Finest Backpacking Rain Jackets for $100 or Much less

September 5, 2025

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You don’t want to purchase an costly rain jacket for mountaineering and backpacking as a result of a cheap one will work simply in addition to one costing an arm and a leg. In reality, most backpackers use rain jackets that value $100 or much less for simply this purpose. Whereas outside clothes producers and the media rave in regards to the breathability of Gore-tex, eVent, Futurelight (and dozens of different waterproof/breathable membranes), the very fact is that they work poorly for hikers as a result of they will’t sustain with the perspiration and condensation inside a rain jacket once you’re carrying a backpack within the rain all day.

Listed below are the highest rain jackets that value $100 or much less.

REI Rainier Rain Jacket

The REI Rainier Rain Jacket has all of the options desired by hikers and backpackers, together with pit zips, a three-way adjustable hood, hook-and-loop wrist cuffs, and zippered facet pockets. The Rainier additionally has two huge zippered pockets, each lined with mesh, that may maintain gloves, hats, or snacks. They will also be used as a stuff pocket to retailer the jacket when not in use. Learn the SectionHiker evaluation.

REI Trailmade Rain Jacket

The REI Trailmade is a gentle, 2-layer waterproof/breathable polyester shell that’s seam sealed to maintain you dry and comfy. It has a breathable polyester mesh lining and an adjustable hood, adjustable drawcord hem, partially elasticized cuffs for added heat and moisture safety, and zippered hand pockets once you need full safety from the weather. The sizing is beneficiant so you’ll be able to layer it over a mid-layer in colder climate and nonetheless have good freedom of motion to be used trekking or snowboarding. The Trailmade jacket doesn’t have pit-zips for air flow or a packable pocket. If these options are vital to you, we recommend upgrading to the REI Rainier Jacket as an alternative. Learn the SectionHiker Assessment.

LL Bean Path Mannequin Rain Jacket

The LL Bean Path Mannequin Rain Jacket is a 2.5-layer waterproof-breathable rain shell with fully-taped seams. It has an hooked up 3-point adjustable hood with a Velcro quantity adjuster on the again of the hood. It has two zip hand pockets, one exterior zip chest pocket, and a zipper pocket for stuff. Plus, the middle zip has a Velcro-closure storm flap for added air flow. A ladies’s mannequin can be obtainable.

Frogg Toggs UL2 Rain Jacket

The Frogg Toggs UL2 Rain Jacket (a part of the UL2 rain go well with, but additionally obtainable individually) is a cheap, utility jacket favored by many backpackers as a result of it’s so light-weight and cheap. It’s made with a non-woven polypropylene material that’s completely waterproof. Whereas the UL2 Rain Jacket does have an adjustable hood, it doesn’t have any pockets or different options that you simply discover on most different rain jackets. The match can be fairly saggy and the fabric is well ripped. However it’s straightforward to restore with duct tape, and for under $30, it’s a surprisingly good worth that gives cheap rain safety and heat. Unisex solely.

Frogg Toggs Xtreme Lite

The Frogg Toggs Xtreme Lite is an enormous step up from the Frogg Toggs UL2 Rain Jacket when it comes to match with a totally adjustable hood, zippered facet pockets, velcro wrist closures, and a cord-adjustable waist. It’s additionally completely waterproof and way more sturdy and higher becoming than the UL2 rain jacket. Whereas the Xtreme Lite is twice as costly because the UL2 rain jacket, the distinction is properly value it. Out there in males’s and girls’s fashions. Learn the SectionHiker evaluation.

Rock Entrance Rain Hoody

The Rock Entrance Rain Hoody is an anorak-style rain jacket particularly designed for mountaineering and backpacking. It’s made with 15d Sil/PU-coated nylon with extra-long facet pit-zips and adjustable wrist drawstrings to forestall moisture from seeping up your arms. Reduce further lengthy, it received’t experience up underneath your pack’s hipbelt, whereas its adjustable hood and entrance invoice assist maintain the rain out of your eyes and off your glasses. It’s finest utilized in cooler climate as a result of it traps appreciable warmth even when vented. Sizing is unisex. Learn the SectionHiker Assessment.

Columbia Hikebound II Jacket

The Columbia Hikebound II Jacket is a 2-layer waterproof/breathable rain jacket with an adjustable hood, velcro wrist cuffs, a zippered chest and handwarmer pockets, a drawcord hem, and entrance beak to maintain rain off your face. A droptail hem helps maintain your butt dry when carrying a backpack, whereas the sizing is roomy, which is sweet for layering in colder climate. This jacket can be obtainable in large and tall sizes. A ladies’s mannequin is accessible.

Warbonnet Stash Jacket

The Warbonnet Stash Jacket is a light-weight 5.0 oz rain jacket made with the waterproof material that Warbonnet makes use of to make their backpacking quilts (it’s additionally obtainable in a breathable non-waterproof material). It has torso-length pit zips, elastic cuffs, and an adjustable snug-fitting hood with toggled neck controls. I’ve been utilizing one all spring, it packs up very small and works nice as a rain jacket. It’s additionally obtainable in quite a lot of colours together with camouflage. Sizing is unisex.

