I pack in for archery elk and the occassional october mule deer hunt. I have been using sitka gear since they came out and love it. I have the 90% jacket and if just drizzling its fine but once it starts raining i carry an ultralight thin pack jacket from cabelas along with the pants. Just worried someday i will be in an extended rain and the thin cabelas stuff is not going to hold up. Plus it would be nice to just have one jacket. I was thinking bout switching to the lakota or backcountry from Riverswest in hope of just having one jacket that is fairly warm lightweight yet waterproof and breathes.
Rivers West or Sitka
- Thread starter Blacktail
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partisan1911
Well-Known Member
I have the rivers west gear and I recommend you avoid it like it is the plague. Even in mist it will soak through and retain water so you will have wet and heavy clothing your entire trip. There is nothing worse than bad gear so I attempted to use thier unconditional warranty blah blah blah claim they stand behind thier product. This is not the case even with reciept.
I use the arcteryx lightweight pack gear. It can be crammed down to the size of a soda can for the top and another one for the bottom. It will no kidding keep you dry in a rainstorm. I have used it on several mt goat hunts, moose hunts etc. It has passed the durability test. It is not breathable but then again, I have never found breathable anything to keep you dry from the rain.
I have not tried sitka gear but I have heard alot of good things about it. I tend to be skeptical after using the rivers west. Does the sitka gear keep you dry in the rain? If it does get really wet does it dry quickly?
I use the arcteryx lightweight pack gear. It can be crammed down to the size of a soda can for the top and another one for the bottom. It will no kidding keep you dry in a rainstorm. I have used it on several mt goat hunts, moose hunts etc. It has passed the durability test. It is not breathable but then again, I have never found breathable anything to keep you dry from the rain.
I have not tried sitka gear but I have heard alot of good things about it. I tend to be skeptical after using the rivers west. Does the sitka gear keep you dry in the rain? If it does get really wet does it dry quickly?
I have the 90 percent jacket and two pairs of th ascent pants and their other layering shirts and love the stuff. I go the pants pretty wet one day elk huning hung them in my pack ten dry by morning and it wasnt very warm. The jacket is great i love it but anything more than a drizzle i will be damp. But then again its not their rain gear. Their rain gear is going to run 600 bucks for the set. I currently have the ultra light jacket from Cabelas and the browning micorlite for bottoms just having really had a chance to test them yet. Just trying to find either one jacket to do it all which probably doesnt exist or good packable rainwear. You say it doesnt breath but on a goat hunt i imagine you were getting after it did you sweat like crazy?
partisan1911
Well-Known Member
It is really hard to move to quickly on a mt goat because of the steepness of the terrain. It is just slow continuous movement. If I wear it when moving I only wear the top with a long sleeve lightweight top on. I will sweat a little bit but dry out quickly once I take the top off and replace it with a thicker jacket. The raingear of course dries quickly or freezes and can dried by shaking off the ice crystals. For bottoms when moving I always wear mt hardware "waterproof breathable" bottoms that I reinforced the knees and butt area.
BH Hunter
Well-Known Member
I have both. If it's raining, you are soaked in the 90%. You will stay bone dry in Sitka but it is warm..
moombaskier
Well-Known Member
It's allway's raining here on the Oregon coast. I mean RAIN not drizzle, and windy to boot. My Rivers West gear is the LAW and the thicker stuff. I stay dry, but it does not breath very well. I use a recharge process that keeps the water from soaking into the material. Even when the material is wet and or soaked it is still dry underneath. I wish it wasn't so warm, even the lightest weight LAW product is too warm when hunting here on the coast.
winmag
Well-Known Member
100% OPPOSITE of Partisan 1911 on Rivers West. i absolutely LOVE mine and would not trade it for anything. Very pleased and will continue to buy more. Ive worn it in terential down pours, to drizzle, to snow and "forced marches" thru soaked blackberry patches, to desert thunderstorms. Never had an issue with leakage. And its quiet.
I finally broke my main zipper on my 6 year old jacket and its on a discontinued model, so I wouldnt expect that they would fix/replace that one. But 6 years of Deer, Elk and Bear seasons, plus that many Duck and Goose seasons wearing every evening and weekend, mud, muck, and grime.... Thats some serious abuse.
