Ok, to start I have been wanting a wet weather jacket in multicam for some time.  I have a 90% Gen 2 Gortex and a well used 60-70% gortex gen 2.  I have seen this parka advertised, but have not read a review of it yet, so I bit the bullet and decided to do this review.   I shopped around and found someone who stocked the Truspec Multicam H2O gen 2.  I paid 119$ before shipping.  This is the least amount you will pay.  Anyone advertising it for less, is baiting you because the MC version is 119.  Cough, USCAV, Cough.
I received it today and it is a decent clone of the USGI gortex.  The material is lighter and softer, making it quieter.  Some of the "non gortex" features popped out at me right away, the zippers are metal, but NOT YKK, and they were slightly hard to start when fully zipping up.  The pit vents only have one set of zippers and the buttons on the front and rank flap feel "chincy."  That being said, the garment was made in china, but the pattern is "official" MC, and has the CP endorsement on it.  The material is actually 3 layers, a type of corda, with MC water transfered on to it, dintex (copy of gortex) and some inner sweat wicking fabric similar to the inside of the gortex.  The pockets were done much the same as the gortex, as was the hood stowage.  
The added features of this included additional pockets at chest level, hidden, and male/female zipper ends to allow you to zip in a fleece.  ( I will do so and post additional pics of the fleece and pockets) All the cinches were also shock cord and had high quality keepers.  The collar is also the stiff, high collar I like when the hood is rolled and stowed.  The neck part is much wider when zipped all the way up, and I can not yet tell if I like or dislike this.
So here are the comparison pics.

90% gen 2, MC H2O, Old Gen 2, laid out on the floor.




I decided to give the seams and material a soak test, so I positioned each jacket in a sink and positioned the seam to be at the bottom of the depression.
The "test" went for 15 minutes.

old gortex

new gortex

H2O
Then I set the timer and added water (about 10 second worth of water to each)

Old

New

H2O

I noticed that right off, the old and H2O had outer layer wetting.  The old had it BAD, and the H2O just appeared a little damp.
After 5 minutes I went to check each parka.

Old - not doing so hot.

New, is there even water there?

H2O, the outer layer is starting to soak some.

As you can see, the seam and dintex are holding back the water so far.


The old gortex has leaked through the seam.
After 10 minutes I went to check again.
The H2O's outer layer was wet, and spreading.  The top layer of fabric with the water transfer also appeared to "ripple" as it absorbed.  It was begining to leak AT THE SEAM, but the dintex was still holding the water out.



The old gortex started to die at this point and was actually dripping water through the material at a good rate.




The new gortex was not even showing sign of dampness yet. (That is what I would expect from a 300+$ jacket)


At 15 minutes I went to check the parkas again.
The H2O's outer fabric was wet and soaking out pretty well, but the inside was not nearly as damp as I would have expected.



water working its way in through the seamwork.


The old gortex was just done at this point. And you can see the water just passing though and forming droplets on the other side.



And the new gortex is still not showing wetness.



After I removed all the water from on top of the parkas with my shop vac (so as not to taint the undersides any further) this is the leakage from the old gortex with the inside wind flap bunched up so you can see both sides of the seam.  The flap was soaked.

The H2O parka had some leakage at the seam, but the flap stayed dry and only the material on the inside was damp to the touch.


And an hour later, the new gortex still in the sink.



So over all its not a bad jacket.  Its certainly no 300+$ GorTex jacket, but I didnt expect to get a monster piece of kit for 120$.  So far, I think it is worth the money as a backup or range parka - one I can take classes in and get dirty and not feel bad about.  This will not be my go to parka though, even though it is MC.  

I have a bottle of water proofing material that I am going to treat the old gortex with and the h2O with and repeat the test to see if the waterproofing is A. Worth the 8$ I paid for it .  B. Able to restore my old gortex, or add protection to the H2O.
I will also be taking some NVG pics and comparing them, as I want to know the NIR properties of each garment.  I will also do some cold weather testing down the road.