Columbia Watertight II Rain Jacket

The Columbia WaterTight II Rain Jacket is a packable waterproof-breathable, absolutely seam-sealed jacket that may maintain you good and dry, even within the heaviest of rains. It has an adjustable storm hood with hook-and-loop cuffs, and a cinchable hem to seal out the weather, whereas zippered hand pockets safe your smaller necessities. The within of the jacket is lined with breathable mesh which helps decrease inside condensation and wicks away moisture to maintain you comfortably dry. It has a traditional reduce that’s hip size with a center-back size of 29in. The ladies’s mannequin known as the Arcadia II Rain Jacket.

HOW TO BUY A BACKPACKING RAIN JACKET

What are crucial options to search for on a mountaineering and backpacking rain jacket?

Adjustable Hoods

When selecting a rain jacket be sure that the hood is NOT helmet-compatible, until you’ve an enormous Godzilla-sized head. Sadly, many rain jackets are meant for skiers and climbers who put on protecting helmets. What you must search for is a totally adjustable hood with a rear quantity adjustment so you’ll be able to shrink the hood measurement to suit your head, facet pulls so you’ll be able to modify the dimensions of the face opening, a wire or shapeable brim to defend your eyes from wind and snow, and a excessive collar that covers your neck and mouth. All of those options will assist defend your face from the chilly and wind and provide help to keep hotter.

Zippered Pockets

You possibly can’t have too many rain jacket pockets. They’re nice for carrying spare gloves, hats, and holding navigation instruments in straightforward attain. They’re additionally good for holding snacks shut at hand so you’ll be able to eat whilst you hike. I view rain jacket pockets as an extension of my backpack as a result of the additional storage cuts down on the variety of instances I’ve to cease to get garments or meals out of my pack.

Venting Capabilities

When you need to hike in cool moist climate, you wish to restrict the quantity you perspire by actively managing your heat stage. The important thing to doing this includes venting extra heat by eradicating or venting layers. rain jacket ought to present a number of methods so that you can dump extra warmth with out having to take it off fully. Listed below are among the most vital options to search for when evaluating completely different jackets.

Adjustable Hook and Loop (Velcro) Wrist Closures: These assist regulate the physique warmth at your wrists the place the blood flows near the floor of your pores and skin. They are often worn underneath gloves or over them relying in your choice and the glove kind.
Two way-front zipper: In the event you pull the underside half up, you’ll be able to dump quite a lot of extra torso warmth, poncho-style.
Hem drawcord: Cinch it closed to maintain the wind from blowing up between your legs and robbing your torso warmth.

Breathability Rankings

What must you search for when it comes to breathability rankings when taking a look at mountaineering rain jackets? For cheap rain jackets, one of the best you’ll be able to hope for is 10,000 (g/m^2/d) MVTR (movable water vapor transmission charge), which is fairly lackluster. A lot of the producers listed above don’t publish the MVTRs for his or her jackets, as a result of they’re not that aggressive with costlier clothes,

However to be sincere, I don’t belief the breathability rankings revealed by producers as a result of they’re measured in supreme laboratory situations which have little to do with precise use. Pit zips and lively venting trump breathability claims any day. In the event you get too sizzling, venting your rain jacket goes to chill and dry you off way more shortly than ready for water vapor to maneuver throughout a breathable membrane whereas your zipper is closed.

Waterproof/Breathable or Not?

If staying perspiration-free within the rain is vital to you whilst you’re mountaineering down a path carrying a loaded backpack…perhaps you must decide one other sport. Perspiring is inevitable. So is condensation, when the inside of your rain jacket is hotter than the outside floor. Consider a rain jacket as a part of your bigger layering system as an alternative. The primary function of a rain jacket is to maintain you heat when it’s raining or the wind is blowing arduous when utilized in mixture with a mid or base layer. Your aim must be to remain heat and keep away from hypothermia.

The final word query is whether or not you must trouble shopping for a water-resistant/breathable jacket with crummy breathability specs or one which’s waterproof however not breathable because you’re going to get moist inside anyway. Whereas heavier, many waterproof/breathable jackets are higher high quality than non-breathable ones with extra options, together with taped seams. They’re usually hotter too. No matter you determine, pay shut consideration to the options of the jackets you’re evaluating. We predict crucial rain jacket options are three-way adjustable hoods, pit zips, zippered pockets, and taped seams, adopted by velcro wrist cuffs and hem adjusters.

DWR Coatings

In the event you do purchase a water-resistant/breathable jacket that’s coated with a chemical DWR layer (sturdy water repellent) that makes water bead when it hits the material and rolls off. The draw back of this design is that the DWR coating rubs off with use. When this occurs your jacket will stay waterproof, however it’ll stop to be breathable in any respect. When that occurs, most backpackers purchase a brand new jacket, on common each 2-3 years, as an alternative of attempting to revive the DWR coating with a product like Nikwax TX Direct. Alternatively, many hikers and backpacks purchase rain jackets which might be made with non-breathable materials. Lots of these rain jackets have pit-zips and different venting options to assist cut back inside sweat build-up when it rains as an alternative of breathability.

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