O2 RainwearOriginal Hooded Jacket

Nice, inexpensive rain jacket with dropped tail to protect the rear-end. This is NOT a Tyvek jacket as described by some reviewers; I've worn tyvek biohaz suits as an evidence tech at crime scenes, and believe me, they are not breathable. My experience thus far is that this jacket breaths only slightly less than my whisper-weight nylon windbreaker. Unlike the windbreaker, I hope it will keep the gritty-filthy road film from soaking through three layers all the way to my skin so I'm not a skunk with a black stripe up my back on my good clothes when I get to work. Have worn twice on a rainy day where I managed to be just ahead or behind the rain the entire rides, so am unable to rate its "waterproofness" yet. But pluses so far - light; bright!; reasonably breathable when completely zipped (and I adjust cooling via the zipper, which might not work so well when pedaling into a driving rain); hood fits over helmet (don't understand a biking rain jacket without a hood - don't like wet street dirt/grit/mud/oil on my neck or in my hair, anymore than I like it on my clothing or skin); plenty sturdier than described by some other reviewers (not going to rip it riding on city streets or putting on, taking off); nice bag of same material to store it for protection when tossed in pannier; and cheap, cheap, cheap! I cannot see paying hundreds of dollars for jackets that are gonna get covered in grime. . .01-25-15 Update on above - Have now worn the jacket in a brisk drizzle and a light rain; (just missed the heavy rain). The jacket performed fine, no rain got through, and let me keep a comfortable temp, neither too hot nor too cold. Once at work, I put the jacket on for a few seconds while in the shower to wash off the road grime, and the water did not get through to the inside even while in the shower.I'm seeing some people complain about the jacket not being warm enough. I classify this as a rain jacket, period, with the advantage of being breathable. To get and keep correct body temp while biking, I wear the correct weight and number of layers of clothing beneath the jacket, same as I do with my windbreaker. So, if you're too cold or too hot, you simply need to adjust what you have on underneath the jacket. Still VERY satisfied and still just waiting for a good honest rain-rain to give it the five stars. Right now, I put it at 4.5 stars.06-20-15 - After an unusually wet May (record setting) in Phoenix, I've now been in a full-fledged, soak-your-clothes, flood-the-roads rain in this jacket - and it performed GREAT. No rain got through; the jacket continued to breath; the road-dirt skunk stripe stayed on the jacket, not on me; and a quick rinse of the jacket in the shower cleaned it off completely. I've worn it into the high 80s and just moved the zipper down lower for more cooling and I still stayed dry.Now, the temps here are currently 115 degrees in the day - once the monsoon hits and the temps remain over 100, the jacket is probably going to be too warm for me to wear in the rain. I've have to go back to wearing a throw-away shirt and showering afterward to get the mud off me. But the jacket is holding up great and has been tumbling 'round in the bottom of my bike bag with other stuff bouncing on top of it for seven months, so it's a five-star inexpensive KEEPER.12-28-2017 - two more years, and jacket still going strong! Quite possibly the best 30 bucks I've ever spent.04-04-2019 - I have got to buy another of these as a backup before they are no longer available. Still using, still in same shape as the day I got it, after five years of tumbling around inside its little bag at the bottom on my pannier. I think it is basically indestructible, so long as you don't try to run scissors through it.12-30-2020 - still wearing it, in same shape as day I got it, bag is getting a little worn. Most recently, worn biking in a driving rain where my leather shoes soaked through and ran over, my socks ringing wet, my bike pants wringing wet . . . . but I was bone dry under the rain jacket!!12-12-2022 - Bag is looking really ratty now, but still the rain jacket is going strong! I got about as much rainy riding in two years as the previous one (pandemic), but still loving the jacket and the price. When the bag gives up the ghost, I will be buying another one of these as backup for when the jacket also finally gives up the ghost.

