Snugpak Patrol Poncho, Waterproof, One Size, Lightweight, Suitable for Hiking, Camping, and Hunting

Took this thing on an overnight hiking trip and got caught in a thunderstorm on the way back. Kept me and my pack completely dry and warm. I'm 5'10" and the neck area is a little tight, but not uncomfortable enough that I wouldn't wear it. It compresses easily into the small bag that's provided. The product description doesn't really do justice to how much this thing compresses. It comes with a small 8.5" tall and 4" wide pouch with a strap on the bottom and a little attachment loop at the top. A normal 32oz Nalgene bottle fits nicely in the bag with no problems, to give an idea of the size of it. The entire poncho will easily roll up and fit into that little bag, which you can then either throw in your pack or attach it using a carabiner, some paracord, or any other attachment option to the outside of your pack. Since it's the size of a Nalgene bottle, if you're worried about how to carry this just grab a water bottle and throw it on or around your pack to see how it will fit. The poncho could probably compress into a smaller bag without problems. The downside to this is the fact it has sleeves and how thin it is. While durable, I can see this tearing really easily if it got snagged. During the hiking trip I was constantly worried about it snagging on a limb or bush or something. If you're the type of person who wants to use a poncho for something other than rain protection for your person and pack, I would skip out on this item and buy a normal GI-style poncho which has more uses. If you only plan to use this as raingear, then I highly recommend it due to the quality of the waterproofing, light weight and small carry size.

Im not a huge fan of ponchos as since returning from OCONUS deployments i had been living in Fl, and even though it rained alot i usually just went on about my biz. Now im spending much more time in my remote property its quite a bit cooler. I have a snugpak rain jacket that is my go to wet weather kit, but it was in the truck which GF had taken to town so I dug this new poncho out and wore it in 35 degree pouring sleeting mess. As typical the end of my sleeves got wet but with the hood up (great fit over the wool hood of my anorak) my neck and shoulders never got wet other then minor incurrsion's, neither did my "arse" when id take the occasion to sit down too take a cuppa. Funny enough in one of the old outbuildings on my property I found a very good USGI issued poncho a type id never seen before made from same goretex material as the ECW jackets from mid 90's. It rained for 3 days straight turning from rain to snow and sleet, the second day i didnt feel like putting on the soggy Snugpak so I tried the USGI one out id say the snugpak was better for sure in fact after lunch i switched back to the patrol poncho. It also fit well over my camelbak assaulter pack, only compromising a little bit of the bottom end coverage. Im old and aarthritic now but im still going and i can see this is gonna be solid good kit im going to get one for my GF as well. It just plain sucks being cold and wet this is a great item to beat that ticket. Now if i can just find where i put my dang goretex trousers...

Super product! I bow hunt elk in Colorado for two weeks every year. I'm often out for days on my own in the wilderness and I need to pick my equipment seriously for weight and performance. This product went through a BEATING and passed with flying colors. It rained for days up in the mountains. I was finally forced to retreat to base camp some 5 miles away. I mean it was miserable and I climbed through some serious terrain. I LOVE the design and material. It was light and flexible more akin to fabrics than pvc. I stayed dry standing and sitting. I went through dense horrible forests navigating through groves of fallen trees and it NEVER snagged or tore. On top of all that when it finally did stop raining, with a couple of shakes the water beaded right off and it was ready to pack away. Very impressive. If - "IF" I had to say anything negative about it - it would be that if your pack has a bedroll on top as mine did it will not fit over it. If and when you're in this situation and have to put you pack over it (AND your pack weighs as much as mine - approx 70lbs) the waist belt will slide down placing more weight on your shoulders. Obviously this did not bother me enough to not give it 5 stars but after 5 miles of climbing over the backside of hell it does get to you a bit ;) Totally worth the money!

Awful product. I wanted to like this so much, but it failed within a year and had never even been used. The way this product is manufactured is some sort of sticky coating beneath the fabric for waterproofing. The problem is that if this heats up it bonds to itself and then pulls loose when you try to separate it from itself. Basically, it sticks together and the poncho becomes unusable. The photos and video are from 1 year of NOT using the product. It sat in my Search and Rescue kit in the garage in case I was deployed on short notice and needed a poncho. Every winter I go through all my gear to make sure it's 'mission ready', and this piece had failed. I literally could not even open the poncho to put it on. After trying for a few minutes and realizing this sticky mess was going to leave residue all over my gear even if I got it open, AND, it would be horrible to wear I just threw it away. Wish I could get my money back. 0 STARS.

