Choosing Your Waterproof Pants Guide

Do you wait out the storm or charge through it? Do you count the grams in your pack or prefer heavy-duty gear over everything? Our waterproof pants guide makes it easy to find the right waterproof pants for your next adventure. Our comprehensive waterproof hunting pants guide makes it easy to find the right waterproof pants that suit your preferences and ensures comfort and protection on your upcoming hunting or hiking adventure.

DELUGE PANTS

Hunt, work, farm - the toughest pants ever. Built tough from reinforced, recycled nylon, it’s been meticulously designed for extreme durability, comfort in the roughest of conditions, and day-in, day-out performance, from the farmyard to the mountain hunt.

Odyssey Pants v2

The ultimate all-rounder that performs from the forest floor up to the mountain tops and stands up to a bashing. The Odyssey V2 hunting pants combine waterproofing and breathability with a quiet outer fabric for those close quarters bush stalking. Full-length side zips allow for an easy on/off over boots and dual ender sliders create huge thigh vents.

Atlas Pants

Created in the lab, verified in the Alps. The Alpine environment demands ultra-light and ultra-breathable in place of all-around balance. The Atlas is a technology-driven, specialised product. This series was created for the mountains where durability, water-shedding and packability must be prioritised over stealth.

Downpour Elite Trouser

The Downpour Elite Trousers are workhorse, all-purpose hunting pants designed with the waterfowl hunter and deerstalker in mind. Heavy-duty yet packable, lightweight and comfortable; providing a quiet hunting experience with protection from wind and rain.

Obsidian Trouser

The Obsidian offers the ultra-light option for extreme weather. Designed as a super packable option with full-length side zippers so you can slip them on quickly over your boots when the weather takes an unexpected turn for the worst.

Waterproof Pants FAQ

Both the Odyssey V2 and the Downpour Elite pants are quiet and suited for close-quarter bush stalking.

The Downpour Elite is a jack of all trades and is stealthy, ideal for bush stalking. It is also well suited for waterfowl hunting (especially paired with the Downpour Elite Jacket), and its deep front pockets are ideal for dumping ammo.

The Odyssey V2 is a premium all-rounder, with cutting-edge features. Importantly, it has a full-length zip allowing you to take them on and off over your boots while on the side of a hill - this really sets it apart from the Downpour Elite pants. It performs from the forest floor up to the mountain tops and is also quiet for close-quarters bush stalking.

Both have the same waterproof rating (22,000mm). The Odyssey V2 has a slightly higher breathability rating (15,000gm/m2/24hrs versus the Downpour Elite which has 10,000gm/m2/24hrs).

A full-length size zip on each leg really changes the game in the field if you need to pull on a waterproof layer quickly when the weather takes a turn. Opening the zips right up means you can pull them on over your base layers, gaiters and boots quick as a flash.

Our waterproof pants with a full-length side zip are the Atlas Pants , Odyssey V2 Pants, and the Obsidian Trouser.

Our base layers, mid-layers and outer layers are designed to be paired with each other – so the sizing has been graded to accommodate that. We recommend buying your usual pants size when choosing your waterproof pants.

PFC DWR stands for Perfluorinated Compound Free Durable Water Repellent. Perfluorinated Compound (PFC) are chemicals commonly used in waterproof outdoor apparel as well as many more common household items such as nonstick cookware and paints. We aren’t fans of the by-products that come from using these chemicals and their impact on the environment.

All DWR used in the Hunters Element range is PFC free, and you can read more about our choice to use this type of PFC free DWR here.

We use Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) waterproof testing on our range. The JIS testing process involves a hydrostatic tank of water, where our fabrics are placed on top of water, and pressed down upon it until water leaks through the top. This replicates an earlier style of the same test, where fabric is placed at the bottom of a tank, and it is gradually filled with water until it leaks through the fabric at the bottom.

The JIS rating is expressed in millimeters of water column (mmH₂O). The higher the number, the greater water pressure it can withstand. Fabric is considered waterproof if it can withstand over 2,000mm. The average pressure of rainfall is between 1,000 – 2,000mm. Here is how our range performs in the JIS waterproofing tests:

Atlas Pants – 30,000mm

Odyssey V2 Pants – 22,000mm

Downpour Elite Trouser – 22,000mm

Obsidian Trouser – 25,000mm

Our waterproof pants are constructed with a 3-layer waterproof and breathability system, and are specially designed to be very waterproof while remaining breathable through the use of technologically advanced membranes.

Our waterproof jackets are also made breathable through a second-generation style of construction, where three layers of fabric are bonded together:

The outside face fabric which is strong and quiet, and treated with a PFC-free durable water repellent.
The middle membrane, which wicks away sweat from your body with its hydrophilic properties (meaning, it loves water).
The inside layer which is a fine tricot mesh that sits against your body, providing comfort for you and protection for your jacket against high-friction areas.

The middle membrane’s hydrophilic properties effectively wicks sweat and moisture off your body, and this moisture then beads, and evaporates up through the outer layer fabric – driven by the difference in temperature and air pressure between the inside of the jacket, and the outside world.

As this middle membrane loves moisture, it is important to ensure the outside layer has its DWR maintained over the life of the jacket, so the moisture continues to effectively move (and stay) from the inside to the outside.

The breathability testing expresses results in number of grams of moisture that is wicked and evaporated through one square metre of fabric, in 24 hours. The higher the number, the better the breathability. A rating of 8,000g/m2/24hrs is considered a good breathability rating for outdoor use.

Here’s how our range stacks up:

Atlas Pants – 40,000gm/m2/24hrs

Odyssey V2 Pants – 15,000gm/m2/24hrs

Downpour Elite Trouser – 10,000gm/m2/24hrs

Obsidian Trouser – 10,000gm/m2/24hrs

The Hunters Element range is based on a 3-layer system: base layer, mid-layer(s) and outer layer. These outer layers are designed to be worn above our base-layers (such as the Core or Core+ range) and our mid-layer range (such as the Legacy Jacket, Zenith top or Whakarapu Hood).

The outer layer is the final barrier of defence between you and Mother Nature, and is engineered for superior water resistance, breathability and noise reduction.

All three layers used together ensure you warm up, cool down and stay dry for superior performance in the field. The fabric technology in each layer has been thoughtfully designed to best regulate your temperature, breathe out excess heat and sweat, and keep you protected from the harsh elements.