So I guess so far, I like it.

Thank you for the excellent report.

I look forward to your future updates!

Quoted: Thank you for the excellent report. I look forward to your future updates!

And you didnt even tease me about that NASTY drain!

A couple things to try with the Gore-Tex.  Wash with a powder detergent, or better yet an actual soap.  Then rinse it a couple extra times.  Detergent causes the surface tension of water to lesson, which is good for washing, but bad for water repellency.  Sometimes with one that's been washed a lot without being thoroughly rinsed, a good wash without any detergent can make a world of difference because it removed all the residual detergent that was there.  Soap does the same thing, just not as bad and it's not as harsh on the DWR (Durable Water Repellant) that is applied to the outer fabric.
This applies to all forms of waterproof/breathable materials.  They work because a water droplet is smaller than water vapor, but detergent basically makes the droplets weak enough to squeeze through the pores of the material.

Check the seams for damage as wear could have caused the sealing tape to come lose.  Getting the seams re-taped is usually a pretty easy and inexpensive repair.

Quoted: So over all its not a bad jacket.  Its certainly no 300+$ GorTex jacket, but I didnt expect to get a monster piece of kit for 120$.   So I guess so far, I like it.

well you took more pics of it then I did for my post on it back in December, but I did'nt put it in the sink, so you win

yeah it works being an 'inexpensive' Multicam coat.

for a price check, here are some others:

SEALS Action Gear :: 4.0 Tactical Field Smock, CRYE Multicam $279.00
http://www.sealsactiongear.com/catalog/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=522

Recce Smock
http://www.dropzonetactical.com/clothing/reccesmock.html
it's $400 and not water repelent

OTTE GEAR | ...
http://www.ottegear.com/catalog-detail.php?p=7
both of those are $400

and the ones from Propper are $400 ( the gore-tex one delayed yet again )

any one looking for a 'high end' multicam coat, you are going to pay for it

I never saw that post, will you throw a link to it in here, I want to try to accumulate as much info on this jacket as possible to help others.  I HATE blind buying and was forced to do so in this situation.

I have the OTTE Soft Alpine MC jacket and pants.  The water beads right off and it's as quiet as a church mouse.  A lil pricey, but good gear usually is.  

Quoted: I never saw that post, will you throw a link to it in here, I want to try to accumulate as much info on this jacket as possible to help others.  I HATE blind buying and was forced to do so in this situation.

you would have to hunt through the archive for it.
it was called' lordy lordy look what the sportsman guide has,hint its multicam.

not as fancy as this one though

Great review.

I've been thinking about one of those jackets for a little while.

Quoted: I have the OTTE Soft Alpine MC jacket and pants.  The water beads right off and it's as quiet as a church mouse.  A lil pricey, but good gear usually is.

A little pricey?

That's a serious understatement.

Something to be said for being able to have kit though you can trash and not feel bad about.

And that is pretty much why I didnt mind the purchase.  Now just to see how additional waterproofing works...

Quoted: Quoted: I have the OTTE Soft Alpine MC jacket and pants.  The water beads right off and it's as quiet as a church mouse.  A lil pricey, but good gear usually is.   A little pricey? That's a serious understatement. Something to be said for being able to have kit though you can trash and not feel bad about.

You get what you pay for, IMO.  

Nice Work. Good Review

Quoted: but really put it use a few weeks ago in the little weather event we had here in FL. All I'll say is, my next jacket of this type, will be along the lines of a OTTE, Propper Adventure Tech, etc., without question.

well with 3 hurricane's still comming your way, you might want to bust out the credit card and express shipping

if you get say the OTTE, please give a review of it. I would like to get one myself, but $400 for a coat that will spend 95% of the time in my BOB ( that cost just only a bit more then that ) is a bit much. or I can just treat myself and get 2

By all means, if you do not own 1 coat of the same quality of the new gortex pictured above - BUY THAT FIRST.  It is my belief that you should have one solid go to piece of kit, before you start buying other stuff.  A good top of the line rain jacket is something that you wont ever regret (as long as it isnt in woodland or ACU)

just out of curiosity...when's the last time you hit the old jacket with some Nikwax TX?  Gore tex doesn't stay waterproof forever yano

even with new jackets I always hit them with it, they all have a water replent finish that will stay on for a while but eventually goes away.

