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Our rainy day experts have been testing pants for the last 7 years with over 25 different models exposed to rain and sleet. This review covers 9 top pairs, which we've put head to head in a series of tests. We take the time to test each product in the field while hiking, biking, and exploring through all sorts of rain. Light, heavy, big drops, small drops — our expert testers rate ventilation, comfort, value, and several other key metrics. After exploring all the rainy places from Patagonia to the USA, and stops in between, we offer our award winners and recommendations, unbiased and designed to help you in your quest for the best rain pant.
Searching for other types of pants? We showcase top-ranking products in our best pants review. Also, our women's testing team performed in-depth testing on women's specific rain pants. While most models come in men's and women's versions, we find they sometimes perform differently, so we do the tests to find out. Check out our picks for the best rain jackets, too.
DWR didn't last as long as other models and will need retreatment
The Outdoor Research Foray Pant is a compact, light protection layer made with excellent materials and careful attention to detail. The fabric is soft and stretchy, and the cut is close and athletic; the pants weigh just 10 ounces and pack smaller than most t-shirts. In even the wettest and coldest of Adirondacks hikes, they kept us dry and comfortable. This is a rare combination. Packable and fully functional don't usually go together in rain pants, and other full-protection and readily breathable products are typically much heavier. Light products in this category are usually inexpensive and compromise on performance by using lower-quality materials.
The OR Foray's primary limitation, as it pertains to function, is in durability. These are thin pants that won't hold up to extensive bush-whacking or use around sharp and abrasive things.
The Columbia Rebel Roamer is the best, most protective rain pant you can buy for the price. This is a durable pant with great weather resistance that we found comparable to some of the higher-end options. They're comfortable and also versatile — we used them for skiing, too. If you're on a budget or just don't want to spend a ton of money on rain pants that you might not use very often, then these versatile bad boys blow the low-priced competition out of the water. You can certainly buy nicer rain pants, but with all things considered regarding weight, compressed size, and weather resistance, these pants are a fantastic value.
On the downside, the Rebel Roamer are not very breathable. There are no ventilation options, and there is no zipper at the bottom to allow you to slip these on easier over your footwear. This means that unless you're wearing low-profile trail runners or tennis shoes, you'll likely have to take your shoes off to put these on. There are also no added features like pockets (nope, not a single one). Overall, though, these are a great budget option and one that we heartily recommend.
The Rebel Roamer offers unbeatable value. In fact, we think as an all-around rain pant for backpacking and hiking - or even snowshoeing and downhill skiing - this is the best pant on the market at this price.
The Outdoor Research Helium is the best option for folks who put a premium on every extra ounce and cubic inch of space in their pack. This award is also for folks who end up carrying an emergency pair on day hikes, bike trips, cross-country ski days, and just about any outdoor activity in which the weather can take a blustery or wet turn.
The Helium pant isn't super quick to pull on and only provides average breathability and durability. They pack down very small, though, and at 6.5 ounces, they are by far the lightest pants in our review. Despite their light weight, they still manage to offer respectable storm worthiness.
Our entire review team loved the Helium pant. This is the perfect rain pant for backpacking or climbing trips where it will live in your pack 95% of the time, but when worn, still provides enough protection for when the weather turns grim.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
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Drying out after several days of testing and side-by-side comparisons in the field. A large fall storm rolled through and we "took advantage" of the conditions on an extended backpacking trip.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Why You Should Trust Us
After spending several hours researching different products and making a selection for this review, we purchased each product (at retail) to test each product in hand. Our experts have spent hundreds of hours testing the best models on the market in the rainy Pacific Northwest. We've hiked, skied, backpacked, and climbed in remote terrain with wind and rain pouring down on us. These experiences help us amass a wealth of data on each rain pant to objectively compare each product. In addition, we keep tabs on the market, making sure we have the low down on the best products and the latest technology, testing them as they become available.
Our rain pants testing is divided across seven different metrics:
Water Resistance (25% of overall score weighting)
Comfort and Mobility (20% weighting)
Breathability and Venting (20% weighting)
Weight (15% weighting)
Packed Size (10% weighting)
Features (5% weighting)
Durability (5% weighting)
Our expert panel consists of gear testers Jediah Porter and Ian Nicholson; both international certified IFMGA/American Mountain Guides. Jed is based in the Eastern Sierra leads adventures that range from rock climbing to ski mountaineering. Ian is based in the Pacific Northwest, where wet weather is a regular occurrence. He estimates that over the last two decades, he has donned rain gear over 2,000 days. When they aren't guiding, Jed and Ian spend most of their time pursuing their own outdoor objectives. This team knows the value of having the right gear and is no stranger to unpredictable and inclement weather.
