Water Proof Ratings mm

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~Pete~

Member
Im looking for a jacket and pants right now and you have the cheap 40$ ones and then theres ur 500$ jackets i kno like theres certin features that drive the price up but theres only so many cool pockets u can have. So what makes a good jacket? and then i always see the waterproofness and its always like 10,000mm or 5,000mm and i found the quiksilver bounty hunter jacket and thats just the coolest jacket ive seen but its waterproofness is only 5,000mm is that still fine or whats the lowest waterproofness i should go with

thanx

~pete

 
when are you ever goin to be in 5g mm of water?

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Hi, my name is Sam Caylor. And i made the above post.

NS ARMY

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depends on how wet the snow in you area is. I think in utah the lowest that will work is 3000, cuz we have super dry snow, i thnk my jacket is 8000 or 10000 i dont remember.

VIVA LA FRONTFLIP!
 
yeah it really depends on where you ride. you can always nikwax for additional waterproofing. don't ski the northwest without

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yeah, unless you ski tons of pow or fall like it is your job, 5,000 mm would be okay for you. Most of my stuff is 10,000, but it doesnt really matter

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i couldnt tell ya. Its a super sick jacket thoguh. if you really like it just go to walmart and buy some silicone waterproofing spray from the hunting section.

VIVA LA FRONTFLIP!
 
the stuff I had worked super good. I think i might put some on my new stuff just for safe measure.

VIVA LA FRONTFLIP!
 
If you live in the Northwest there your gonna need a jacket that is more around 10000mm waterproof. The snow is so wet that a 5000 isnt going to cut it.

 
This is how it works and what the mm stands for.

Let me break down a garment for you.

Theres the fabric on the outide which needs to be treated with DWR (Durable Water Repelency) That is what makes the water bead up. It wears off eventually but you can put in back on with Nikwax.

Then there is the actually fabric when talking waterproof they use mm which is a test done by putting the garment in water and apply pressure and seeing how much pressure it takes for the water to go through. You have usuallu 5,000 7,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 and 30,000.

Now you have all heard of gore tex which is a white membrane like material that is in between the outer fabric and inner fabric or mesh.

That allows for the most waterproofing while still allowing heat out known as breathability.

So your jacket can be soaked on the outside but be dry on the insid cus the membrane gor tex material is blocking the water from penetrating. Obviously you dont want your jacket to be soaking even if dry on the inside thats the purpose of DWR but if you seating in the snow the DWR doesnt really work thats why you need the waterproofing and the more pressure it can withatand the harder to penetrate.

Side note the more waterproof higher mm the less breathable the fabric is.

The finally thingd you need to know about is how are the seams seales if they are at all there is two types of sealing or taping of seams what they call critically taped and fully taped criticall means in areas where the water is more likely to try to seap in like arm pits crotch area etc. And full means every seam is taped.

The reason seams need to be taped is because the water is going to try to get through and with this super water proof material and treating the seams are the most vulnarable.

The other thing to look for and is waterproof zippers or a fabric shield that covers the zipper usually by folding over.

So basically there are anywhere from 2 to 3 layers of your garment the outer the membrane(gore tex) and the inner which is the inner material.

If the inner material is a mesh or insulation then that is not considered a 3 layer garment.

So next time you go into a store to buy something you will know what your getting.

 
I'd definetely recommend going 10,000mm or bigger for washington/coast mountains BC

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nikwax is great stuff if you you end up getting wet. My oakley lab coat is something like 7000 or 5000 but the sleeves used to let water in. Now I can be out in the rain all day and be perfectly dry.

 
ive never really had any good waterproof stuff...Ive had lab pants and puffy pants in the last couple years.. but this year bonfire pitchd me a sweet sep up thats 2 layer goretex i just dont like the pants. even in xl there not to baggy..jacket's sick though

 
The DWR isnt applied to the gore tex but what your talking about is when you wash your clothing especially with detergent wash it again without cause detergent opens the fabric alow the soap to go through and clean and if its not all washed off your jacket will get wet so wash once with detergent and then run it with just water.

Yeah Oakley makes cool looking shit but as far as waterproofing and functionality they suck while bonfire make real good technical garments.

 
yeah i nikwaxed one of my older arc'teryx jackets i was going to sell now it's just like new.

If you like Jack Johnson, O.A.R., Dispatch type music check out Speechwriters LLC
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