veganbikes

No worries. I am surprised by their response. Maybe reach out to the dealer you bought it from and be nice and see if they can help with warranty?

canklecat

The Pactimo Torrent stretch jackets look interesting. No hood though, more of a warm/cool weather jacket, not chilly weather. I don't really need one but signed up for their monthly giveaway of that model.

The Shimano Storm jacket and hood I got in 2015 began transferring rain through the fabric inside this winter. Not soaking or leaking, just not quite waterproof -- mostly where it had collected road dust. It has a mesh liner so the damp fabric isn't directly against the skin, and it helps reduce perspiration condensing. I hand washed it in Woolite (all I had without softeners, fragrance, etc.), air dried and ironed warm, as Shimano instructed. It still transferred a little moisture in heavy rain. I probably need to re-iron it more thoroughly. But I tried tossing it into a warm, gentle cycle dryer -- not recommended by Shimano, but that has worked on my 30 year old Columbia GoreTex parka.

I also have a Pearl Izumi Select Barrier windbreaker. PI claims it's water resistant, but it isn't. It soaks through in anything more than fog or very light mist. But it remains wind resistant so it's still warm even in chilly rain. Ultra-light, packs down into itself and stuffs into a jersey pocket. No hood. It's one of those things that isn't necessarily ideally comfortable but could be a lifesaver against hypothermia.

WNCGoater

Not to be a fly in the ointment here but I'm curious as to several things. One being, what conditions of cycling warrent a $500-$600 rain jacket and to use the OP's words, what would be the significant benefit? Is it a touring trip through SE Asia during monsoon season? Does one PLAN to cycle in torrential downpour? I think of rain gear being for the purpose of keeping you reasonably dry, or prevent a complete soaking, if you got caught out in the rain, or touring on a rainy day, etc.
I'm all for quality gear and believe you get what you pay for, to a point. But what can you get for $500 that you don't get for $300 or $100 for that matter?

I'm just curious as to what the goal is here.

chephy

No worries, it's a legit question, although it's a bit like asking people why pay $5,000 for a bike when they can pay $2,000 or even $500. I'd be happy to pay more for a jacket that offers:

- superior fit: not baggy yet doesn't limit motion, doesn't ride up exposing your back to the wind, isn't a sail in the wind etc.
- convenient, well thought out systems: pockets of perfect size located in the right places, smooth zippers, a hood that's easy to adjust and that doesn't limit line of sight... this is what very often separates cheaper gear from more expensive gear, and stuff like this means a lot to me - I don't want to struggle with objects in my life; I buy gear so it can solve my problems, not so I can solve its problems
- superior breatheability: makes a giant difference for comfort
- superior durability: not falling apart after a year or two or three
- superior waterproofness: I don't want to "prevent complete soaking". I want to avoid any soaking, willing to pay a premium to make it happen. And while I'm not planning to ride in a downpour per se, I recognize it'll probably happen more than once - a torrential downpour is bound to coincide with my commute at some point. I want to buy gear that will work in close to 100% of situations I'm likely to encounter while using it. I understand that I can pay half the price and get stuff that will work for 97% of the situations, but it's those 3% that already suck the hardest (who wants to go to work in a torrential downpour), and I want gear that will increase my motivation, not fail me when I need it most

Also, I am in Canada, so when I say $500-600, I really mean about $350-$400 US, if that makes any differencet.

chephy

Thanks for the advice, but that's all water under the bridge now. It's been almost 5 years since I bought the jacket, it's all but fallen apart at this point (partly my fault for scraping it on pavement, partly shoddy construction, it seems).

Doug64

While I mentioned Showers Pass in a previous post, The best cycling rain jacket that I've used is a REI house brand that I bought in 2004. I used it commuting for 8 years, thousands of miles of extended tours, and used it to ride to the gym this morning. I just cleaned it , and treated it with Nikwax products, and it still repels water (this is Oregon).

I have used it so much that the back has almost faded to white. I have retired it, but still use it around town.


I have had 2 Showers Pass Jackets, and was not real happy with the lower end jacket. I do use a SP Elite that seems to be holding up pretty well. However I picked up a REI jacket (Stratos) when they were changing their brand name, and I think it is going to be better than the SP Elite. Unfortunately, they have changed styles, and IMO, not for the best.

My wife with her SP jacket on the Oregon Coast. She has since replaced it with an REI Stratos.


We have taken extended tours, 2-3 months long every year, for the last 15 years, so our raingear is important to us. On a 3-month tour we encountered 35 days of rain. Good rain gear is well worth the price.

veganbikes

That is odd to hear. Arcteryx is not known for durability issues. Glad I could give some advice. I might still go to them and see if they can help with warranty even if it is older they might be a better outreach to Arcteryx then you?

TimothyH

My experience with Arc'teryx is that their products are anything but shoddy.

They need to be taken care of like any other highly technical garment by any manufacturer. Scraping an Arc'teryx jacket on the pavement certainly doesn't indicate shoddy construction but lack of care.


-Tim-

chephy

More accurately, lack of balance in that particular instance. I didn't just scrape the jacket, my face took a good scraping too.

However, the shoddy part is not the holes that resulted from that fall but rather cuff velcro closures peeling off, drawstrings snapping etc. Happened withing 2-3 years of my owning the jacket, from normal use, and only to the second one I owned - the first one held up wonderfully until I ruined the coating through my own dumb actions. This leads me to conclude that Arc'teryx products are inconsistent - the good ones are really good, but there are enough lemons in there that the high price tag makes me feel a bit cautious. Experience of another poster in this thread seems to confirm that. Those who've been lucky to avoid the lemons will understandably think very highly of the brand.

Nachoman

I was in the same boat as the OP a couple years ago. I basically wanted the best cycling rain coat that existed. I was willing to part with a ton of money, if I really liked the product. I was looking at weight, water permeability and breathability. I looked at the upper end of all the typical cycling brands plus a lot of the more high end brands like assos and rapha. I went to so many stores and read so many on line reviews. It ended up boiling down to looking hard at the balance between permeability and breathability, which is very personal, depending on your individual needs. Anyway, I ended up buying a Showers Pass rain jacket (the club pro version), which I haven't even got a chance to use yet, because it rarely rains here in Point Loma and my cycling trip that winter got cancelled.