 I have a rather technical question regarding Montane's event range, and specifically the Venture and Superfly jackets. I just bought a Venture but I'm now not sure if I made the right choice. There's something I don't understand about the relative specs of the main body fabrics of these jackets. Forgetting about the durable reinforcement on the Venture, the stats are as follows: Venture: 125g/m2, 30000 HH, 12000 MVTR Superfly: 115g/m2, 30000 HH, 21000 MVTR So here is my question: How is it that the fabric used in the Superfly is so much more breathable, given that they both use event, and the weights are so similar? They are both '3 layer with mini ripstop Nylon'. I just can't understand where this extra breathability has come from. I could understand if the Venture material was significantly more durable, but how can this be when the weights are so similar? The Superfly is so much more breathable, so what has it lost to achieve this breathability? I am hoping it is not that the Venture simply uses cheaper fabric and effectively makes the event pointless by having a bad top fabric. Any thoughts?
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Has anyone had experience with both of these jackets? Is the 'eVENT Hurricane' fabric used on the Venture noticeably more durable than the eVENT used on the Superfly? If not, then apart from the reinforced shoulders the Venture is starting to look pretty bad in comparsion: Slightly more durable but much less breathable...
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 I own a Venture too but have not tried a Superfly. The numbers in the OP above do suggest that the Superfly is much more breathable but does that really translate into a noticeably more comfortable jacket? I can't say but I've never had a problem with excessive sweating in the Venture, and for the price I paid (about 40% of the RRP of a Superfly) I think it's pretty good value for money.
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That's a good point: Most of the time the quoted Venture breathability is probably enough anyway (depending on what you're doing of course), so why go higher? But, it still confuses me as to how two apparently similar fabrics, both 3-layer eVENT, can be so far apart in the breathability stakes.
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I know what you mean. I'd be interested too. I'm sure somebody here will have an answer. Might be a question for John Burley?
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 I have both and the Venture is far more durable than the Superfly. I haven't noticed that much difference in regard to breathability.
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My guess would be the outer fabric on the venture is a heavier weight denser weave so less breathable but more durable.
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Thanks for the responses. Good to hear that the Venture material is indeed more durable, which is what I need. My knowledge of nylon fabric just isn't good enough to understand how an extra 10g/m2 can make a material much more durable and much less breathable. I emailed Montane about it so maybe they'll get back to me!
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| Edited: 11/02/08 00:18 |
For those who are interested, I got a reply from Montane: "I can confirm that the Lightweight Event fabric (Superfly) is more breathable than the Hurricane Event fabric (Venture) due to the way it is woven. The Hurricane fabric is woven so that it is more robust but this does give way to some of the breathability." So it appears that weight alone doesn't tell the whole story: It's the way it's woven.
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| Edited: 12/02/08 09:58 |
 Interesting interesting interesting. I don't have a quick answer - Montane's partial explanation is a good starting point - but I would also doubt the validity of the moisture vapour transfer rate figures anyway. This pdf is often linked for comparison.
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Another issue would be the way the extra layers of the pockets affect the breathability.
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 And of course, what happens when you stick a laminated map in that pocket... Fwiw, overall vapour permeability is a combination of the membrane, the face fabric and the liner. For example, as I understand it, the membrane used in Gore-Tex Pro Shell is the same as the one used in XCR, however the different backer and carefully chosen face fabrics have - apparently - increased breathability levels.
Lab tests for vapour permeability are a whole other can of worms. It's debatable how many of them relate to real life use and one of eVent's contentions, I think, is that the standard RET test favours Gore's technology even though eVent still outperformed it on that test.
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As far as the figures in the first post go, as I understand it, they're a little misleading. Apparently what's happening is that the moisture permeates through the membrane at roughly the same rate, but is absorbed in the Venture face fabric because it's denser so doesn't register as quickly. So the fabric on the Superfly is slightly more breathable, but not to the extent that those figures might suggest, if that makese sense. The vapour has still been transferred outwards, but it's kind of milling around outside the gates rather than getting straight onto the bus and going home...
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