Posts Tagged waterproof
Nikwax Products for Washing and Waterproofing
I reviewed a variety of Nikwax products on the old version of this blog in years past, like wool wash and sandal wash. They made other formulations that are specially meant for washing base layers, down, or technical waterproof gear. After all, you can’t just toss all this apparel in the washing machine and hope for the best, plus on the road you’re often doing sink washing. So these solutions keep your gear clean and fresh.
Something else handy I’ve used a lot is their waterproofing wax for leather, which will turn a plain pair of leather shoes or boots into waterproof ones, usually without altering the color. There’s a nice applicator sponge on the end so you can do a good job without getting messy.
You would think that stuff like this would be a big mess of toxic chemicals, but the Nikwax products have been getting more and more environmentally friendly all the time. Water-based, no flourocarbons, no propellants, not tested on animals, and put out by a company that strives hard to reduce it’s impact. (Nikwax recently earned the ISO 14001 certificate for 
environmental awareness.) And of course by extending the life of existing shoes and apparel, Nikwax cuts down on churn and tossing of old stuff into landfills.
Another big improvement is one the way. At the Outdoor Retailers show I attended Nikwax was showing off some handy 1.7-ounce sizes coming out later this year. That puts them below the TSA liquids ban cut-off, so you will be able to take something in your carry-on to spruce up your hiking boots mid-trek or your sandals mid-vacation.
I’ve used a variety of these washes and waterproofing solutions before and during my travels and they have helped me keep my older gear looking good and working longer. Considering most of these solutions retail for somewhere between six and nine dollars, they’re an easy investment to justify.
You can easily find Nikwax products at your local independent retailer or you can order them online from REI, Backcountry, or Rock Creek.
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, General Gear on February 18th, 2010
Live From the Outdoor Retailers Show
Recently John brought you the latest in electronics and gadgets from CES. Now I’m wallowing in a sea of fleece and waterproofing to bring you the latest in travel gear from the Outdoor Retailers Winter Show. Here the gear manufacturers strut their stuff and the retail buyers decide what’s worth stocking. Fortunately, they also allow a few of us writers and bloggers in the doors to report on what’s new and notable.
Hats from Mountain Hardware
My first impression was, “What recession?” While this industry has felt some pain, overall the likes of Keen, Patagonia, Columbia, Teva, Kelty, and Mountain Hardware are looking amazingly healthy. It makes sense when you think about it: camping and hiking are still pretty cheap recreation options compared to a lot of other things a couple or family could spend their money on.
This industry has some problems though, which were outlined in no uncertain terms in a kick-off breakfast I attended. To paraphrase, the majority of people who frequently enjoy the outdoors are white, male, and relatively well-off. Women are gaining, minorities are going from next to nothing to something, but overall there’s a lot of work to do to make the outdoors look anything like the demographics you find in American cities. The good news is, lots of really dedicated foundations and organizations are doing great work in getting kids off the asphalt and into nature. Let’s hope they keep the momentum going.
In terms of products, I’m super-encouraged by what I am seeing here. There seems to be a serious movement toward the principles we espouse here on a weekly basis. Products are being touted as affordable, multi-functional, and durable. Instead of ever-more-specialized expensive niche items, I’m seeing a shift back to items that really pull their weight and can do more than one thing. In other words, Practical Travel Gear. Everything is getting lighter, more eco-friendly, and more useful to the average traveler, which is a beautiful thing.
Sure, there are still $800 jackets, $500 sunglasses, and skis that cost more than most people make in a month, but those products are increasingly in the minority. It’s all about you getting your money’s worth. That doesn’t mean everything is manufactured in China with crappy materials and shoddy workmanship: a much larger number of products than I expected are being produced in the U.S. or Europe. But everyone is keenly aware that you need to feel good about what you’ve paid for that item for years on end. On that score, things are looking very bright.
New Camelback Water Bottles
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on January 22nd, 2010
North Face Mountain Light Jacket with Gore-tex
If you walked into a store and could choose whatever jacket you wanted, which one would you grab? That actually happened to me a few months back and I picked this Mountain Light shell with Gore-tex from North Face. Others were flashier or trendier, but this one lets me stomp out into the rain without an umbrella, so I went for the practical choice.
I don’t have a whole lot of North Face clothing in my wardrobe. I know this branch of the giant VF Corporation makes great products, but their jackets are kind of like iPods and Crocs—something everyone and their brother seems to have on them already. I do have one North Face windbreaker fleece though that I got years ago and I like it a lot. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and join the crowd.
