I took all of the fabric weave comparison pictures at 200x magnification, using a microscope. As a result of the uniform magnification for all fabrics, you can use your monitor to estimate the relative fiber and pore sizes.

In case you want to estimate the actual versus relative diameters, I just took a photo and then measured the diameter of a small needle tip. The needle tip diameter is .014" or .36mm.

Edited by richard295 on 12/23/2006 19:25:14 MST.

It's very interesting that many people tend to talk about all the different membranes and breathability, but really, does it matter? I think what matters most is the face fabric and especially DWR finish quality, but I haven't found much information comparing DWR quality of various brands. My question is, if Houdini can hold on to 2mm rain drops, is there any face fabric that can withstand bigger rain drops? Or is 1500mm hydrostatic head the point where any fabric will loose its effectivenes, wheter it be WP/B(would loose breathabilty), or windshell(would wet out)?

Edited by pechius on 03/17/2013 15:41:16 MDT.

Yeah, I have same thought Simas

Maybe DWR is the most important thing, but they don't talk about specs or whatever

I think maybe eVent is a little better, because it has a better DWR

or, if you need a good DWR to keep the front surface from wetting out which will make the membrane not work, then maybe why do you even need the membrane?

Simas,

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=70722

Good point Jerry :) So is it fair to say that, if I use Houdini until it wets out, and then switch to a trash bag, the effect would be the same like with a $300 WP/B shell?

Thank you, Richard, I've seen that thread. Lots of great information there.