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 climbing and backpacking? While having a water-resistant/breathable jacket generally is a plus, it’s fairly straightforward to overwhelm their potential to vent moisture within the rain if you’re perspiring with a backpack strapped to your again. You’re actually higher off shopping for a extra inexpensive 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 somewhat leg work, however we’ve performed 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 if you’re carrying them within the rain, regardless of how a lot they price or what they’re fabricated from. If staying perspiration-free within the rain is vital to you when you’re climbing down a path carrying a loaded backpack…possibly it is best 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 laborious, typically together with a mid or base layer. Perspiring is inevitable. Your objective ought to be to remain heat and keep away from hypothermia.

Here are the ten high (moderately priced) rain jackets that we suggest 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 twine, 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 characteristic 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 must 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 assessment.

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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 will be opened like pit-zips however prolong all the best way down the perimeters of the jacket so you may 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 essentially the most breathable Gore-tex jacket on this listing, it’s made with 10-denier nylon ripstop that’s straightforward to wreck and skinny sufficient that it’s finest utilized in extra reasonable 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 assessment.

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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 a superb 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 extremely popular 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 performed however will must be reproofed when the DWR coating wears off. While the Precip Eco is priced at $100, you may normally discover it for a lot much less. The Precip Eco is on the market in males’s, women’s, and youth sizes. Read the SectionHiker assessment.

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 assessment.

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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, but it surely 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 performed however will must 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 climbing and backpacking rain jacket?

Adjustable Hoods

Unfortunately, many rain jackets have outsized hoods which can be supposed for skiers and climbers who put on protecting helmets. What it is best to search for is a completely adjustable hood with a rear quantity adjustment so you may shrink the hood dimension to suit your head, aspect pulls so you may regulate the dimensions 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 defend your face from the chilly and wind and provide help to keep hotter.

Zippered Pockets

You can’t have too many rain jacket pockets. They’re nice for carrying spare gloves, hats, and conserving navigation instruments in straightforward attain. They’re additionally good for conserving snacks shut at hand so you may 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 occasions I’ve to cease to get garments or meals out of my pack.

Venting Capabilities

When you must hike in cool moist climate, you wish 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. A very good rain jacket ought to present a number of methods so that you can dump extra warmth with out having to take it off fully. Here are a few of the most vital options to search for when evaluating completely 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 will be worn underneath gloves or over them relying in your choice and the glove sort.
Two-way entrance zipper: If you pull the underside half up, you may dump a whole 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 when it comes to breathability rankings when taking a look at climbing rain jackets? For cheap rain jackets, the very best you may 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 costlier clothes.

But to be sincere, I don’t belief the breathability rankings revealed by producers as a result of they’re measured in supreme 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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