This Mountain Light jacket is one finely tuned piece of technology. It is really and truly waterproof—a claim I’ve tried out a dozen times now—yet it is truly breathable too thanks to the Gore-tex liner. That alone doesn’t justify the $300 price tag, I’ll admit, so there’s a whole host of features that take this beyond your average shell. It’s got Velcro cuffs, a hood with cinch straps, covered pockets in and out, a place to put your music player, and armpit zips to let the sweaty heat out and regulate your temperature.
Then you’ve got a cinch strap adjustment at the waist, sealed zippers with a double flap, a zipper that will accommodate a zip-in liner, and an “internal stretch water bottle pocket.” (You say water bottle, I say flask…)
The jacket itself has a lifetime guarantee from North Face and then Gore-tex has a lifetime guarantee on top of that. So you can trust this thing will do what it’s supposed to do: keep you warm, dry, and comfortable. It’s listed as weighing 28 ounces, which is about half the weight of another shell I own from Marker. It would be a great choice for winter sports or just days of walking around in iffy weather. Proof I believe in this shell for travel: it’s the only coat I’m carrying to snowy Salt Lake City for the next few days.
Back to that nagging question you may have: How did I get to walk into a store and pick out any jacket? I could make up a story about winning a contest or my rich aunt coming to town, but really it’s because the Gore-tex people were feeling generous when I visited their offices and they made me feel like the Snoop Dogg of the travel gear world, just handing me clothes so I would try them out and talk about them. OK, I’m easy. Hey…nice jacket!
Click the picture to the left to check prices at Backcountry.com, where I saw the black version on sale for $209 as this post was going up.
Search for men’s and women’s versions of the Mountain Light at REI.com or at Rock/Creek!
Related post: 8 Things You Should Know About Gore-tex
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on January 20th, 2010
8 Things You Should Know About Gore-tex
I spent a couple days at the GORE-TEX headquarters last week for a blogger’s summit with people who cover gear for traveling, snowboarding, rock climbing, camping, mountain biking, hiking, and more. It was the company’s plan to teach us how their stuff works, tell us about a new Experience More social network they’re launching, and to bust some myths about breathable and waterproof fabrics. At times it felt like a science class, but one that was actually interesting and useful. Yeah, I got a couple jackets that I’ll be reviewing on here later, but I also came back with lots of knowledge I didn’t have before.
Here’s your mini-lesson in why seeing a Gore-tex label on something matters and how it works.
1) Gore-tex is made from fluoride
This was my first revelation. I always figured it was some kind of petroleum-based plastic product. Instead it’s powdered fluoride turned into a membrane made of microscopic threads. Sweat evaporates through the membrane, but water droplets don’t get in. Simple concept, but it takes complicated science and manufacturing to create it. (The membrane holes are 700 times larger than a sweat molecule, but 20,000 times smaller than a water droplet.)
2) Gore-tex is meant for cool places, not the tropics
A breathable membrane of any kind won’t be much help when you’re in the Amazon. In basic terms, your hot sweat molocules need a cooler place to escape to. That works great when you’re skiing or hiking in the mountains. In the hot, humid tropics however, the sweat has nowhere to go. It’s just as hot and humid outside as it is around your body. So the sweat just sits there. Technology can’t save you there—unless it’s the technology in your air-conditioned hotel room. So this is exactly what you want for skiing/snowboarding, hiking, or living in a place like Seattle or Iceland, but not what you want for a boat ride down the Amazon.
3) Gore-tex is just the protective membrane, not the outer fabric
When you see a Gore-tex label on a North Face jacket or a pair of Merrell shoes (or any of these other brands), that’s just referring to the waterproof (or windproof) membrane built into the design. It’s just one of several layers. The actual waterproofing on the outermost layer is some form of DWR, which brings us to…
4) Waterproof jackets should be dried in a dyer
It sounds counter-intuitive, but hang-drying your waterproof jacket is a bad idea (sorry Europeans!). Over time the waterproof properties of the DWR deteriorate from abrasion, dirt, and oils from your skin. Washing it helps, but then it needs the heat of the dryer to restore and realign the microscopic pegs that repel water.(Obviously this won’t work for a rubber raincoat or something with a pure polyurethene coating—check the label.)
5) “Waterproof” is best, “water repellent” is worst
I always assumed “water repellent” was better than “water resistant,” but I was wrong. Apparently in outdoor apparel industry terms, resisting something is stronger than repelling it. Go figure. Save yourself the head-scratching and look for something labeled “waterproof.”
