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sample content Nothing here is a real recommendation yet. How we’ll choose

Super Best Stuff — the best stuff, that's pretty much it
Category 101 guide · 2 live recommendations

Outdoors & Tactical

Gear rated for weather, not for the internet.

Shells, packs, lights and tools, judged on whether they work when it is genuinely unpleasant outside.

Amber collage of outdoor and tactical gear

Outdoors & Tactical

Current winners

The short answers

If you only came here for one line, these are the lines.

Recommendations

Everything we recommend in Outdoors & Tactical

Including the value pick, the specialist and the one we'd only buy if money were no object.

Best for most people

Placeholder illustration of a hooded rain shell

Outdoor Research

Outdoor Research Foray 3

Full-length pit-to-hem zips, so you can ventilate instead of marinating.

$229$150–$400

Best weird thing

Placeholder illustration of a lightweight rain shell

Frogg Toggs

Frogg Toggs Ultra-Lite2

Twenty-five dollars, weighs nothing, looks like a bin bag, keeps you completely dry.

$25Under $50

Latest guides

Read the working

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The full argument, the competitors we considered, and what would change our mind.

Outdoors & Tactical

The Best Rain Jacket

WinnerOutdoor Research Foray 3

Full-length side zips, so you can ventilate instead of slowly marinating in your own weather.

Verdict standsUPD Aug 15, 2026

Recently changed

Nothing in this category is currently being re-tested. Every verdict here stands as published.

In the works

  • Best daypack
  • Best headlamp
  • Best insulated bottle

Committed, not published. We list these so you can see what is missing rather than assume it doesn’t exist.

Tucker's Rules

  1. Waterproof and breathable is a spectrum, not a claim.

  2. 'Tactical' on a product page usually means black.

  3. Ventilation matters more than the membrane.