User Review: Marmot Oracle Pant

Marmot Oracle Pant
Above: The current Oracle Pant, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed May 17, 2008 by Matthew French

Rating:
Fabric: PreCip Plus
Price Paid: $120

I completed a month and a half of sea kayaking and mountaineering in Chilean Patagonia from March through mid-April. I am normally very pleased with all of my Marmot gear, but these were useless to me.

One of the recommended uses on the Marmot website is mountaineering and the fabric is not tough enough to deal with any serious hiking or mountaineering. These pants tore open with every small slip while climbing over moraine. I am not talking about major falls where I would expect most fabrics to tear, but normal slips that always happen while climbing over slippery rocks. They also tore numerous times while bushwacking through trees and scrub.

After several in-field repair jobs, I gave up and resigned myself to being wet - and carrying around a useless piece of gear for weeks. They would probably be fine for normal hiking on well maintained trails, but they are not tough enough for serious pursuits.

Bottom line: do not buy these if you are considering any serious hiking or mountaineering. Marmot should be embarrassed for even suggesting that these would be appropriate for mountaineering.