6) There are lots of sub-categories, but Gore-tex is generally waterproof and Windstopper items are not
The Windstopper products are meant for situations where wind is a bigger factor than rain. These are high-tech windbreakers that keep you warm and eliminate the “wind chill factor.” I wore one into Gore’s wind testing room (giant fans blasting out really cold air). My upper body felt fine, even though what I was wearing looked like a regular fleece, but my lower body and feet were freezing.
7) “Breathability” measurements don’t have an industry standard
“There’s no FDA for breathability.” Gore was the first to develop breathable fabric (in 1978) and says the most reliable measure of this ability is one put out by the Hohenstein institute, but competing companies use a variety of other measures. Some of these scales are hard to duplicate in different environments and the “as good as Gore-tex” claim is hard to disprove until you’re soaking in sweat inside your jacket and it’s too late. If you buy jackets, gloves, or shoes with eVent, Pertex, or some other similar technology, you probably won’t find them using the same measurement techniques. It doesn’t mean they don’t work, but there is a good reason Gore products are the ones used by astronauts, firefighters, mountain climbers, and the military.
8 ) Gore tests everything with their name on it and guarantees it
Your jacket may say Arc’teryx and your gloves may say Marmot, but each model with a Gore-tex tag gets tested in their labs to make sure it works properly and will hold up for a lifetime. Why do I have a row of washing machines pictured here? It’s because jackets are thrown into 200 of these washing machines and beaten up for weeks on end. If they don’t hold up to at least 500 hours of agitating, they fail. There’s a rain room to test the waterproofing (I got to stand in it with rain gear on), there’s another room that takes the temperature from – 50 degrees celsius to + 50 degrees celcius. The shoe machines pictured at the top continuously flex the shoe in wet conditions for days on end. Glove machines with sensors test whether the temperature is changing when they get wet. Gore hires students to run on a treadmill with their gear on and tests how dry they’re staying. This enables them to back up every Gore-tex product for life.
It doesn’t matter if your jacket says Burton or Mountain Hardware. If you get wet while wearing it, you can return it to Gore. They’ve been doing that since 1989. To me, that says a lot.
Search Gore-tex products at Backcountry.com
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Kids and Family on November 5th, 2009
Fanatic Lightweight Jacket from Outdoor Research
There are times you need a heavy-duty rain jacket, like in climates where you know you’re going to get dumped on regularly. For other destinations you may need something “just in case,” with the rest of the time being better suited to a lightweight jacket that’s easy to pack.
That’s where the Fanatic jacket from Outdoor Research comes in. You can jam it down into the corner of your bag and it will still look decent five minutes after you unpack it. It’s got windbreaking properties and good water resistance, but isn’t heavy enough to weigh you down. If you want to really pack it in tight, the whole thing can stuff into one of the pockets.
This was the only jacket I took this with me on a two-week trip to Ecuador in October and it was fine for chilly nights in Quito and days of light drizzle hiking and boating around the Galapagos. The hood kept my head dry and the rest kept my body dry, yet at only 11 ounces (313 grams), it didn’t add much to my pack weight.
The Fanatic is breathable yet waterproof, thanks to its Pertex Shield DS technology, which makes it cost a good bit more than mere “water repellent” coated jackets without any high-tech breathable membrane ($145 list). But with this you won’t get soaked from the outside or be doused in sweat on the inside.
It’s got two waterproof zippered pockets on the sides and one more at chest level for sunglasses or a music player. There is a drawstring for the waist that comes into the side pockets, which means you can tighten up the bottom of it while still keeping your hands dry. There is a cinch strap system on the hood as well, elastic cuffs on the sleeves, an internal storm flap inside the main zipper, and there is seam taping on all the seams. With the hood pulled up, the top half of your body will stay good and dry.
I feel like this jacket will be with me for the long haul, but I did find the zippers to be a bit grabby and I felt like I needed to treat them gingerly. As with most similar jackets, to keep the weight down and strengthen the waterproofing properties, the zippers are not metal. Time will tell if they’re more durable than they feel. If not, I’m not worried: Outdoor Research stands behind its products with an “Infinite Guarantee. If the jacket fails, you’ll get a new one.
The men’s version of the Fanatic comes in four colors and a variety of sizes. The women’s version comes in black plus three different colors in five sizes.
See the jackets page at OutdoorResearch.com
Get the Men’s Outdoor Research Fanatic Jacket at Backcountry.com
Related review: the slightly heavier Revel jacket from OR
Posted by Tim in Adventure Gear, Travel Light on November 4th, 2009