I searched for a poncho for a while and tried many different ones on Amazon. They claimed to be military grade and that you could use them for many different situation, like gathering water, build a temporary bivouac and so on. In reality, their quality was so bad that you could barely use them as a poncho. This Snugpak poncho is surely overpriced, but it seems having a better quality of all the other ponchos on Amazon. You can't use it to build a bivouac, but it perfectly fulfill the main use as a poncho. The elastics at the end of the sleeves are useless. Unless you are a kid or have shorts arms, the sleeves are too short for an average man and the can't use the elastics. The compression bag has a decent quality too. If you pat attention, you won't break it. Usually, with other ponchos, you easily break the bag while trying to put the poncho back in.

Finally got a chance to try this poncho a couple weekends ago on a day hike. It started raining, and I pulled this poncho out quick and slipped it on over myself and my pack. Plenty of room! I like that the sleeves on this poncho are longer and also elastic cuffed, whereas other ponchos only have the half sleeves which still allow your forearms to get wet. The length of this poncho is great for someone my size (6'1", 230lbs) even with a full pack on. I was covered from head to just above my knees, and the expanded backside hangs just a bit lower but not in my way where I would trip on it. One recommendation though... before you take this poncho into the field, open it at home first and "prepare" it. The plastic material may not be fully "cured" yet, so it tends to stick to itself from the factory. Extra drying time before balling it up and putting it in its compression sack would probably cure that, but we as consumers can't control it. So, take this poncho out at home and go through it carefully to fully separate it apart where it has stuck together. It won't tear (don't be rough with it, of course) but still take your time. I guarantee you don't want to break this out in the field without doing this step first, or you'll spend 2 minutes trying to get it on right. Once it's prepped, it will slip on in seconds and not re-stick to itself. Folds up and then rolls up to easily fit back in the included compression sack. Best piece of lightweight rain gear I own, and if there's even a chance of rain on a backpack trip, this comes with me. Not recommended to leave in a car or hot environment during the summer. The material is relatively thin and I would expect that it would age after a couple years of heat exposure. Keep it in a climate controlled environment when not needed, and get years of use out of this poncho. A tad bit pricey for just a poncho, but the design is worth it to me.

I really wanted to like it. But two design choices make for a contradiction. The choice to have sleeves means it can not fit over a pack easily. If it can't fit over a pack, then why is it so massive? It's just a size 10XL rain jacket with size S arms and chest. If you made a vendiagram of all the things that people love about rain jackets, and all the things people love about ponchos. This product only shares one feature on that list, Waterproof. ☆. Will it keep you dry? ~Yes! ☆. Well made? ~Yes! ○. Better than a normal Pancho? ~NO! it's worse. ○. Better than a normal rain jacket? ~NO! It's worse.

I've had a chance to wander around my yard in a couple of downpours and so far so good. The water beads well off the fabric. The hood is huge and very deep but has no built in visor. So far that hasn't been a problem at all. It hangs far enough in front of my face to keep my glasses dry and prevent water from running down my neck but hasn't become "floppy". Time will tell if this will continue but wearing a baseball cap would fix that problem too. It reaches to my knees (I'm 72" tall) so with a pair of rain gaiters or maybe chaps you should be waterproof from head to toe. The thumb holes in the sleeves are nice, especially for hiking since that keeps them from riding up your arms. They're some kind of elastic though and they dry much slower than the rest of the poncho so don't accidentally store it wet. I don't think this will work well in hot weather but then I don't generally care if I get wet. It fits easily over my 60L pack. I wouldn't want to try it but I believe that with a garbage bag for my feet and legs and this poncho for my upper it would serve OK as an emergency bivy. It's definitely long enough I can sit down and pull my knees inside to wait out a particularly nasty storm. The bottom edge stays put even though there's no drawstring or other attachment around the waist. I had another similar jacket/poncho that had a tab/loop that went between the legs to keep the bottom edge from flapping. So far this doesn't seem to need it but I may add one later. The stuff sack is kind of small and I can never seem to roll the poncho short or fat enough to fit back into it well. That's really my only gripe. Well, that and I should have probably gone with a brighter color.