For me the answer is it DEPENDS. I had friends who grew up working commercial fisheries in Alaska and they swear by Helly Hansen for hard outdoor work - but its a dog chugging up a mountainside hike in the Cascades, I tried that. Folks swear by Goretex and that seems to work for many, until it fails like all layers inevitably do, and it remains pricey, expensive enough that you can grumble about the cost when it fails. I use an eVent jacket = the mythical $40 Teva eVent discontinued jacket I and thousands of others bought years ago, I wish I'd bought several - that works great for me, but after 12 hours in hikeable rain I wasn't any drier than I had been in an older Goretex jacket. But I was dry enough, and warm. My best solution is layers - Patagonia capilene near the skin, wool above that, eVent, then a non-permeable layer when I stop for a break to keep the rain off. A change of capilene and socks in my pack for any surprise overnights. Does an umbrella count as a layer? It sure works like one.

FWIW I also bought an Eddie Bauer rain jacket, one of their new mountaineer series, that keeps the rain off really well. But you will perspire inside, and I reckon it works better in colder climates of snow and snow/rain. That was also a good buy, I could never spend $300 or more on a rain jacket even if guaranteed to keep me dry.