Read the text in the original post...

None of these jackets have been treated YET.  
I plan on treating the old gortex and the multicam jacket with a commercial spray on and then re testing.

oh my bad

theres also this stuff that you can wash them in too that's supposed to be pretty good...but the name is escaping me right now.  I want to say tech-wash but that might not be right

all good.


From Gortex's Website about garment care.

WASH
   Machine-wash warm (104° F/40° C). Powder or liquid detergent. No fabric softener. Follow manufacturer's instructions.
DRY CLEAN
   If professionally dry-cleaned, request clear distilled solvent rinse and spray repellent. Follow manufacturer's instructions.
IRON
   Steam-iron warm, placing a towel or cloth between the garment and the iron. No need to iron the garment until it is completely dry.
BLEACH
   No chlorine bleach. It may damage your garment.
DRY
   Tumble-dry warm. The heat from the dryer will help to reactivate the durable water repellent (DWR) treatment on your garment's outer fabric.
WATER REPELLENT TREATMENT
   Gore recommends applying a topical water repellency restorative (DWR treatment) for outdoor fabrics, available at your local outdoor retailer. We do not recommend wash-in treatments as they can affect the garment's breathability.
STAIN REMOVAL
   Use a pre-wash treatment such as Shout® or Spray 'n Wash®, following its manufacturer's instructions. Rinse well.

So I also purchased a spray on water repellent to add to the multicam jacket and to treat my old gortex with.

I followed the directions, washed, sprayed and tossed in the dryer for a long low heat.
I placed both in the sink again, this time testing the seam on the hood, an area that I treated heavily.  I sprayed all of each garment, but really focused on the main seams on the hood and shoulders and the material surrounding.
Here is the gortex and multicam with 10 seconds of water in the hooded areas.



Dont be fooled by what looks like soak through on the multicam, as it is a part of the pattern, here it is out of the water on a different part, and the same illusion under the water.



I let them sit for 15 minutes and came back to check.  Both were doing MUCH better.
There is some wetting of the multicam material, but not nearly like before, and there is some wetness in the fabric of the gortex, but it has not yet soaked out the fabric. This could have been shaken out....




At the 30 minute mark I came to check again.
The multicam was showing some wetting  of the material but not nearly as bad as before.  The gortex showed some surface wetting but the material did not get "wet" like before. neither of the seams leaked this time, which REALLY makes me feel better.  






Hood looks wetter than it is due to color balance


Over all the H2O preformed WAY better this time, but it was smoked by the treated gortex.  While this doesn't surprise me, it does prove that even a used and abused quality piece of gear can be brought up to snuff faster than a lesser piece of kit.  The H2O will still be a good range/class jacket, but now the 2 Gortex jackets I have take the primary role. Down the road here I will be purchasing more of the spay on sealer and give each of my jackets 2 more heavy treatments each.  I will presume that I can increase the waterproofing of the old gortex and the H2O even more and add extra protection to my good gortex.



On a side note, I also took some pics of the hidden pockets that are located mid chest, just behind the rank loop.




I was also able to effortlessly zip in my brown columbia fleece into the jacket as a fixed liner, it zipped all the way up with no problems between the shitty china zipper and the ykk on the columbia.

Great post! Thank you for your time and effort in this post. I have been thing about buying one. Barre Army Navy had them listed at 119.00 with 20% of last month. Should have pulled the trigger.

good stuff..me likey those usgi woodland parkas !

