Gore-Tex Shells? - 3 Season, Raingear ?

[LMT66]

I'm looking for advice on various types of Shell coats/parkas and pants.

I see 3-season parka shells that are Gore-Tex and I see straight raingear that is Gore-tex. It seems that a well made 3-season Gore-Tex coat/parka could be used as a year round shell.
Is buying summer weight Gore-Tex raingear worth the additional expense?

Opinions, advice, explanations welcome.

 

[spoolup]

I always layer when using gortex. If I need insulation I would rather add it then have it built in. think of the military cold weather clothing. Same concept. I chose Arcteryx, Have a set in bright red and black that I have had for a few years, then I came across a little money last year as a result of a bonus and bought a set of Arcteryx LEAF alpha, tops and bottoms. The leafs are really nice, the full leg zip pants make them a breeze to put on over any boots. The quality is great in both but the color and extra little features is what pushed me to get the LEAFs.

 

[jesseaction]

I'd say that getting a well made medium weight shell will see you through a lot of circumstances. I tend to hike these days with a very simple Salomon shell -- just fairly low back, sealed zip up front which goes up over the chin, deep hood, couple of pockets, velcro at the wrists and nothing else, including no liner. This one isn't even goretex, although it is something similar, but it works great in rain and snow. I have top of the line (8 years ago anyway) four season mountain hardware mountaineering goretex shell as well which never sees the light of day any more because it is so much heavier and bulkier. I have used the lightweight shell a lot but I'm in California so YMMV.

In general I'd say, purely based on my own experience, that there is a lot to be gained from leaving the bells and whistles at home and going light.

 

[Flipincanadian]

I may be wrong but i believe the only real reason to get a summer weight jacket in addition to a 3- season shell is weight. I know my ski shell is quite a bit heavier than most of the rain gear i have looked at.

 

[fugawee]

I have a few lightweight rain jackets,
Marmot Precip and a Mountain Hardwear Epic
They can fold into there own pocket or whatever
makes it real easy to stow in a pouch.
For rain pants,I just bought Patagonia Rain Shadow
when they had their big sale going.
These are lightweight pants with leg zippers,
you would slip over whatever your wearing.
My winter jackets are goretex and
I can unzip the fleece and wear them like spring
and fall,but they might be too warm for the heat
of a daytime thunderstorm in summer.

Guess what Im saying is I prefer lightweight
and use insulation as needed underneath.


Something important I forgot to mention,
Breath-ability
Would you really wear a jacket in a light rain shower in 90% humidity?
Steaming inside a jacket is worse than just getting rained on.
The better quality jackets/pants can breath really well and I believe
are well worth the money.

 

[storl]

My main shell is an Arc'Teryx Beta LT, made with Gore-Tex Pro Shell. It's very lightweight, breathable, comfortable, and worth every heavily discounted penny I paid for it.

The LEAF line from them is definitely worth looking into. It is very pricey, but they supply the stuff to military special forces guys, so it is made to perform extremely well and handle abuse. The Alpha and Beta 3 layer jackets from the regular or LEAF series are appropriate shells for any season and are still very lightweight.

 

[OwenM]

Is buying summer weight Gore-Tex raingear worth the additional expense?

I'm going to say yes(but). Carrying my midweight shell year round doesn't even enter into my thinking.
The "but" part is, I don't see why it needs to be Gore-Tex. Gore-Tex is over 20yr. old technology. Lots of different types of Gore-Tex, and lots of other similar fabrics available now.
That said, spoolup's ArcTeryx stuff made my mouth water.

 

[m_calingo]

Long time ago I bought a Gore-Tex rain parka from Cabela's. It worked great for keeping the rain off my back, but despite its "breathability" it still felt pretty steamy during DC area rainstorms in the middle of summer.

Right now I'm using a coated rain jacket from Cabela's that's lighter, less expensive, and the vented back works well at keeping it too stuffy when zipped up.

 

[PayetteRucker]

arcteryx is ridiculously high quality, if you have the bones you will never go wrong with their products. As far as summer rain, I usually don't care about getting wet. I use an oilskin canvas drover's jacket that's nice if I'm backpacking, and it works well layered over a wool sweater down to about 30 degrees. I have a Eddie Bauer B9 parka stocked up for next winter. I'd check out The North Face's 3 layer parka systems, there are two liners that zip out and can all be used alone or in different configurations, the outside is no more than a goretex or hyvent (TNF's proprietary waterporoof material, it's good stuff) shell. They run around 200 dollars I think, but it's probably worth it.