Cagoule or rain jacket

any ideas about which is better?

Aside from cagoules not being readily available in the US (though they are in Europe), it really depends on personal habit and personal taste. And the individual item - some rain jackets are more suitable for some people than other rain jackets, while some cagoules work better for some people under the same conditions than others. And there are conditions under which ponchos are better (I would have preferred a poncho on my Kilimanjaro hike to the excellent rain jacket I used - ponchos are better in hot, humid rain forests for ventilation when you are hiking quickly uphill, as well as acting as a cover for your pack, which rain jackets and cagoules don't do.

So it really comes down to how you are going to use the rain gear. Cagoules are nice for bivouacs, rain jackets are generally better for action, and ponchos are better for hiking in warmer, more humid conditions with little or no wind. A proper cagoule will be a pull-over and come down to your knees or lower - does hiking in a long dress work for you (that's what hiking in a cagoule is like)? Rain jackets are waist to hip length - if you have to bivy, do you want that gap at the waist between jacket and rain pants that lets the rain and snow leak in, or if you are hiking in a rain forest, can you keep your sweat to a minimum? If it is blowing rain, do you mind a poncho flying up in you face and the rain blowing in the sides and under the flapping poncho?

Choose your personal trade-off.

Cagoules seem to be a European invention. I've looked for one online and they are hard to find. They do look like a long dress of sorts. A similar design is the NZ bushshirt, which is a long wool hooded pullover. Not really a rain shell, but a similar idea. Maybe those are better classified as an Anorak.

I think Swanndri and a few other companies still make them. For the cool, sometimes misty, weather down there, they seemed to be a good choice.

Collecting ideas. As you know I am using up old stuff and was wondering if cagoules were still in use. Find them only at Campmor. Wife and I used ours up in the Green and White Mountains during heavy rainfall, or around camp on those misty days. They were a sauna on warm hiking days. Would use the 60/40 or a water repellant light weight jacket on the warmer days.

I see a lot of high quality gortex style parkas and rainwear at the local shops, and have researched your comments on jackets for all sort of activities and conditions. For $ 40, the campmor cagoule seems to be a good price to pay until I am ready to spend a few hundred.

I looked at the Campmor online. It is coated nylon, so it won't breathe, just like an inexpensive jacket won't breathe. Maybe if you found one made of some breatheable fabric, it would be more versatile, but then again, the price would be much more.

"cagoule" means a monk's robe. Like many mountaineering terms, it is French. As a mountaineering clothing item, it existed long before I got my first one in the early 1960s. I still have one, but almost never use it.

Bill, what do you recommend I buy as a replacement for use in the Northeast?
Thanx

Kokatat used to sell a very nice cagoule (even had pit zips), several students used them on my NOLS trip many moons ago. During a bad storm the cagoule wearers were as dry or drier than the rest of us.

Bill's point about choosing your trade off is spot on. There is no free lunch out there in terms of rain gear and more money won't necessarily buy better options.

If you sew, or know somebody who sews, the Rainshed sells a pattern. http://www.therainshed.com/ The pattern would not be very hard to make. You could choose a very light fabric, add any options you want and away you go.