ECWCS Rain Gear

Joined
Nov 23, 2005
Messages
5,304
Does everybody like this stuff? Is there better/cheaper rain gear out there?
Mods, if this is the wrong spot for this please move with my apologies.
 
i;ve got a parka that i keep in the truck in the winter. would rather have the saudi patern, but woodland was all they had years ago when i got mine.

i've also seen some in solid OD that were sold thru REI or some other retailer. that looked a lot better thanthe cam pattern.

if you can find it for a reasonable price it seems durable. i see some at proces that are too dang steep.

i rarely get to use mine, so i can't really say how good it is or isn't, but it does work when i need it.
 
I have a set in multicam and it rocks for wearing in the kind of cold and rainy weather we often get in the winter. Back in February & March I wore it during some cold & wet days at the range (with the appropriate under-layers) and stayed nice and warm and dry.

For warm/hot-weather I use lightweight goretex gear though.
 
It it's just for rain protection, I don't think Gore-tex does well over time and a lot of use. I've a few ECWCS parks/pants over the years. I guess you can retreat them, but they'll lose some of their breathability. I like them for cold weather wind protection...you still need good layers underneath, but it makes a good barrier. There are a bunch of surplus parkas/pants out there for very reasonable prices; that's the only attraction. I wouldn't pay current prices for one now.

ROCK6
 
No joke ROCK.

You can get a Goretex ECWS parka in woodland for 39.00 online. Thats a deal. Those things kept me warm many a night in the field. Beats the 300+ dollar price tag for a new one anyday.....
 
No joke ROCK.

You can get a Goretex ECWS parka in woodland for 39.00 online. Thats a deal. Those things kept me warm many a night in the field. Beats the 300+ dollar price tag for a new one anyday.....

Is 39.00 military issued or a knockoff?
 
No joke ROCK.

You can get a Goretex ECWS parka in woodland for 39.00 online. Thats a deal. Those things kept me warm many a night in the field. Beats the 300+ dollar price tag for a new one anyday.....

Granted they loose repellency over time and rough use, but they hold up well in dense, thorny/scrub brush. Woodland is okay for camouflage and there should be a ton of it on the market since we went to ACU. I may not always take the parka, but I love the ECWCS trousers...worn alone, over my pants or with my silk-weight long underwear; very good for cold/wet weather or when you hiking through a lot of underbrush.

ROCK6
 
ECWS is of the 3 ply goretex variety. It works very well, but being 3 ply. it is heavy. Pawn shops near military bases offer some of the best prices.
 
Granted they loose repellency over time and rough use, but they hold up well in dense, thorny/scrub brush. Woodland is okay for camouflage and there should be a ton of it on the market since we went to ACU. I may not always take the parka, but I love the ECWCS trousers...worn alone, over my pants or with my silk-weight long underwear; very good for cold/wet weather or when you hiking through a lot of underbrush.

ROCK6

Yeah, I love the pants too. Great winter woods bummin wear. :thumbup:
 
The original ECWCS pants and parka are both great, just heavy and bulky. They're not very breathable, either. They do maintain waterproofness for a long time, but it will have to be renewed at some point, like any other Gore-Tex.

What I like best about them is they're tough. We got to field test the original ECWCS gear about 19 years ago, before it became standard issue.
Until a few years ago, I had another set that I used outdoors, and as a rainsuit while working construction, and later in very rough industrial settings.
Wore them for years in a place where we treat the "heavy duty" PVC stuff as disposable, as we ruin them in a couple of uses. Used to have someone wash me off with a firehose after crawling around inside equipment we had to clean out, and getting covered in gunk. Finally tossed them, not knowing you could retreat Gore-Tex at the time, as the parka began to soak through, and later the pants, which had tar and other crap that wouldn't come off, and had gotten sulfuric acid on them.
Really solidly constructed. The pants had one small tear near the ankle from sharp metal.
This is not my choice to carry for "possible" use in the woods, but is great for a primary piece of outer wear.

I'd like to get another set for work(and anything that'll get me to deviate from my "no camo, no velcro" rule is good stuff!), but you better be a woman or a real little fella if you want one of those $39 parkas linked to!
 
I've been issued a set of the Gore-Tex pants and parka in Digicam. I also have the old raingear that I got issued in woodland. The Gore-Tex stuff is awesome, but pretty dang heavy compared to commercial backpacking type gear. I got mine issued new, and have worn it very little. If you do buy yourself some Milsurp stuff you want to see if you can pick it out yourself, or if you can have somebody hand-pick it for you. There is always a reason why Milsurp stuff isn't in the militarys supply chain, and often times it is because the gear is unserviceable. If you do get a set of the milsurp gore-tex, get some gore-tex reviveX or some other type of spray-on coating DESIGNED FOR GORE-TEX.

I also have a set of the older style rain gear. It's waterproof, but not breathable. The older stuff doesn't have pockets, but rather a flap that allows you to access the pockets in your gear underneath.
 
I have the knock-off goretex, whatever the heck it's called. Cost less than 150 for the whole set and I've never had any issue even in a downpour, and they work wonderfully in snow which is my main concern living in the rockies. I just used my parka the other morning, who knew it was supposed to get to 20 degrees in Sept, I was above 14000 feet but still, good thing I crammed it in my bag or I'd be typing with half my finger probably lol

And Jw is right, pawn shops and also imagine this gun stores right off of or near any base or reserve unit will have all sorts of cool stuff if you go in at the right time. One thing to look for though is if theres NO wear on the garmets at either of those stores, you may be buying issued gear that technically should still be issued. Like the problem with the Kevlar helmets in the 80s/early 90's, guys would take them in to make a buck for a weekend and "hope" it'd be there on monday or just say it was stolen/missing etc. So watch for that, I won't touch anything that looks too new at those kinda places just because I don't want to add to an already big problem.
 
I'd like to get another set for work(and anything that'll get me to deviate from my "no camo, no velcro" rule is good stuff!), but you better be a woman or a real little fella if you want one of those $39 parkas linked to!

and I'm anything but small. 6'2, 270, I need 2XLong
 
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