Rain gear: poncho's vs. jackets/pants

I like a poncho, Im all for multi use gear, and a poncho can fill many roles a jacket cant.
 
I personally like the pants and jacket approach.

Pants and Jackets
Pros: keeps you dryer
Cons: takes up more space

Poncho
Pros: more compact especially if you get a cheap one. Can be used as a shelter, can cover your pack too
Cons: cheap ones will tend to rip, your pant bottoms often get wet.
 
I like the military poncho. One needs to twist it around a little bit so that one corner droops between the knees. Helps keep the legs and boots a little drier. Raingear really needs to cover the knees.

Ponchos can block your view when you are going down a steep trail.

I am waiting for someone to come out with a Multicam combat umbrella!
 
Ha! I saw a how-to in this months swat for a sniper blind That reminded me of an umbrella. Hmm. Idea?:D
 
I use both, depends on the season and where I'm going.

I like a poncho in the summer. Raingear down South carrying a pack while hiking? Well, choose you poison, you will either get soaked from your own sweat in the jacket/pant combo, or get a little wet from the rain with the poncho. I'll pick the rain over my own sweat anyday in the summer.

In the winter, different story. I like to stay really dry when it is cold, so I'll go with a jacket/pant combo. I'll wear this when it is cold enough to not soak from the inside-out during moderate activity. Sometimes I'll do the poncho/rain pants combo.

Edited to add - Sometimes in the summer, it is so stinkin' hot here, I just plain don't worry about raingear. I look forward to the cooling effect of a light rain. All situational, of course. I realize you can go hypothermic even in the summer from a good soaking, I'll only do this if I've got dry clothes and shelter as a backup.
 
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It's a Poncho and Gators for me. Mostly I do day or night hikes and mountain biking. A poncho is always in my gear and sometimes I'll also bring gators if think there's a chance I'll have to cross water or there might be lots of rain. My knees get wet but the rest stays pretty dry. I also sometimes use the Poncho as a rain fly or to create shade.

When I'm in the mountains I typicly don't move while it's raining. In my neck of the woods when it rains it starts and stops so I only move durring the times it's not raining and that also helps keep my dry while I sit down under my poncho.

Heber
 
For those of us living in the Pacific NorthWET, planning for rain while outside is critical. As others have said, if rain is likely, I'll have my vented UL rain jacket and Gortex rainpants, but my Sil Poncho is still in my cargo pocket. For the two or three days a year when rain isn't as big a threat, I may leave the jacket and rainpants home, relying only on the poncho. Then again, the jacket is a much better windstopping layer around camp.

I use gaiters extensively when hunting in the fall. They are primarily there to protect my pant legs from getting soaked from the wet, tall grass as I move off trail. They also serve to keep burrs and such from geting into the tops of my boots. In my experience, a pair of gaiters only protects up to the knee and weigh as much or more as a good pair of rainpants.

I recently found a couple of sites that make UL rain chaps out of Sil Nylon. They weigh approximately nothing and take up virtually no space at all. They attach to your boot similar to gaiters but cover your whole leg. I plan on giving them a try as a UL companion to my poncho. Here is one example.

-- FLIX
 
I have used the USGI rain pants and jacket (that are designed to be worn over BDUs). You get hot very quick with them on, especially when you overheat. Unlike most USGI gear, they were also delicate and got torn up easily in thicket.

I have a GI surplus poncho and it is cool- both for wearing and for shelter use. I also have a rain(type) jacket (waist up) that I wear for most everyday type wet weather needs. That has a snap in liner and is a great piece of gear.
 
Id like to get a poncho because it seems more versitile. What would you poncho guys suggest? I cant afford a 100 dollar silnylon one tho... :(
 
tj, alot of the silnylon ponchos (i'm thinking of the Integral Designs) will run more like $80, but that's still kind of a lot for something you haven't tried yet...

i am always hearing about the USGI poncho, you can probably find them pretty cheap at a surplus place (brick-and-mortar or online)
 
Thanks! I could have sworn the one i looked at was nearly 2 hundred.. need to stop staying up so late haha. Ill will check the army navy again, i didnt see one last time. The only one i saw in person had a zipper over the chest area and im concerened that it may leak, what do you think?
 
take a look at these, a good price range for you to look at:
linky

as to the zipper on the chest, it probably was a pocket. i wouldn't be too worried about that, since it will be shedding water anyways, instead of having water pool up over it.
 
Possibly one of the best things to happen to me on a trail was when I blew out the seat of my rain pants. Instant chaps! Combined with my sil-nylon poncho, it makes a pretty effective and comfortable rain outfit for any season. I wear it with shorts in the spring through summer and windpants/capilene bottoms in the fall and winter.
 
For years, I used a GI poncho with rain chaps for summer camping in the Eastern Seaboard.

It make a great rain shelter with cord and some pegs to tie it down.
I had a small rubber ball to tie the cord around the hood, then into an overhead branch to give the ponch height for water run off.

The only problem I had was setting up while it was raining, but it only took a couple of minutes to set up.

Above the timberline where I will be walking in wind driven rain, I use a jacket and pants, and a pack rain cover.
 
Not long ago I got an ex Swiss Army Camo poncho on the Bay and I've been very pleased with it. Inexpensive too about 15USD I recall. But it's good tough quality and very rain proof indeed.

There are drawbacks, the usual poncho thing of flapping about in wind and getting caught up on thorns etc. The main thing is these Swiss Army types must be yeti sized:eek: The thing was massively long,down to my ankles and whilst I'm not that tall 1.79m 5' 11" I'm no dwarf either! I had to cut off a good 30cm/1 ft just to get it maneagable:D Mind you, it's sturdy material with good seams and studs, still provides good leg cover esp with long boots.

The other advantage of a poncho is not just pack&weapon cover which is handy or tarp duties but it packs up well and dries out quickly.A rain coat & trousers over existing gear can sometimes give a bloated Michelin man feel...and they take up more room in the pack. I like a poncho for quick cover in an unexpected downpour
 
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