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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Cheap Quality Rain Gear

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"Well done is better than well said.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

So this past week I was on a family vacation, part of which included a few days in Ocean City, MD at the beach. The first full day there we wake up to pouring rain.  I think my wife may have been secretly happy about this as it created an excuse to go to the factory outlet stores.  Having left anything that resembled rain gear at home, I agreed and off we went.

After looking around in various outlets and not finding anything reasonable I decided to opt for an umbrella and spotted the “Totes” outlet.  I knew I could find a good quality small micro umbrella in there.  But what surprised me was top quality light weight rain jackets for the entire family.marmot

Normally when I backpack I bring my Marmot PreCip Jacket which is a great piece of rain gear.  It weighs about 12 ounces (336g), has a “breathable” coating, big zipper pockets and pit zips. It sells for about $99 (REI link on photo).

I know lighter rain jackets are available, some as light as 7 or 8 ounces made of Gore Tex Paclite or Event.  But so far I have not been able to bring myself to spend the additional hundreds of dollars to save 4 or 5 ounces. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find such high quality rain jackets at the totes outlet.  I purchased one that felt ‘light’ – turned out to be 11.5 ounces (medium).  It has a nylon shell and polyester lining, netting on the inside top half, vented back. Velcro wrist and rain pocket closures, a nice hood and a waist tightening cinch pull.  Unfortunately no pit zips. But guess the price? $14.

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3 comments:

  1. Wow that was a good price. I think I am the only person in the world that don't know how to dress properly or have the proper gear for the hiking, lol. I can drained all the time .... but I know how to protect my camera, lol. Anna :)

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  2. Actually Anna, I think rain gear is highly overrated - you don't really need it (unless it gets cold). I find that my skin is completely waterproof.

    Robin

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  3. great blog, lots of great info. My husband is a hike leader with Nature Conservancy on Haleakala and does more with that than I do. I'll send him a link.
    Aloha
    Toby

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