The SCAM Outdoor Brands Don't Want You To Know

Jackets Shown in this Video: ArcTeryx Beta LT Shell: geni.us/7MHDw Columbia OutDry: geni.us/Of76iq

To be honest, I worked at an hiking/trekking shop and I knew this for years. Since then I became a huge fan of ponchos. Especially expeds‘ pack poncho. Ponchos allow more airflow underneath and do not even try to lie about „breathability“ and protect you AND your gear from becoming wet. Also it is easy to put it on/off during light rain or when the rain pauses for a few minutes: The poncho can be attached to the Backpack so you just throw it over your head and it hangs there behind you and when rain sets in again you just reach back, grab the thing and pull it over your head again. And in case of very heavy rain or wind you can combine a poncho with a pair of rainchaps to protect your legs, but they leave your crotch open which helps ventilation by a higher amount! That said: Great Video! Thank you for that much time and effort! It’s always a pleasure to watch your videos!

After spending $1000 on a “gore-Tex pro” jacket, I thought it was the best jacket going for years. But after multiple rainy days on trail I noticed I was soaked on the inside. It was a hard pill to swallow realizing that the jacket was just as useful as a $30 frog toggs. Confirmation bias is totally real and it hits close to home

I'm a former REI sales specialist in camping and outdoor clothing. I was geared up with all the best equipment and started out on a long Appalachian Trail thru hike and quickly realized that GoreTex and other similar fabrics were indeed useless in the rain soaked conditions on the trail in the humid south. The best thing was to just suck it up and expect to get wet and hope to dry out later on. Open up the vents and pit zips and flush as much air through the jacket as you can. The GoreTex shoes were also useless so again just expect to get wet, live with it and know that you can dry out later on. If you encounter a quick and short shower then you may be protected if the shower doesn't last too long. Often just wearing GoreTex outer wear gets one hot and sweaty and it basically begins raining on the inside.

100%. I've worked professionally in the ski industry as a Lift Operator for years, and we have to spend hours standing in blizzard conditions, rainy conditions, and everything in-between while working hard shoveling snow and doing other physically demanding work. And I can tell you as someone who professionally is paid to be outdoors and do sweaty work: the best waterproof jackets you can get, are just the fully rubberized heavy duty rain gear. And if you want to stay warm, just have a puffer underneath. These crazy goretex systems are just completely unnecessary and most of them get you wet anyway. Just wear an oversized rubberized rain jacket so it allows air to move underneath it and you'll stay much dryer.

Thank you. You have convinced me that I shouldn't hike in wet weather or buy expensive fabrics. I'm good with that.

You continue to take this hobby segment to a higher level. Props

I've tried having this conversation with so many people but they are do deeply invested in the marketing bull crap to listen

“When humidity is high, these jackets don’t seem to breathe at all.” This was my experience with Gore-Tex hiking the West Highland Way in Scotland. I stayed dryer wearing shorts, sandals, and a large cheap poncho than my fellows hikers in full length head to toe waterproof gear. (Note: Poncho goes OVER the backpack)

I grew up scouting in the pacific northwest and our leaders use to say things like "No such thing as waterproof and breathable" or "Prepare to be wet and warm, because you can't always be dry". It was great watching this video that explains the science behind that old northwest wisdom.

The amount of time, energy and research you put into your videos is astounding. Keep up the great work! I love seeing the testing contraptions you come up with.

I worked in the extreme sportswear industry and we knew that the best that "breathable" fabrics could do under the ideal circumstances was about a 7% improvement. If the outside or inside got wet from precipitation or sweat, it was like a thick plastic sheet. But if you did not have "breathable", few people would buy. They were well trained consumers. Since we had an extreme customer base who knew when things were working and not, we were very early with the zip vents in pits, pockets, pant legs, .... And we had the flap vents also.

The problem is people thinking they need a gore Tex jacket for hiking. Its purpose is for high altitude mountaineering where air is way dryer and the jacket works best in those conditions. It will never be wet and breathable at the same time, but it does allow some breathability over cheap rain jackets.

Kudos on, yet another, rock star video! Seriously, this is far more effort, with real-world application, than any of my engineering professors every put forth in their teaching experiments.

This is IMHO the best video you have made yet. In fact, I think anyone who is new to the outdoors, and even many veterans, would benefit from watching this. I'm suspecting that you are proving what they are already experiencing, but you are adding rigor to their anecdotes.

Amazing. The time, effort, research into the issue is always appreciated! AND I appreciate you calling out the companies who have poisoned us and the environment throughout our lifetimes.

Dude, you are killing it 💪 Love your videos because of your calm tone of voice, the perfect length and no-bullshit information. Really well done, as always. Greetings from Austria!

Thank you!!! You managed to adequately cover and explain something technical, without getting too technical and with so many numerical details that I lose interest. And you did it in 8 minutes. Keep up the good work!

Really appreciate this kind of content! Really good companion to the FortNine video that did something similar for motorcycle jackets. As a runner I realized what you concluded in this video and opted for a much cheaper $180 jacket that doesnt use Gore-Tex but has goodish breathability and okay water protection. I just couldn't justify spending multiple hundreds of dollars on a jacket that with exposed membrane (like the Gore R7 Shakedry) that I would almost certainly need to replace in a few years of heavy use because it literally would just not last that long. The exposed membrane literally wears down with things like a running pack on for example.

Your research is appreciated. Experience is an excellent teacher which is why I carry an umbrella. I have never had been truly dry with only rain gear.