good rain jacket?

[steve sullivan]

I am looking for a good jacket for the chico area for rainstorms. Any
opinions on the following jackets? These may be used in the mountains
in cold rain, but probably at temps no lower than say 35. This is for
cold northern california rain, maybe some snow skiing, but for
california, not alaska.

GORE-TEX North Peak Parka - Regular
GORE-TEX XCR Gold Series Jacket
GORE-TEX Wading Jacket - Regular

[jlp]

Steve,

The best rain jacket I've owned is a Redington. It has well designed
adjustable
closures around waist, face and wrists. Also has built in neoprene
fingerless gloves
and the right number of internal and external pockets/pouches
Living in Orygun and chasing winter steelhead requires a good rain jacket.
Just looked for a model name/number on it.....nothing.


Jeff
Kamchatka
http://home.teleport.com/~salmo/K2000/
NFS
http://home.teleport.com/~salmo/


"steve sullivan" > wrote in message
om...
> I am looking for a good jacket for the chico area for rainstorms. Any
> opinions on the following jackets? These may be used in the mountains
> in cold rain, but probably at temps no lower than say 35. This is for
> cold northern california rain, maybe some snow skiing, but for
> california, not alaska.
>
> GORE-TEX North Peak Parka - Regular
> GORE-TEX XCR Gold Series Jacket
> GORE-TEX Wading Jacket - Regular

[Yuji Sakuma]

Hello Steve,

If you look around at the wares of the top gear makers, Patagonia, Marmot,
North Face, Arc Teryx, Mountain Hardwear, etc., they all now have
lightweight, packable mountaineering shells that are short enough to use as
wading jackets. This, I think, is something new, a development only in the
last couple of years. They are expensive yes, but you might be able to
rationalize a purchase by not having to buy both a general purpose
rainjacket and a specialized wading jacket. In my opinion, a wading jacket
would look a bit silly on a city street or up in the mountains but one of
these would look okay anywhere, including on a stream. A possible problem
with these new jackets though is that like most mountaineering gear, they
tend to be cut a bit too snug for ideal fishing use. Light weight and a
small packed size were two criteria for me. The garment I chose was an Arc
Teryx Sirrus SL, a Gore-tex model I bought for half price at a closeout
sale. You might choose something else if you need to use it for more severe
conditions than me. The Sirrus is a minimalist design, (e.g., only one
small pocket) and I think it was designed for things like trail running.
This is exactly what I was looking for though, and it has just enough room
to fit a lightly loaded fishing vest underneath with summer clothes, at
least it does for me. If I were you, I would not limit my choices to
Gore-Tex. It is a good performer, maybe the best for extreme conditions,
but I think it is much more expensive than competitive materials probably
because of what Gore spends on advertising, not because of a significant
difference in performance for light duty uses such as fishing.

Best regards,

Yuji Sakuma

================================================== ==========
"steve sullivan" > wrote in message
om...
> I am looking for a good jacket for the chico area for rainstorms. Any
> opinions on the following jackets? These may be used in the mountains
> in cold rain, but probably at temps no lower than say 35. This is for
> cold northern california rain, maybe some snow skiing, but for
> california, not alaska.
>
> GORE-TEX North Peak Parka - Regular
> GORE-TEX XCR Gold Series Jacket
> GORE-TEX Wading Jacket - Regular