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My old Gore Jacket needs replacing and I'm looking for suggestions. I really like the incredible breathability and under the helmet hood of my old jacket. I've noticed most jackets have over the helmet hoods, so I might need to compromise on one with good adjustability.
They're all much of a muchness quality wise, WL Gore Associates don't allow anyone to make a duff GTX branded jacket.
Most will work well under a helmet even if they are technically designed for 'over the helmet'.
Yep, Gore 'tests' brand's jackets in a so-called rain room - basically a glorified shower and has defined specs for the design features, so they tend to work in a similar way. They also keep a really tight rein on their factories, so the fabric itself is very consistent plus they do a huge amount of lab testing on stuff like durability, colour fastness etc.
There are a few different Gore-Tex fabric variants with different levels of breathability. Active is aimed at high intensity activities and is still, I think, the most breathable, but it's less durably waterproof. Pro tends to get used for mountaineering jackets, light, tough, decently breathable, tends to be a little noisy in a crisp-packety sort of way. Bog standard 'Gore-Tex' is kind of a happy medium all-rounder, not as breathable as Pro or Active, but okay. There's a variant of this called CKNIT, which uses a different backer, and has a really nice, softer feel to it, but in terms of breathability is similar to standard Gore. Finally, I think, Paclite Plus, which is way better than the old Paclite, quite light, reasonably breathable.
I like Mountain Equipment's cut and design - the Alpine cut is ace in a fitted but not restrictive way - but it depends on your body shape and preferences. Helmet hoods tend not to fit well on a bare head. ME has two, one of a full-on, massive helmet hood, the other, as used on stuff like the Lhotse, has a hood which works much better on a bare head, but will still just about take a helmet if you need to.
Your best bet is to go and try on some jackets and see what fits you best. I wouldn't get something made from Active if you still want good waterproofing a couple of years down the line. What was your old jacket?
ps: own-brand fabrics are far better than they used to be and more affordable than Gore-Tex. I'm told that The North Face's new-ish Future Light fabric is amazingly good for breathability, but also more waterproof than something like NeoShell.
That's really useful advice BWD. My old jacket is the Gore C5 GORE-TEX Active Trail Hooded, so it's the Active variant and it's stayed waterproof over 5 years despite rarely being re-proofed.
Active's about the most breathable Gore-Tex out there and if it works for you, it makes sense to stick with it I guess. I don't have any specific recommendations, but mostly Gore-Tex Active stuff tends to be aimed at runners, bikers, 'fast-moving' backpackers etc, so doesn't really have helmet hoods. Montane has a jacket called the Spine, which is a 'running jacket', but kind of also works as a lightweight mountain jacket too and has an adjustable hood unlike some lightweights, so that might be worth a look. Not sure what else is out there tbh.
ps: own-brand fabrics are far better than they used to be and more affordable than Gore-Tex.
Patents for the GTX Mebrane have long since expired, so anyone can make it.
W L Gore are masters of brand management rather than fabric technology.
I found an old stock Gore C5 Active jacket on sale for £155 so I've just bought that. Thanks for the advice