Mountain Hardwear introduces Dry.Q waterproof-breathable technology

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Mountain Hardwear has announced the launch of Dry.Q, a new family of waterproof-breathable technologies. Dry.Q Elite, the pinnacle technology in the family, prevents the wearer from getting soaked from the inside by their own perspiration at all...

Full article at http://www.trailspace.com/articles/2010/12/01/mountain-hardwear-dryq.html

Great stuff.  But this is EVENT fabric with a proprietary name.  I wish there was more honestly from manufacturers.

@CWF Considering that this is technology which has yet to be released, and no finished product has been on the market using this technology you are making a fairly bold claim. Unless I am severely mistaken you have neither the access to, nor the a high enough level of knowledge pertaining to, DryQ technology to make an educated comment. So let's step back for a moment and start questioning the integrity of someone who would post a request for more honesty when they are more than willing to make a clearly biased and uneducated statement against a yet to be released product.

What an unusual first post.  Mike do you happen to work for Mountain Hardwear?

The first Dry.Q products will be out this fall. Mountain Hardwear launched them at Outdoor Retailer winter market last week.

The Dry.Q Elite fabric was developed in collaboration with eVent.

We'll have a bit more up about the OR introduction asap (I'm waiting for some facts to be checked by Mountain Hardwear first).

Apparently it is going to be a 'concept' anyway, in much the same way that H2NO is for Patagonia. So even if it is actually eVent in one form, that won't mean it is a waterproof/breathable membrane in all the DryQ gear.

So it is a branded idea. People must buy clothing based on these ideas or they wouldn't be doing it. Yet I was looking at buying a Patagonia hardshell this winter and for all the searching on the internet, I couldn't find out what they were using behind the 'idea' or what the figures for breathability were in the particular hardshell that I wanted to purchase.

And now Patagonia are going back to using Goretex in some of their line. Or rather, they are going back to using the label - perhaps they used it already, who knows (but them)?

I wish there was more honesty from manufacturers.

Me too. Perhaps we are supposed to 'have faith'?

Here's Trailspace's article on Mountain Hardwear's Dry.Q launch:

Mountain Hardwear's Dry.Q enters waterproof-breathable battle

Heya Community,

I apologize for my delay in a response but I haven't been on Trailspace for a while. In regards to those questions about my employer, no I do not work for Mountain Hardwear, but I have in the past and continue to work with them on a regular basis in my current position. They have always been very transparent about not only their product development, but their business practices as well, in my experience. This may not necessarily be in line with the experience that some of you may have had, but it certainly is the case with me. In regards to my comment pertaining to asking for some integrity by those whom are calling this technology into question I feel it is a very valid question to ask. Just as valid as those whom are asking Mountain Hardwear the same thing. All I am saying is that were questioning the design and development of a preproduction product with little information available to go off of, outside of the tiny tidbits MHW has thrown our way. In addition to this I am just looking at the hard evidence regarding MHW's technologies. Mountain Hardwear has been experimenting with increasing breathability for years in their Conduit laminate (Terrashell anyone?), and has also increased the breathability of their gloves through their use of OutDry, which is now owned by their parent company Columbia Sportswear. It only makes sense that rather than steal another companies technology (such as eVent) that they developed a similar tech through their knowledge from Conduit and OutDry. Not only is that legally safer but it seems more cost effective as they already will have the information needed to manufacture this type of laminate.

Hi SnowHawkMike, welcome back to the site.

If you haven't seen it already, you may want to read Trailspace's February 8th article on the Dry.Q launch, which has more current info than the original press release referenced above.

http://www.trailspace.com/articles/2011/02/08/mountain-hardwear-dry-q.html

As you may already know, Mountain Hardwear took a hybrid approach with Dry.Q Elite, using the GE membrane technology (eVent) with their own proprietary fabrics. They're the first to do so (though likely not the last, according to GE).

Competition is a good thing for us the end user.

Time will tell.

YES -- "Time will tell ...."   (It always does).

I, for one, will be most pleased when something is developed that  is a true 'break-through' waterproof / breathable membrane.

I am no fan of 'BoreTex'.

The concept is fine ... the end-result leaves much to be desired.

r2

I've had my Drystein for about a month, and the early returns are very, very good. I'm surprised Mountain Hardwear hasn't been more forthcoming about what's actually in this technology.

Mountain Hardwear's "VP of innnovation, technology and equipment" agreed to an interview about this stuff, and didn't dodge any of the questions about GE or Gore-Tex or long-term durability.  Worth a read if you're interested in checking out the Dry.Q Elite line:

http://www.rockcreek.com/mountain-hardwear-dry-q.rco

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