockets. They’re nice for carrying spare gloves, hats, and holding navigation instruments in simple attain. They’re additionally good for holding snacks shut at hand so you’ll be able to eat when you hike. I view rain jacket pockets as an extension of my backpack as a result of the additional storage cuts down on the variety of instances I’ve to cease to get garments or meals out of my pack.

Venting Capabilities

When it’s a must to hike in cool moist climate, you need to restrict the quantity you perspire by actively managing your heat degree. The key to doing this includes venting extra heat by eradicating or venting layers. rain jacket ought to present a number of methods so that you can dump extra warmth with out having to take it off utterly. Here are a few of the most vital options to search for when evaluating totally different jackets.

Adjustable Hook and Loop (Velcro) Wrist Closures: This helps regulate the physique warmth at your wrists the place the blood flows near the floor of your pores and skin. They may be worn beneath gloves or over them relying in your desire and the glove sort.
Two-way entrance zipper: If you pull the underside half up, you’ll be able to dump quite a lot of extra torso warmth, poncho-style.
Hem drawcord: Cinch it closed to maintain the wind from blowing up between your legs and robbing your torso of warmth.

Breathability Ratings

What do you have to search for by way of breathability rankings when taking a look at mountaineering rain jackets? For cheap rain jackets, the perfect you’ll be able to hope for is 10,000 (g/m^2/d) MVTR (movable water vapor transmission price), which is fairly lackluster. Most of the producers listed above don’t publish the MVTRs for his or her jackets, as a result of they’re not that aggressive with dearer clothes.

But to be trustworthy, I don’t belief the breathability rankings printed by producers as a result of they’re measured in very best laboratory circumstances which have little to do with precise use. Pit zips and energetic venting trump breathability claims any day. If you get too sizzling, venting your rain jacket goes to chill and dry you off much more shortly than ready for water vapor to maneuver throughout a breathable membrane whereas your zipper is closed.

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