The original post was about the material, not a jacket, thats what i've been talking about. Jacket manufacturers make a huge difference, but i never mentioned one in any of my posts, because i wasnt talking about a finished product, i was talking about a material.

Color, fit, etc is the fashion side of the equation, thats personal preference and also not what i was talking about. You can defend North Face all you want, i never questioned the end maker. I provided information regarding materials, any of which can be made into good jackets, or crappy jackets.

Yes an end garment is more than material. Just as in my light analogy, you can have a good halogen, and crappy hid, but the hid technology beats halogen in lighting performance.

Also, there is a lot more than a single lab test showing gore's slide in performance lead in recent years, so no I dont base my decisions on a 'lab test' either.