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Hey there, i definitely need some new outerwear, pants basically but a new jacket would be awesome too...

Anyway, i want a good one but don't wanna spend heaps of money on overpriced gear.

Luckily i can pay both Patagonia and North Face half the regular price, but gore-tex outerwear is still crazy expensive. Does it really perform that much better than HiVent an H2no? And what's best between the two? Tried to goggle and found some information but a first hand impression is always better

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The material is only one part of the design of the high performance stuff. Vents, fit, and proper sized pockets in the proper places are probably going to be more important. Some kind of powder skirt too if you're in the deep. I agree that there's lots of overpricing!

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Yep you are right, but basically every jacket/pant from patagonia or north face has proper sized pockets, pow skirt and stuff... i'm more concerned on pure performance, i mean water resistance and breathability

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I haven't tried them all, but from what I understand Gore Tex is the best. The H2No and hivent were developed by the companies who didn't want to pay for Gore proprietary technology. They're good but just not as good as Gore.

 

If you're getting them at half price you're getting a bargain! When you buy, think of the harshest weather day you'll see and buy with that day in mind.

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i didnt think anything was wrong with my old jacket with their own-brand waterproofing solution, until i replaced it with an arc'teryx goretex model last year.

it seems to have magical powers to keep me warm in cold and windy, cool when im working hard and hot, and dry when sweating my ass off without letting the sweat cool afterwards and make me feel colder.

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Arcteryx have a lot of fans but I think its more about the design and the quality of the stitching than whatever flavour of goretex they use. I think most Arcteryx fans would be put out if you suggested that other goretex jackets were the same just because they use the same material.

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While GoreTex is GoreTex there are actually a few different things to consider:

- GoreTex is not the fabric you see on the outside of a jacket. That's the face fabric. GoreTex is the water proof, breathable membrane is layered inside the jacket.

- There are several different tiers of GoreTex - normal, active and pro. They have different water proofing, breathability and durability profiles.

- The face fabric is important with regards to a jackets over all durability.

 

I gots the Arcteryx fever bad. Backcountry has some last season jackets at a good price, some up to 45% I ordered the Alpha SV which they had at 40% off. They only had it in XL which unfortunately was not a good fit for me as I'm big and tall.

They actually just opened a retail store in down town Seattle about a month or two ago. It's really convenient to go there are try things on. I think I want to get either Theta SVX or Sidewinder SV. But they're so expensive, I'll almost certainly have to wait until a sale at the end of seasons or during the summer.

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Arcteryx have a lot of fans but I think its more about the design and the quality of the stitching than whatever flavour of goretex they use. I think most Arcteryx fans would be put out if you suggested that other goretex jackets were the same just because they use the same material.

hah yeah good point there Wiggles. it is very well designed.

I attribute the magical properties of my jacket to the Goretex tho. especially vs my UA jacket, that was as breathable as wearing a plastic bag.

 

I gots the Arcteryx fever bad. Backcountry has some last season jackets at a good price, some up to 45% I ordered the Alpha SV which they had at 40% off. They only had it in XL which unfortunately was not a good fit for me as I'm big and tall.

They actually just opened a retail store in down town Seattle about a month or two ago. It's really convenient to go there are try things on. I think I want to get either Theta SVX or Sidewinder SV. But they're so expensive, I'll almost certainly have to wait until a sale at the end of seasons or during the summer.

I thought I would alert readers that Arc'teryx have restrictions on international shipping of their items. So if you're outside USA you wont be able to order from the US, even tho theyre about half the price of prices in Japan.

You can use a service like shipito dot com

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Bought a Colombia *waterproof* jacket & pants at LBreath in January, total about Y25,000, keeps me warm and dry, lots of pockets, about a fifth the cost of Arcteryx/Mammut/NorthFace. I'm sure they make good stuff, but doubt it's 5x better. Fashionable, though.

Edited by DiGriz
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Yes, I think that's right. But the Omni-dry has worked just fine, even on some heavy wet-snow days.

I'm not going to argue that it's better than Gore-tex, probably not even as good, but it's worked as well as I've needed.

Same with Entrant, Skied for many years in a jacket that used Entrant and found it perfectly functional.

And my favorite ski jacket has something called Diaplex and still works fine after 10 years (bought the Colombia when that one was out of commission for a while with a broken zip).

I do have two pairs of gloves with Gore-tex, and both are excellent.

 

**Edited earlier note to change Gore-tex to waterproof; my bad, I tend to refer to all these technologies as Gore-tex, ala Xerox or Kleenex.

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I have a Columbia jacket, it's the top of the range, uses Omni-dry. Getting on 10 years old now, but has never let in water, breaths very well. Has a zip in fleece jacket. Never been cold. I would recommend, and when time comes to replace it I'll probably get another one.

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For resort skiing, you probably don't need a proper goretex jacket anyway. For hiking when the weather is great, something more breathable is better, like a soft shell. Some soft shells are surprisingly waterproof and are fine even when its snowing so long as its powdery snow. You can get a great soft shell for about half the cost of a great hard shell.

 

Goretex is best when its raining, its snowing very hard and/or wet, and you're riding very deep snow. Its strength is keeping water and the wind out. The "breathability" of it is a bit of a joke though and is only in comparison to rubber or a plastic mac. You don't get the most active winter people, cross-country skiers etc., wearing goretex. They'd drown in their own sweat.

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I don't know which is better of the three, but I have goretex and have never had any issues in any weather conditions so I'm a fan. It'd be interesting to compare different fabrics and see the difference if any. I think we're just paying for the logo.

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