Does anyone have any experience with Gore Windstopper fabric? The reason I asked is I see a lot of clothing and sleeping bags with this and I was wondering what's the big commotion about. Is it just a windproof bonding agent only of does it add any water proofing to the material or is it another Gore experimental product gone bad?

I "think" I have a zip front jacket made from this product. It is a Harley Davidson product, so the windstopper label may have been left off. HD tends to do that. It is a thin very short nap fleece. It can stop wind and rain at highway speed, so I know it works. The only complaint I have is it attracts hair/lint like a rare-earth magnate (sp?). I have two German Shepherds and one Siberian Husky, so it looks like I am wearing a coat woven from dog hair if I am not careful.

It is water resistent, but not waterproof. Its is definitely wind resistent. I have gloves & a hat made of it. It works well in LIGHT rain/mist, but certainly isnt waterproof. The seams arent taped, water runs in that way. Also, it isnt breathable, simply because the membrane is essentially sandwiched between two insulating layers, and the temp difference isnt enough to allow perspiration through. IMHO, I LOVE windstopper gear for what it is; insulted clothing, without the bulk of 2 layers. But, if youre expecting moisture, best to go with a shell outer & pile jacket.

Ok, maybe mine isn't windstopper fabric. I don't get wet a 60 mph in rain, and it seems to allow vapor out. I do wish I knew what it was, I would like to have more items made with it. Just have to figure out how to keep the fuzz and dog hair off.

I had a jacket made out of the fabric from Cabelas and eventually sold it on ebay. Windstopper is fine, but a synthetic insulated jacket is every bit as good while being lighter and more compressable than windstopper. I wouldn't bother with it unless you get it really cheap. Just my $0.02.

I've got a couple of jackets made from Gore Windstopper material. One is a reversible Gore Windstopper DPM jacket the other is a much thinner Gore bike wear jacket for designed specifically for cycling. They are completely different except that they are both windproof.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/-_-/5360026070/

http://www.johnbullclothing.com/products.asp?ID=1946

Gore Windstopper and Polartec WindPro were essentially some of the first new generation of fabrics called soft-shells and were designed to be used instead of a fleece and hardshell MVP material such as Goretex Taslan or XCR etc. There are other soft-shell fabrics out there which are designed to be windproof with an internal insulating fleecy fabric for warm and still have a degree of movement stretch such as Schoeller Dryskin. Other soft-shells such as Windstopper N2S, Polartec Powershield or WindPro ACT are meant to be improvements on the first generation of soft-shells. i.e. dialing in a bit more fleecy warmth or more breath-ability or more stretchiness.

http://www.schoeller-textiles.com/defaul...=8&langID=2

None of the soft-shells are completely waterproof, but then none of the hard-shells really are either because of the lack of breath-ability or the rate with moisture can transport through the shell. This will depend on the temperature and moisture gradient between in the inside and outside of the permeable vapour barrier and the amount of water vapour generated by the person inside the permeable vapour barrier.

The Gore Windstopper DPM Fleece is warm, comfortable to wear, quiet and is reasonably breathable (better than a full hardshell and fleece) and is best used in windy dry cold temperatures from about -10 to 10C. It will also resist light rain quite well as well as light snow and spin drift.

Everybody of course has different rates of perspiration at different activity levels so these soft-shells may suit some folks and not others. They do generally tend to be much more comfortable to wear though improving ease of movement having a degree of stretch in the fabric which hard shells do not have.

At the end of the day there is not a perfect material to suit everyone for every climatic environment, you've just got to dress appropriately for the weather you expect to come across. Soft-shells give that additional option for a surprisingly wide range of weather conditions considering they are a simple one layer garment.

I have a jacket made of similar material (I think). Polartec Windbloc Fleece.

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...amp;cat4=504714

It is an awesome jacket. When I got it I thought, boy this thing is too thin to do much of anything. I was very wrong. It is 100% windproof - no draft gets through at all. Mine is very breathable. And the warmth is much better than other softshells I have. Plus, it's very soft and doesn't feel stiff like some of the other softshells. I have worn it in light rain and it's kept me dry. But those times were only short duration light rain. I wouldn't expect it to survive a heavy deluge.

This Polartec Windbloc is my go-to jacket unless it's terribly cold outside. Then I grab my tough-as-nails Carhartt. It's kind of like this one, but not exactly (mine has lots more pockets):

http://www.carhartt.com/webapp/wcs/store...tegoryId=10927#

The Carhartt is about as heavy as my truck, and built like it too. But it is warm as all get-out and just feels like you couldn't cut it or rip it no matter how hard you tried.

p.s. - Oh yeah, wind doesn't get through that Carhartt either. Nor rain. Nor snow. Nor dirt. Nor horse slobber. I doubt knives or bullets would even make it very far!

I've limited experience with windstopper fabric. It is not Goretex fabric and does not have the same properties but then again there are more than a dozen varieties of Goretex so it's like comparing apples to grapefruit/grapes/lemons/pineapples instead of "just" apples to oranges.

It is used in the foot and hood of my newest down sleeping bag. I've also seen it as the bottom layer in some sleeping bags. In my experience I seem to get some condensation on the foot of the bag, either from touching the tent walls or directly from condensation. It isn't a lot of moisture but it is perceptible. Since going to the windstopper fabric, the foot of the bag is definitely dryer but is that the surface or the actual down contained within that is dryer? I don't have enough definitive evidence. The bags have different ratings and quality of down. And compared to what other exterior fabric? Surely there are other solutions that protect the down from condensation but my only practical experience is from one bag. It suits me well enough.

With windstopper fleece, I have more experience as I have had a fleece toque (NorthFace) and set of gloves. Both are far superior to ordinary fleece or wool for warmth and blockage of wind. They are thinner and less bulky than other clothing for the equivalent warmth. Waterproof? Hardly, but somewhat water resistant, nothing at all like a true water-repellent fabric. Breathable - yes.

I lost the toque a few years ago and tried to find a replacement but NorthFace doesn't make the same style. Essentially the beanie portion was layer of windstopper sandwiched with ordinary fleece and the bottom 2" was just ordinary fleece. This meant the top of head was quite warm but I could also extend/unroll the basic fleece down so that it covered more of the ears and eyes! Why was that valuable? I used it for sleeping at night, the collar folded down, it was quieter and very comfy while it also shut out any stray light if I hit the sack before complete darkness or if the sun rose too early. Blocking out the "environment" led to longer and more consistent sleeps. I haven't found quite the same replacement yet. I've found another toque (lined wool) that matched it in warmth but at the cost of more weight and bulk.

I have another windstopper fleece toque from Outdoor Research which is much thinner than the NorthFace one but because it is only a single layer and not sandwiched with ordinary fleece it is not as warm or as comfortable but is more compact.

Windstopper is First Generation Goretex film.

IE. Goretex without the
plastic layer which was added to stop contamination of the
teflon laminate.

Windstopper is also known as Dryloft when they use it in sleeping
bags.

It is waterproof and transfers water vapor MUCH better
than Goretex used today in raingear.

However, with dirt, salt etc. getting
in the pores, it loses it waterproof function.

Great for bivysacks, certain garments for wind and water
and in other garments for windproofing.

Great information everybody, I appreciate it. I had ordered a WM winter bag for the misses that had this stuff in it and was wondering what it did for performance of the down bag. I appreciate the input. If it works well, I may try to con her into switching WM bags with me