If you look you can find them at a really good price.  I got my old one on the EE here WITH a set of gen 2 trousers for 70$ shipped.  7$ of water repellent treatment and its back up and running....

Now I just need to treat the 3 gen 1 jackets I have that dont keep out anything....

Quoted: Quoted: but really put it use a few weeks ago in the little weather event we had here in FL. All I'll say is, my next jacket of this type, will be along the lines of a OTTE, Propper Adventure Tech, etc., without question. if you get say the OTTE, please give a review of it. I would like to get one myself, but $400 for a coat that will spend 95% of the time in my BOB ( that cost just only a bit more then that ) is a bit much. or I can just treat myself and get 2

well I'll answer my own question. I just got a used OTTE patrol parka off the Kifaru forum for $200!  OTTE now sells them for $450

OTTE on left, Tru-spec on right



the vent holes on the OTTE are better placed, right in the middle of the arm pit, vs starting at the pit and going down the arm as on the Tru-spec



the OTTE weighs 1lb 13oz, the Tru-spec weighs 2lbs 3oz

now I have to wait for it to rain

we need some outdoor shots

Quoted: we need some outdoor shots

these are of the Tru-spec

Well, thanks to both of you guys and your pics/reviews, I ordered up a set.

Not a bad price with the 20% off.  Came to $195 shipped for the set.

I wasn't willing to drop $500 plus on the high end stuff just yet.  

Thanks!  Should be here in a day or 2, as Barre Army Navy is less than 40 minutes from me...


Edit.   Placed order with Barre Army Navy at 3:30pm, and it shipped in less than 2 hours.  Jacket and pants will be here today.  Review to come....

* Reminder to add pics of IR/Nvg comparison.

Quoted: * Reminder to add pics of IR/Nvg comparison.

Would love to see the pics if you have a minute to post them.

Not the best.  Migraine coming.

Thanks Man!!

I'm glad I read your review.  I've worn my stuff twice now, and for the price I love it!!


Take care.

Thanks for this review.

I've been considering getting a waterproof multicam jacket for awhile ... I probably won't put it to any super hard use, but you're scaring me off with the talk of shitty zippers and build quality.

For $120 dollars though, I guess I can risk it malfunctioning.

Now to find the best deal on one ...

I wouldnt say "shitty" but rather not Tier 1 like gortex.  Does it work, yea, will it hold up to some use, yea.  Would I take it Afghanistan over my gortex - no.
It is what it is, a 120 $ jacket.  

How does it fit? I don't see any pictures of you actually wearing it ... is it big and bulky, or more fitted?

I generally don't like big and bulky things, but yet at the same time I don't want a tight wet weather jacket either.

I'm hoping it's in the middle ... comfortable to wear without having lots of extra fabric.

It looks pretty loose in the midsection from your first pictures of it laying out.

Guess I need some wearage pics.  Its hard to take pics and run through the brush at the same time.

I Usually wear a Med reg in USGI, or a Large reg in "aftermarket" this is a med reg and fits well.  We have only had good rain twice here since I got it and will do more testing as it gets cooler.  The fit is fairly similar to USGI the only aspect the jury is still out on is the larger neck.  The collar zipped gives about 2 inches more room.  This makes it easier to tuck in your chin and face, but I cant tell if I like or dislike it yet.

I am waiting to do a good wear review until it gets chilly, and I can layer or not layer, as well as take it to the range and run some drills in it to see how it fits and feels with motion.  I also plan on doing some hikes too....

Thanks for the tip on the retreatment spray. I'll try it with a couple of my old GoreTex jackets. I'll have to look up how I tell a Gen1 from a Gen2 and figure out what I've got.

Quoted:  Its hard to take pics and run through the brush at the same time.

they have this thing called a Tri-pod I'll try and take some new outdoor pics tomarrow of the Tru-spec and the OTTE

I'm 5'8" 190ish and wear a large-regular, and there's plenty of room in it for me.