Trekking and testing our exciting fleet!
Analysis and Test Results
Great rain pants will keep you dry and comfortable when the weather gets wet and soggy. The best rain pants offer ventilation to keep you from overheating while you're on the move. You also want a pant that'll pack away when not in use.
This review focuses on a broad range of rain pant designs and features. The ones we select offer some level of packability, breathability, and water resistance. After testing each product while backpacking, hiking, and mountaineering, we evaluate each comparatively using with key metrics. This is where our award winners and recommendations spawn from. Read on to learn about the technical comparisons of each product out there.
Value
We take pride in determining which models to select as the cream of the crop for each category we review. We also do some deep deliberating as we calculate which contenders offer the highest price-to-value ratio. We've recently awarded the Columbia Rebel Roamer our Best Bang for the Buck Award, as no other model can match its stormworthiness, weight, and packed volume for the price. Another great, lower-priced option that we love is the Marmot PreCip Eco Pant.
Don't let a poor forecast keep you from embarking on a hike or backpacking trip you've been planning for ages. With the right rain gear, even a wet and windy trip can be nearly as enjoyable as a sunny one. At the very least, it's likely to have a little more solitude. In the review below, we break down the advantages of different pants for different applications.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Water Resistance
A rain pant should keep its user dry in the rain, whether hiking, backpacking, watching a sporting event, or out walking the dog. As a result, this was the most heavily weighted category at 25 percent. Manufacturers use many different waterproof fabrics and construction methods with different design characteristics and, thus, different performance levels depending on the application. While each manufacturer conducts a significant amount of testing to quantify exactly how waterproof each fabric is, it's important to understand that all of the pants in this review use waterproof fabric. How well they keep us dry is more a matter of design.
The stormy environments included in our testing spanned from exceptionally wet spring ski mountaineering on Washington's Ptarmigan Traverse as well as the volcanos above Chile's temperate rain forests. Testing also included snowshoeing around Lake Tahoe and backpacking in Olympic National Park, with a handful of classic mountaineering adventures across the western US thrown in for good measure.
It is in duress that the full zip attribute of a pair of shell pants becomes truly valuable. Here, tester Jed Porter on a Chile's Volcan Lonquimay in tough weather, preparing for a white-out ski descent.
Credit: Jediah Porter
All the pants we tested have the seams taped after sewing, offering as watertight of a package as possible. What differentiates the performance when a light sprinkle turns to a downpour mostly comes down to each model's overall design, including pocket closures, how well various vents stayed closed, and to a slightly lesser extent, the longevity of the outer materials DWR.
The differences between the various materials are more noticeable when it comes to breathability and overall longevity. However, from a strictly water-resistant standpoint, the fact that one fabric is waterproof to 30 PSI and another to 50 PSI doesn't make a functional difference to the wearer despite some manufacturers' hype.
All of the pants we tested were waterproof. The field comparison of shell pants here demonstrates kneeling and rolling around in wet snow while teaching crevasse rescue techniques on Mt. Hood, Oregon.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Rain, sleet, or snow will not penetrate the fabrics that make up these pants. However, in a downpour, running water could potentially seep in through a pocket, leak in via a side pocket that is not completely closed, or work its way down to where the waistband meets your body. To test water resistance, we stood in a standard indoor shower for four minutes, determining which contenders could withstand the test. We also performed a side-by-side, five minutes spraydown with a garden hose to systematically compare their weather resistance and storm worthiness.
In addition to using these pants on trips over several months, our review team also performed two side-by-side tests: a four minute in the shower test, and a five minute garden hose comparison to help fine tune the water-resistance metric.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
We also tested how each contender kept us dry in the field, using them for several months, enduring many wet fall overnight backpacking trips, day hikes, and mountaineering excursions in the Pacific Northwest. After extensive testing, we found that the Marmot Minimalist, OR Foray, and Arc'teryx Beta AR Pant kept us the driest in both real-world and side-by-side testing.