Both my Rivers west jackets have zippers under the arms tho and when used for ventilation you stay cooler and dont sweat too bad, & thus stay dry. If your hiking steep ground in a downpour your gonna sweat and stay wet one way or another, from rain if zippers are opened, or sweat if closed, but it beats anything Ive ever had in foul weather gear by miles.
However I will agree with Partisan 1911 on the issue of anything breathable will not be completely waterproof.
I have never tried sitka gear, but I here decent feedback.
EDIT>>>> Just proof read, and my post seemed a bit coarse; I should point out that I have nothing but respect for Partisan 1911, and his opinions. Weve aggreed on many things in the past, and shared a few P.M.'s. We just have differing opinions on this particular subject is all. I meant nothing negitave.
I finally broke my main zipper on my 6 year old jacket and its on a discontinued model, so I wouldnt expect that they would fix/replace that one. But 6 years of Deer, Elk and Bear seasons, plus that many Duck and Goose seasons wearing every evening and weekend, mud, muck, and grime.... Thats some serious abuse.
Both my Rivers west jackets have zippers under the arms tho and when used for ventilation you stay cooler and dont sweat too bad, & thus stay dry. If your hiking steep ground in a downpour your gonna sweat and stay wet one way or another, from rain if zippers are opened, or sweat if closed, but it beats anything Ive ever had in foul weather gear by miles.
However I will agree with Partisan 1911 on the issue of anything breathable will not be completely waterproof.
I have never tried sitka gear, but I here decent feedback.
EDIT>>>> Just proof read, and my post seemed a bit coarse; I should point out that I have nothing but respect for Partisan 1911, and his opinions. Weve aggreed on many things in the past, and shared a few P.M.'s. We just have differing opinions on this particular subject is all. I meant nothing negitave.
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Strider
Active Member
The only items mentioned that I have tried is the Sitka gear. I really like their stuff, but it is quite spendy. The founder of Sitka is starting up a new company, KUIU, and will be direct selling this new line very soon. I have a set of the promo clothing and can say the quality is superior to Sitka. It should be available in the very near future.
TomYoung
Active Member
Winmag,
In Dec. I contacted RW about the broken zipper on my 5-6 year old jacket. They replaced the zipper, no cost but the shipping to them. You can find a customer service number on their site.
Tom
In Dec. I contacted RW about the broken zipper on my 5-6 year old jacket. They replaced the zipper, no cost but the shipping to them. You can find a customer service number on their site.
Tom
BH Hunter
Well-Known Member
Strider: do you have any idea how the cost of KUIU will compare to Sitka?
Did you wear any of the insulation layer? The pack looks great, did you try it out?
Did you wear any of the insulation layer? The pack looks great, did you try it out?
Strider
Active Member
BH Hunter: The KUIU base layer is great. I used it in Wyoming as well as Colorado this year. It is high quality Merino wool. Very close to Smartwool except a little less itchy and a whole lot tougher. As far as price, Jason will only be selling it direct to keep prices down. I am not sure how it will compare to Sitka in price, but I expect it to be somewhere close. Hopefully somewhat less expensive, but it is higher quality fabrics. I have not tried the pack yet. They have only made a few protoytpes, but they should be ready for the market in April or so and I have one of the first ones reserved. I plan to put two to three weeks on it the Fall, depending on what I draw for tags. If you haven't checked out the KUIU website, you should. The blog page has a lot of great information on it.
By the way, I used to hunt fairly close to you in the Bighorns in Wyoming. I have family/friends in Sheridan, Buffalo, and Sundance. Beautiful country.
By the way, I used to hunt fairly close to you in the Bighorns in Wyoming. I have family/friends in Sheridan, Buffalo, and Sundance. Beautiful country.
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Booney
Well-Known Member
The best I have found is from cabelas mto50 gear it is great.
BH Hunter
Well-Known Member
Thanks Strider: I have been on the blog for a couple of months now. I think a lot of us have a bit of Sitka, it sounds like the KUIU is going to be better.? Do you think KUIUis good enough to upgrade from the 90% gear? What improvements from that line are there? I am lucky to live where I do, I have hunted in the Bighorns a lot. It is awesome country.