Quoted: Thanks for the tip on the retreatment spray. I'll try it with a couple of my old GoreTex jackets. I'll have to look up how I tell a Gen1 from a Gen2 and figure out what I've got.

Gen 2 has a stowable hood and is made of a better lighter material ( I think)

Quoted: How does it fit? I don't see any pictures of you actually wearing it ... is it big and bulky, or more fitted? I generally don't like big and bulky things, but yet at the same time I don't want a tight wet weather jacket either. I'm hoping it's in the middle ... comfortable to wear without having lots of extra fabric. It looks pretty loose in the midsection from your first pictures of it laying out.

alright here we go. I have on a USGI Moose pack.

the OTTE


Tru-spec


side view
OTTE


Tru-spec


the hood on the Tru-spec is bigger, and to be fair, I did some adjustment on the OTTE hood ( it has more/better adjustments in it ) and nothing on the Tru-spec one.

the Tru-spec is 'bigger' in size, a bit, but the OTTE is not tight at all either. since the Tru-spec has the zip in liner, that could account for some of it, and also uses military sizing, i.e. if your between x and y, it will fit, where the OTTE is more 'standard' size, i.e small, med, large, ect.

Quoted: Oh you guys didn't know about the retreatment deal? I found out when my overpriced Beyond tactical softshell pants started leaking. A big part of the waterproofing of all this stuff is a frickin' spray they use at a the factory. I bought a jug of the stuff from Beyond Tactical, but the jug only treats a couple of things.

No, I did, thats why I included the before and after.


I really need to see if the treatment will work on DEAD gen 1 gortex.


Also the TRUSPEC/gortex hood is designed to have the ability to fit over a helmet or some type of headgear, hence the extra allowance.

Quoted: Also the TRUSPEC/gortex hood is designed to have the ability to fit over a helmet or some type of headgear, hence the extra allowance.

Which I friggin' hate.
I roll with an old Gen1 goretex jacket in the wintertime and the only thing about it I can't stand is that the hood is gargantuan. This year I'm considering gutting an old fleece jacket and sewing in some fabric as a liner, just to take up some room in that thing.

I you work the tactical sewing machine, you can split the hood, and shrink it and then reseal the seam with Gortex tape......

Who has this jacket right now?  SG seems to be out, and my google fu is weak.

Vermont's Barre Army Navy Store is where I got mine from.

Sounds like they are supposed to be back in by the end of the month. I put an order in for one last week from SG. I wanted it for hunting season this year but figured I could wait until theyre back in. SG also gave me free shipping, a discounted price for buying a guide membership and let me stack on another $10 coupon so I figured for all that I could wait another couple of weeks.

Got a chance to spend some time in this last night and now that it is finally getting "cold" in TX I can bust this thing out.  

I was layered with an undershirt, dress shirt, Columbia fleece and the jacket.  I found that the mid section shock cord had to be loosened or it felt really strange, like my shirts were bunched up.  I was able to try putting my first line under the jacket, and unzipping from the bottom to allow access to the mags while still having the top zipped up. (It has double zippers)  This worked, but let a little bit of a draft in, and since I was not using the pockets to hold anything, I just ended up putting it over the jacket.  the bellowed neck is nice as it allows you to keep the material away from your face unless you zip it all the way up.  The sleeves could be about 2 inches longer, as my fleece sleeves were poking out.  Gortex ECWS sleeves are longer.  the pit zippers were nice, and I ended up using them as well.  I am REALLY not happy that they decided to start the zipper near the elbow instead of the pit.  When open its ok to have the zipper puller in the pit, but I dont always open my pit zippers and the puller being so low bothers me.

Overall, its a good coat.  I need to take it to the range and beat on it.  It worked well with layers and kept me warm.  (the pants were thin cotton with no under layer).

I'm sorry which coat is it you took to the range? The Tru-Spec?

Yes.

Where did you get it and can that coat be bought in any solid colors? Tan, gray, non-OD green (ie smoke or similar), black?