Another vital factor to consider is the longevity of the pant's water resistance and its durable water repellent (DWR) treatment. This treatment is factory applied to the fabric's exterior and makes water bead and shed rain and snow. Even though nylon and polyester are both quite water repellant to begin with, if they aren't treated with a DWR (or once their DWR has worn off), they will absorb moisture. The result is the exterior of the pant becomes covered with a thin but continuous film of water, which results in a heavier pant and reduced breathability. The DWR used on the Marmot PreCip Eco Full-Zip and Marmot Minimalist Pant stood out above the rest. All the models we tested beaded water well when we first bought them; however, similar to any piece of rain gear, they should be retreated to renew DWR when needed.
Ian Nicholson runs into... rain pant testing!
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Comfort and Mobility
Whether hiking, climbing, Nordic skiing, riding your bike, or just crawling over a downed log, comfort and mobility were defined by how much the pant's design and fabric might limit the user's range of motion and ability to engage in particular activities. The super-stretchy Mountain Hardwear Stretch Ozonic Pant had the best overall mobility and was a cut above the rest. We mean it when we say this fabric is stretchy, to a level we haven't seen before.
The Marmot Minimalist and Outdoor Research Foray offered a solid design with good articulation, and we could easily clamber over downed logs blocking the trail. Among the more price-pointed options, the Columbia Rebel Roamer and Patagonia Torrentshell 3L Pant offered good mobility and comfort.
Testing rain gear is uncomfortable. But hiking without it in the rain is even less comfortable. We made sure to test all the attributes in all the conditions. Here, assessing mobility in a driving South American rain storm.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Breathability and Venting
Our water resistance category compared how well each pant kept their user dry from the outside, while the breathability and ventilation metric quantifies how well each competitor keeps their user dry from the inside. We considered two main factors when awarding scores for this metric (which is weighted at 20% of our overall ratings).
First, we considered the ability of the pant's fabric to breathe; this is where the different waterproof technologies distinguished themselves, as the differences between models were quite dramatic in some cases. These multi-layered fabrics allowed water vapor to pass through the material, from the inside to the outside, where it could subsequently evaporate. We also studied how well each model's features allowed for ventilation and moving moisture directly.
Many of the pants we reviewed feature three-quarter or full-length side zippers. These sidezips can facilitate some ventilation, but their primary design is to allow the wearer to quickly pull the pant on or off without removing footwear.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
While breathability and ventilation are essential in keeping their wearer dry, these two factors do not play an equal role. For example, if it's raining hard or you're simply walking up a wet, brushy, or overgrown trail, having your side zippers open isn't an option. In fact, opening your side zips in anything more than a light drizzle is a quick way to soak your legs (and likely your boots, too). Brrrr. Due to this unavoidable problem, we weighted breathability significantly higher than a pant's ability to ventilate.
There was a pretty big difference in breathability among models we tested. We found that Gore-Tex models often scored the highest in our breathability tests.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Side-By-Side Hiking Test
We tested the breathability of all of these pants on wet hiking, backpacking, and mountaineering trips, as well as in a handful of more systematic tests, such as during a 10-minute stair master test at the Seattle Vertical World.
Ventilation
As far as keeping the user dry, ventilation makes less of a difference in real-world applications when compared to breathability. Why? It can be challenging to utilize ventilation if it's raining. Ventilation can be worthwhile after it has stopped raining, before you remove your rain gear. Most shell pant manufacturers design pants with full and 3/4 length side zippers to make them easier to put on and take off without removing your shoes.
We prefer 3/4-length zippers to full-length zips. Full-zip rain pants often have velcro tabs at the waist, which can be uncomfortable when worn with a pack.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
In the end, the most breathable pant in our review is the Mountain Hardwear Stretch Ozonic; the Ozonic is constructed with Dry.Q Elite fabric. Unlike Gore-Tex, Dry.Q Elite is air permeable and doesn't require the wearer to build up heat in exchange for breathability. This means they keep breathing even if once you have stopped working hard, something that products using Gore-Tex and other ePTFE fabrics can't do nearly as well.
The next most breathable models are Outdoor Research Foray and the Marmot Minimalist. These pants offer similar designs while using Gore-Tex PacLite. If we are exerting effort and the outside air temperature is cold, these fabrics could breathe equally as well as the Stretch Ozonic. However, if we weren't working as hard or it's warmer out, the Stretch Ozonic offers superior breathability.
