What alternative to Goretex for waterproof material?

Lead, no doubt, by marketing, I always head for Goretex but there seems to be so many alternatives out there. I know Event used to be highly thought of but you never see it these days, so what other makes are worth looking out for? Or they all just variants of pertex?

Hard to get but Dermizax works spot on for me. So breathable compared to my goretex I actually get cold (not from boil in the bag sweat) from it dumping heat out so well.

Same conditions in goretex and its way warmer soon building to overheating.

only seems to be found walking / skiing jackets rather than cycling jackets though.

tis heavy compared to goretex though.

Pace used to do an event riding jacket but as you note there are plenty of alternative materials out there now.

Wax cotton is I believe appropriate for a certain lady or gentlemen

You want waterproof or water resistant?

I’ve never thought of the short lived material called Event.  Dermizax is better

I know Event used to be highly thought of

Did it? I thought it was pish! There are loads and loads of goretex alternatives out there but the quality varies hugely. I’ve had a number of goretex jackets of various flavours and they’ve always outperformed the other fabrics.

I’ve got an eVent jacket from Sports Pursuit. Breathes well and it keeps the water out when it rains.

Courtesy of CRC, I bought an Endura MT500 because I wanted something more bike specific. It uses their 40k fabric. It’s cold compared to the event jacket so not great in the winter. It keeps the wind off and the rain out but it’s nowhere near as warm. I’ve taken to wearing a stretchy soft shell underneath in the winter.

I’ll probably go back to the eVent jacket once it gets cold again to be honest.

Columbia Outdry works very well – much better than GoreTex – but is hard to come by, a bit bulky, and looks shit.

I ride in a Pertex climbing jacket. Hood big enough for helmet with long back, works well.

Columbia Outdry for me too.
Biggest benefit is the jacket is easy to clean after it’s covered in mud.

Materials like gortex or event need to be kept clean to work as intended and too much cleaning reduces the effectiveness of the water repellent coating.

There are different variants of Gore-Tex with differing levels of breathability, durability and outright waterproofness. Of all the stuff I’ve used, which is a quite a lot, the one I’d opt for in terms of waterproofing, long-term survival, light-ish weight  and decent breathability would be Gore-Tex Pro, but it’s expensive, noisy and mostly only used for technical mountaineering shells.

Active is better for breathability, but less reliable in terms of long-term waterproofing, good when new, not so good after lots of use. Standard Gore-Tex is fine for walking, not breathable enough for higher output use if you run warm. All suffer eventually from wetting out particularly with the latest fluoro-free DWRs, but so does everyone else’s fabrics.

eVent is good when new, but the way it’s structured means it depends on regularly cleaning and re-treating to keep working. PU-based stuff like TNF’s FutureLight is really good and easier to engineer to have different properties/balance. Dermizax? I’m not even sure who uses this, other than Bergans of Norway, which seemed okay to me, but nothing exceptional.

OutDry is great for a consistent level of not particularly breathable performance all day, but has two disadvantages. One is that it looks like an old fashioned bin-man’s rubber jacket, the other is that Columbia’s cut and design isn’t always great, which may or not matter to you. An OutDry jacket made by someone like ME or Arc’teryx with a decent hood would be a good option for all-day walking. A lighter, more breathable version would look a lot like Gore’s discontinued ShakeDry, which is fantastic, consistently very breathable and waterproof, but fragile, expensive and extinct. I wonder if OutDry could be re-engineered to be more breathable, but I don’t think that’s Columbia’s market tbh.

I think maybe the bottom line is that no waterproof fabric currently available – OutDry, Gore-Tex in all its versions, eVent, FutureLight, own-brand stuff and, yes, Paramo – is capable of living up to the theoretical ideal of breathing like a string vest, but being as waterproof as a rubber inflatable dinghy. In light rain you can compromise with some sort of more  breathable but water resistant fabric, ‘soft shell’ maybe and still be comfortable, In cold, deluge conditions, you really just want something that keeps the rain out and accept that you’ll get warm damp inside from a level of perspiration if you’re working hard.

I reckon anyone on a mission to find a ‘perfect’ waterproof fabric is basically doomed to disappointment and frustration.

ps: Gore-Tex Paclite, ime, is a pretty poor option all round. They’re not making it for much longer, but its main advantage over other forms of Gore-Tex is that it’s cheaper. YMMV.

Keela make equipment for mountain rescue teams. Their jackets do not use Goretex.

I could not justify the mountain rescue issued jackets for walking the dog. Can’t remember what fabric my jacket is but it is very waterproof 🙂

SDP

Men's Stratus Jacket

Men's Munro Jacket

Aquaflex:

Men's Pinnacle Jacket

Men's Stratus Jacket

Outdry is the best jacket material I’ve ever used. I found rhe Keela gear to be rubbish.

I found rhe Keela gear to be rubbish.

I’ve used a Keela Munro. It was incredibly heavy by modern standards, something like 1100g for a medium, and cut like a 1970s army combat jacket with huge bat-wings and baggy everywhere. It was disappointing tbh.

Here’s an image from Keela’s own website where you can see some of the excess fabric, bagginess in the sleeves. The whole jacket is cut like that. It all just feels a bit dated for a jacket that costs more than £200. Obviously tastes vary though, but not something I’d buy.

Keela make equipment for mountain rescue teams. Their jackets do not use Goretex.

They make jackets which they then give to MR Teams as cheap marketing.

Same thing as Pinarello and Team Sky, they chose the brand simply because Pinarello were prepared to pay them more, than any other brand, to ride their bikes and the extra money meant they could afford better domestiques.

Same when you see police cars, the Police don’t chose the car based on anything other than which manufacturer is prepared to give them the best deal to have the Police drive their brand.

My point is that there are waterproof fabrics out there other than Goretex.

I own Goretex jackets but they all leak.

My Keela jackets don’t – so I wear them when it’s raining.

My Lowland Rescue issue jacket is a Keela one. It’s bulky, hot and whilst waterproof is t that breathable so I tend to only use it in the depths of winter or when its absolutely hoofing it down.