Quite simply, the primary difference between a rain poncho and a rain jacket is going to be the fit. Where rain jackets contour to your body as you would expect from any jacket, ponchos take a drape-it-over-everything approach to rain protection. The fit benefits hikers in many ways — to the degree that some of you may be surprised — and of course, there are some drawbacks.
• Rain ponchos tend to hang lower than your hips (which is where most jackets make their cutoff), and some cover down to your knees.
• Body-length protection from rain
• In most cases saves you from also needing rain pants.
• Ponchos often provide better ventilation than jackets
• The loose fit helps, as does zippered vents (under the arms or down the middle), which rain jackets sometimes have but not always.
• Many poncho models also protect your entire backpack and can be converted into a shelter, providing versatility with which jackets simply cannot compete.
• Rain ponchos, when compared to jackets, are typically made from thinner, less durable materials, so keep an eye out for trailside thorns and twigs. This is due to the fast and light idea of a rain poncho, and because if it was made of thicker fabric it would be a much heavier item in your pack, given how much more fabric a poncho has than a jacket.
• If you’re into style — in any way shape or form — a poncho may cramp it. Jackets are form-fitting. Ponchos are not.
If you need to bug out or pack light, then you’ll want to embrace any gear that can serve multiple uses.
Scimus omnes ponchos magnas esse ad pluvias calces, sed scis tu posse agere pro tegmine tabernaculi.
Hoc est ubi multae pluviae tutelam ponchos folia tunicas in luto. Super te et manticam tuam a tempestatibus dum hiking protegens, superiores qualitates ponchos in tuguria converti possunt cum auxilio paucorum clavi tentorii et pertica trekking.
Simpliciter, prima differentia inter poncho pluviam et iaccam pluviam futuram aptus erit. Ubi pluviae tunicas forma ad corpus tuum ut ab aliquo iacco expectes, ponchos velo-it super omnia accessus ad praesidium pluviae accipiendum. Hikers aptus beneficiis in multis — ut quidam vestrum miremini — et sane vitia quaedam sunt.
• Ponchos pluviae inferiores coxis (quod est ubi maxime tunicas faciunt intervalli) tendunt, et quaedam ad genua procumbunt.
• longitudo corporis praesidio a pluvia
• Pleraque salvet te ab etiam repetita pluvia braccas.
• Ponchos saepe melius VENTILATIO quam tunicas
• Laxa apta adiuvat, ut spiramenta zippered (sub brachiis vel mediis), quae pluviae tunicas interdum habent sed non semper.
• Multa poncho exempla etiam totam manticam tuam protegunt et in tectum converti possunt, praebentes versatilem cum qua tunicas tantum certare non possunt.
• Ponchos pluviae, comparatae ad tunicas, ex materia tenuiore et minus durabili de more factae sunt, ita oculum ad spinas et ramulos trahentes. Hoc propter ieiunium et levem ideam de poncho pluviae, et quia si crassior fabricata est, multo gravius in sarcinis, data est quanto plus fabricae poncho habet quam iaccam.
• Si in stylum es — quoquo modo figura vel forma — a poncho compingere potest. Tunicae forma apta sunt. Ponchos non sunt.
Si opus e cimex aut lucem stipant, tum calces quaslibet complecti vis quae multiplicibus usibus inservire possunt.
Scimus omnes ponchos magnas esse ad pluvias calces, sed scis tu posse agere pro tegmine tabernaculi.
Hoc est ubi multae pluviae tutelam ponchos folia tunicas in luto. Super te et manticam tuam a tempestatibus dum hiking protegens, superiores qualitates ponchos in tuguria converti possunt cum auxilio paucorum clavi tentorii et pertica trekking.