We appreciate being able to dump a little heat between downpours or once it has stopped raining.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
The last model worth noting on the more price-pointed end of the spectrum is the Marmot PreCip models (1/4 zip and full-zip iterations). While the Marmot PreCip pants are not quite as breathable as the previously mentioned models, their breathability is impressive at the price point they hit.
In rain pants, we find breathability to be a far more important attribute than ventilation when backpacking, hiking, or mountaineering. This is because if it is really raining hard, opening vents to "stay cool" is a sure way to get wet.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
A Note on Breathability
Remember that you can get hot and sweaty while hiking uphill when you're only wearing a base layer. We've overheard far too many people complaining that their shell pants didn't breathe at all, or enough for their needs. Every competitor in this review allows moisture to pass through them. However, they might not always be capable of letting as much moisture pass through as you'd like at any given moment, primarily if you're working hard while potentially wearing too many layers, or while operating at a high exertion rate in warmer temperatures. Consider that if there is a point when your lightweight t-shirt can't pass moisture quick enough to stay completely dry, know the same is likely true for the pants you're wearing. Wear the minimum you can get away with for the conditions.
Whether surmounting a fallen log when day hiking, hopping across rocks over a stream, or putting up a new route in Patagonia, there are a near infinite amount of reasons why having unrestricted mobility is important. Photo: Graham Zimmerman climbing a new route on Los Gemelos, Torres del Paine area of Chilean Patagonia.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Weight
Most people carry their rain pants in their packs more often than they end up wearing them, and thus, we weighted weight higher in our scoring metric than other pieces of technical outerwear we've tested. Even among the selected models, which are all designed to be lighter, there was a significant difference in weight.
Since rain pants are a piece of gear most people end up carrying more than wearing, weight is an important factor. We weighed each pair of pants in-house for our review.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
We measured the mass of all models on our scale. The Outdoor Research Helium came in under seven ounces, which was nearly half the weight of many of the pants on our list. While the Helium lacks durability and features, it makes for an excellent "just in case" rain pant. If weight is your primary consideration, the Helium is hard to pass up.
The Marmot PreCip Eco weighs an impressive 8.5 oz. The Mountain Hardwear Stretch Ozonic and Outdoor Research Foray were other notably lightweight options, around 10 oz.
Whether out for a day hike or 20 pitches up El Captain when it starts to rain, it seems you can never get your rain gear on quick enough. Being able to pull your shell pants over your shoes and existing clothing is super convenient. Ryan O'Connell getting prepared just as it starts to rain on the final (exposed to weather) pitches on Tangerine Trip.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Packed Size
For most users, regardless of application, packed size is likely one of the most important features when on the hunt for a pair of shell pants. Even more than rain jackets, rain pants tend to live in the bottom of most packs, taken out occasionally, and used sparingly when the weather turns grim.
The most packable pant tested was the Outdoor Research Helium, which took up about half the volume of nearly every other contender. Even the next closest models, such as the Mountain Hardwear Stretch Ozonic, Outdoor Research Foray, or Columbia Rebel Roamer, were all bulkier than the Helium.
Packed volume is worth considering since most people's rain pants spend a lot of time packed away.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Features
In this category, we compared several features that made a given model easier to use. This includes things like putting on and removing a pant quickly and how well it could be donned over various pieces of footwear. When it starts to rain, it is rarely convenient to remove your footwear; because of this, we gave higher scores to models that were quicker to pull on without removing our boots or shoes. We also take into account any features or adjustments that keep different models from falling down. Finally, we considered pockets in the features category.
We thoroughly tested and compared each model and how easy they were to pull over larger volume boots while mountaineering, snowshoeing, or Nordic skiing (where many people deploy these pants for additional warmth) compared to low-volume trail runners or light hiking shoes. Several models utilized designs that let the pants zip entirely in half. While this wasn't a necessity, it certainly made it easier to don the pants over more substantial volume footwear, like snowshoes, crampons, and even skis.
All of our testers appreciated the benefits of side zippers. However, after extensive testing, most of us preferred the 3/4 length designs over full zips due to their lighter weight and higher comfort.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
We discovered a few minor downsides to the full-zip models, which zip 100% of the way from the waist to the ankle. These models needed to have beefy Velcro or snap closure at the waist (near the top of the zipper along the waist area); if not robust enough, our pants would come undone and sometimes slide down.
