Comments on: REI Shuksan Shell Jacket

By: doug

doug — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 04:52:22 +0000

i just ordered a shuksan and then read the reviews on rei site. they both said it’s not waterproof at all. i called rei a few hours later and they said too late, they might be able to stop shipment in the morning. if they don’t i will receive it and am trying to decide now whether to refuse it or give it a try.i was excited about event fabric but maybe it’s just hype?

By: Jon Moceri

Jon Moceri — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:22:35 +0000

I bought an Integral Designs Event jacket several years ago. I was amazed at it’s waterproofness and breathability. However, after several years of use, it lost its waterproofness despite washing with Nikwax Tech Wash and then treating with Nikwax Direct Wash-in water repellent.

My sister had the same problem with her Event jacket, so mine wasn’t an isolated problem.

I still love the jacket and use it for skiing all season. Just not on the rainy days.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:31:37 +0000

I spent a week biking Tibet in an Integral Design eVent jacket and pants and will testify that they work much better than Goretex. The rain pants kept pouring rain out for hours, let zero water in, no condensation even while biking, and dried in minutes and were comfortable enough to wear all evening after with no clamminess. The jacket is light, totally waterproof in constant hours of hard rain, and cycling, yet breaths almost better than my Cloudveil light softshell. Really mind boggling. I’ve used all the evolutions of gortex since it was first developed up to the latest. I won’t go back.

By: Scott

Scott — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:31:46 +0000

I was wondering how HyVent Alpha compares in all this. I was looking to get the TNF Heathen or Lightspeed but wondered what the real difference in the fabrics were. Are they similarly waterproof and durable? Sorry this has absolutely nothing to do with eVent.

By: Seth the sweater

Seth the sweater — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:48:05 +0000

So I recently got the Shuksan and must say it works better than anything else I have tried. After skinning to the top of a mountain recently in VT I was so wet in my North Face Mountain Light shell water was dripping from the inside of my shell down my pants. I thought my water bottle in my pack had sprung a leak.

I did a test recently running for 1 hour in all my respective shells in the same weather (different days) with the same layers underneath. Here is how they all did:

-North Face Mountain Light (Gore Tex)-shirt mostly soaked, shell partially soak and saturated

-Columbia Titanium soft shell- completely soaked shirt, partially soaked and saturated shell

-Marmot Precip Shell- shirt mostly soaked, shell dripping with condensation but not saturated like the other two

REI eVent Shuksan- lower front of shirt damp, top front dry, upper back of shirt very damp, shell damp in upper back but the rest of it was mostly dry to slightly damp

In summary the only thing I own that is better at breathing is my cycling shell and running jacket. Neither is waterproof or windproof and both are one layer design. They obviously both breathe better but not significantly which is impressive considering.