I have used eVent, Epic and GTX clothing and can honestly say eVent is the most comfortable to wear over a broad spectrum of conditions that I have faced at least. A month ago I went out in a 40 degree rain storm with an eVent jacket and Epic pants. I was only out for 2 hours but the rain was coming down at a pretty good clip. Both Epic and eVent seemed comparably comfortable for the first few miles but close to an hour in my legs started to get alittle wet. By the time I was back to the car my legs were soaked. So in summary, I have found both Epic and eVent to be comparable to the non-scientific eye, but with eVent you will stay dry even in the worst rain storms. The only strong pro's I can find for Epic is it is more comfortable next to skin and drys extremely fast.

"The only strong pro's I can find for Epic is it is more comfortable next to skin and drys extremely fast."

Weight and cost are other major factors.

good point Dave, eVent is not kind to the wallet.

Feathered Friends does not seam seal their Volant jackets, though I have an event Volant FF was quite clear the jacket was not waterproof because of the unsealed seems but would perform very well for my intended purposes.

Jim, just as a point of information, the ActiVent fabric had serious delamination issues which is I'm sure one of the reasons it was discontinued. I had a water resistant jacket made from it and things got pretty ugly around the upper back and shoulders area where the jacket was always making contact with my under-layer. I don't have this concern with my down jacket because there is little contact between the outer, laminated fabric and the lining fabric (as you know the Volant is baffled and stuffed crazy full of down). Neither would I be concerned with delaminating issues with WindStopper. Call it blind faith but I would just assume that Gore has resolved this issue.

If I recall from your first post, one of your chief concerns was weather resistance and you cited a spectrum of conditions you may encounter. The limitations of WindStopper should be taken into consideration. I wouldn't want to submit my ActiVent down jacket to an extended sleet/snow mix. Then again the Volant is too warm (for my needs) in temps exceeding the low 20s when semi-frozen precipitate may occur. I'd happily stand corrected but as I understand it WindStopper is lower than DryLoft in the water-resistance hierarchy of Gore fabrics.

Sorry, Jim. I just re-read a previous post of yours where you mentioned this jacket would not be used in potentially wet precipitate conditions. Apologies for the ear full of info you already know.

Ty,

Thanks, you input/experience with these fabrics is really helpful. I guess in the end, all 3 fabrics sound pretty good, with Event being the best. Based on that, any purchase this made this year will probably come down a sale on Montbell, or a great price on a Volant on ebay or the gear swap.

Otherwise, I'll probably stick with my layered system, as it's hard to drop a sizable chunk of change on a jacket that's only good below the low 20s.

Jim,

Last year's model of the MB Permafrost has a zipper to remove the hood. Being this year's Permafrost is not listed as being a new product by MB, it will also have the zipper.

Richard,

Thank you. From the picture, I thought I could see a zip for the hood, but MB doesn't make that explicit in the product description.

My experience with items that are "bought to last" is that I keep repeating the process every 8 years or so, hehe.