Some models with beefy Velcro or snap-style closures would pinch under a pack's waist belt if it was heavily loaded. Full-length zippers are an obvious weight trade-off. Most of our testers (depending on activity) thought that these few ounces (3-5 additional ounces on average for side zips) made donning and shedding our rain trousers far easier and thus were worth the minimal extra weight, particularly for mountaineering applications.
Some models only had a quarter-length zipper near the cuff of the pant. These could usually slide on easily over lightweight footwear, but for bulky hiking or mountaineering boots, you'll probably want to select a pant with a longer zip.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
We favored 3/4 length zippers, as they strike a nice balance of easy on and off, and ease of use. We loved that the 3/4 zipper saved a bit of weight and didn't require a bulky closure system near the waist of the pant. We also found that we could still pull these pants over most light to mid-weight footwear.
We appreciated a pant with some sort of cuff-cinching feature. Several pants either sported a Velcro flap or a piece of shock cord and toggle. This can help keep snow or debris out of your boots when snowshoeing or hiking, and made it less likely that you'd catch a crampon on them while climbing or mountaineering.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
The Marmot PreCip Eco Full Zip received a multitude of high scores but was the most prone to coming un-velcroed while wearing a backpack. Once the Velcro failed, the zipper would creep open.
We loved contenders that featured a waist cinch or belt of some kind as it would help keep our rain pants from creeping down. We liked the Marmot Precip's low profile drawstring closure, but the Mountain Hardwear Stretch Ozonic's built-in flat webbing waist belt was the cream of the crop for comfort and functionality.
Rain pants with hip pockets are nice, but you won't actually put your hands in them all that often. Doing so funnels rain water from your upper body right towards your crotch.
Credit: Jediah Porter
We also compared the pockets on each model. Because shell pants are worn only occasionally and almost always over your favorite shorts or pants that have pockets of their own, we weighted pockets below other features. This was much less of a factor than say, the ease of putting on or taking off our pants.
Pockets are useful features, adding to a pants ease of use and functionality. However, because most folks tend to use their jacket pockets more often, we didn't weigh a pant's number and functionality of pockets as importantly as other factors.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
That said, it is nice to have at least one pocket as an easy place to stash something while cooking in camp or out on the trail. Our testers didn't particularly enjoy low pockets on pants (mid-thigh) because they generally felt less comfortable when storing heavier items.
On a super wet hike near snow line on Chile's Volcan Llaima, lead test editor Jed Porter took multiple opportunities to swap pants. It is this head-to-head comparison that allows us to make authoritative conclusions.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Durability
Many people appreciate having the ability to purchase a high-quality product that will be as light as possible.
Every time you kneel or sit while traveling in the backcountry, there is a chance of tearing or puncturing your pants. There is also more overall wear. Your rain pants will walk down overgrown trails, play near crampons, and crawl over logs. While most people don't end up wearing their rain pants as frequently as their rain jacket, they are exposed to more threats.
Rain pants can see a lot of wear and tear. Even more than the obvious bushwhacking and overgrown trail hiking, you may sit down on a log for a break or kneel down to fill up your water bottle at a stream. Often times, you are (unknowingly) grinding rocks, dirt, and pine needles into your pants, slowly wearing them out.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
The most robust pants we tested were the Marmot Minimalist, Arc'teryx Beta AR, and Patagonia Torrentshell 3L. These competitors exceeded our expectations for durability. Each competitor withstood at least one week-long mountaineering traverse, which involved a fair amount of bushwhacking. The least durable include the Outdoor Research Helium and the Mountain Hardwear Stretch Ozonic, which, not surprisingly, also happen to be some of the lightest and most packable options. It is worth noting that the Helium and the Ozonic Pants are durable enough for most hiking and backpacking trips — as long as there is only minimal bushwhacking and you take care crawling over downed trees and the like.
Hopefully you've found this review helpful in choosing the best option so you can enjoy yourself on your next rainy (or windy, or snowy) adventure.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Conclusion
Using rain pants can help you make the most out of even the stormiest of days. We hope our review delivers the advice you need to help you make the best selection for your next trip, outing, or ambitious goals down the line. We know that making a good choice means that the times you end up using rain pants on an adventure will be more comfortable and hopefully near every bit as enjoyable as when it's bright and sunny!
GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison.
