Ian Ferguson

This treatment has kept my Marmot Precip jacket super water repellant for over a year. Before treatment, water was seeping through to the underside of the fabric after just five minutes of moderate rain. After, and still to this day, I can hike vigorously for hours in a downpour and remain dry and comfortable. Breathability of the fabric was improved by the treatment as well. Great product, just follow the directions and take your time applying. According to the bottle, 9oz should be used to treat a jacket, but I got away with about 6oz on my jacket and haven't had a problem. Unless you just want to treat a pair of pants, gaiters, or a backpack, I would buy a bigger size than the 5oz bottle offered here (or just buy two, or five-you'll find a use for them).

Judging from the reviews, the waterproof-ness of this jacket can be hit or miss. Mine was miss. After a month of use it stopped holding up to five minutes of moderate rain, to the point where I could see water droplets seeping through to the underside of the fabric.
Not wanting to waste the jacket, I treated it with Nikwax. I have not had a problem with this jacket ever since. That was over a year ago. To this day it is my primary shell. It is super light and packable, and it fits over many layers. From one spray-on DWR treatment, this jacket has held up to a year's worth of heavy downpours. It still breathes - I can hike aggressively in it without sweating too much. Freedom of movement is good. Durability is good. In other words, it's an all around great jacket now that it's fully waterproof, I just had to treat it to get it there. So maybe this is a better review for Nikwax TX Direct Spray on...

This hat is great for six reasons: it's windproof, it's warm, it's not bulky or heavy, it's comfortable, its durable, and it looks good. It's such a good insulator, it muffles sound a little. It's a also slightly pointy, depending on the shape of your head and how you wear it. These two minor drawbacks are a small price to pay for such a well designed hat.

This is the jacket I wear the most. Hiking, skiing, belaying, walking the dog; it's versatile, and I'm very happy with it. I'm 5'11" 165 lbs and got it in a large, which fits well except the arms are long. The insulation is low-profile, so it works well as a layering piece. And for such light weight, it's pretty warm (not VERY warm). My biggest complaint? The outer fabric is super delicate. While mine hasn't fully torn yet, stray branches from bushwhacking and skiing have caught threads in the outer fabric, causing the weave to pucker vertically. This has happened on two separate occasions, and I've only had the jacket four months. These weren't big, heavy branches, they were small but sufficiently sharp twigs. So purchase this jacket, but be gentle on the outer fabric.

I spent two months sleeping in this tent while hitchhiking through europe with a buddy.
For light weight, ease of setup and take-down, functionality, durability, and simplicity, this is the greatest tent i have ever had the pleasure of sleeping in. The tent took a beating (we pitched it everywhere from Irish mountaintops to Spanish parking garages) with nary a tear or loose thread. The zippers pulled snag free every time. The ventilation was effective - I never felt like I couldn't breathe in the tent, as I have in many single and double-walled tents. I have a hunch the bright interior played a role in keeping our morale up throughout the two months. By the end of the trip, I was questioning the value of houses: why not live in a tent for the rest of my life? I would live in no other tent but this one.
I'm 5'11" and my buddy is 6'. We were able to sleep in the tent with our backpacks on rainy days (which there were a lot of). It was admittedly cramped, because our backpacks were huge, but cramped can equal cozy with the right mindset, and I think backpacking in general requires a certain psychological shift that makes you more open to discomfort in exchange for freedom/exploration/escape/whatever reason you are camping to begin with.
The tent leaks in heavy rains. We dealt with it, but some may not want to. Those who say this tent is meant for alpine-style summit assaults are correct-it's better at sheltering you from dry snow than rain. However, if you're not afraid of a few drips, this tent is great for extended backpacking trips. A waterproofing fabric treatment is something else you could look into, however do your research because chemicals in waterproofing treatments could theoretically compromise the integrity of the fabric.