I was looking for a lightweight, breathable raincoat that I could stuff into my hydration pack in case of rain during a hike. This jacket is exactly what I wanted.Weight: about 6 ounces - hard to find anything lighterWaterproof: I've only been rained on once with it, but it seemed to do the job. I read a detailed review where the reviewer said he shaped part of the jacket like a cup, filled it with water, and left it sit for 24 hours with no leaking (he claimed that Gore-Tex is not as waterproof). I tried a similar experiment. I turned the stuff sack inside out (made of the same material as the jacket), filled it with water, and hung it by the drawstring. A few hours later, there were a few drops forming on the surface in a few spots. When I emptied it and turned it right-side-out, the areas that had leaked seemed to have water sticking to them, unlike the rest of the surface where the water rolled right off. Perhaps the leaky areas had small abrasions from being carried around in my pack. Anyway, I wouldn't consider the tiny amount of leakage significant considering that water pressure was applied for hours.Breathable: Scientific studies show the Propore material that this jacket is made out of is much more breathable than Gore-Tex, especially when there is minimal water vapor, so you don't have to wait until a lot of water vapor builds up inside the jacket for it to start breathing. Based on my own experience, I guess it breathes OK, but it's hard to really say. The jacket is windproof, so your body heat gets trapped inside the jacket, so you'll feel hotter with the jacket on even if your sweat is able to get out.Packable: You can crush it down pretty small, but if it isn't kept under pressure it will puff back up. This is actually somewhat related to how it feels when you wear it. The sleeves don't really lay down on your arms; they puff up around your arms. This is a good thing, since it allows some space for air instead of sticking to your sweaty arms when you are hiking.Material feel: The material is very thin, and feels smooth somewhat like plastic on the outside, and somewhat like cloth (with a very slight furriness) on the inside. It feels comfortable. The long review I read claimed it was "brittle." I completely disagree with that. The material is thin, and you could probably poke your finger through if you wanted to, but it is extremely flexible, not brittle. I definitely would NOT expect it to withstand rubbing against sharp rocks -- the material is more like a plastic bag than like nylon fabric.The material is bright yellow, which is good if you don't want to be run over by a car or shot by a hunter. I wear large shirts (6 feet tall, 190 pounds, athletic build), and the large jacket fit me as I would expect -- just barely enough extra room to slip my hydration pack underneath if I want to. It's pretty minimalistic. There are no pockets. The zipper doesn't look like it will last forever, but then neither does the material (it aims to be lightweight -- you can't have everything).This is a great jacket if weight and breathability are important to you. It's not fancy or cool-looking. If you want a raincoat to hang in the closet and wear to the mall, this is NOT the jacket for you.

First, I'm not a cyclist. Sure, I ride a bike around town and such, but no one is mistaking me for a cyclist. Truth is the XXL version of this hooded rain jacket is 'right-sized' as an outer layer for me which probably doesn't cause Lance Armstrong (too soon?) to shiver in his competitive boots.In a market full of what I think are extremely expensive, super-technical 'shells' from any number of outdoor specialty vendors, the O2 very much suited my needs. I work outdoors in the rain, doing little more than walking/jogging around. A yellow 'slicker' fits within uniform requirements, so I stretched the definition of stiff, hot 'slicker' for the O2 and haven't looked back. On a recent rainy night where visibility and dryness were key, my boss even commented on how sharp I looked. Well whaddaya know?Yes, the material can be startling at first glance and touch. It challenges a lot of our thinking - at least mine anyway, even after reading the other reviews. It's light and dare I say crinkle-y. If fact, even when it's not raining, moving around in it it sounds a bit like you're being sprinkled upon. But, think about it...a water proof, breathable garment that you can shove into another waterproof breathable little pouch for under $30! That's fairly amazing to me.Is it indestructible? Hardly, but for my money this is a tool for a very specific application and it warrants minding the trade-offs. I don't treat it like ripstop canvas and it treats me well in return. For that matter, if it lasted only a season it's darned-near disposable!