Pioneer Camp Rain Jackets

A rain jacket is the outer skin and it has exactly one job, so the details that matter are few and specific. Every one of these has a hood, because a rain jacket without one is a coat with a wet neck. Half of them have taped seams, which is what stops water coming through the needle holes at the shoulders where the pack strap sits: the fabric almost never fails first, the seam does. And a couple fold into their own pocket, which is the difference between a rain jacket you own and a rain jacket you have with you when it starts.

What a rain shell will not do is keep you warm, and that is the correct design: insulation under a waterproof gets wet from the inside on a hard walk. Put a fleece under it instead and take the fleece off when you warm up. The other thing to know is washing. A rain jacket that has stopped beading has usually not failed: the face finish is dirty or has been coated by fabric softener. Wash it cool and gently, rinse it twice, and skip the softener entirely; the label sewn into the jacket is what governs, and where it and this page disagree, the label wins.