buying new technology gear

[wayno]

whats your philosophy?
do you buy the latest and greatest?
if you do. do you feel its a case of you'll take the risk of gear that hasnt been proven in the long term for the chance of getting your hands on the new tech in the hope that it will justify the expense of being the latest tech?
or dont you think theres much chance of it failing?

i was looking at rainshells. I was looking at neoshell vs event,
neoshell is newer technology, but i know its waterproof rating is lower than event and it drops even lower over time, and its more expensive , and its more breathable.
but only the membrane is more breathable, its still being married up with older technology face fabric and backer material that doesnt perform any better than other garments in the market and that reduces the gain achieved from marrying with a better breathable membrane... so you can quote the lab results of the breathability of the membrane itself , it may be x% more breathable than its rivals but when the membrane is put into the garment it's x% better minus y% because of the other material it's bonded to.... and that may not leave you with that much advantage over the other garments and thats what some reviews i've read said, backpackinglight said it was splitting hairs to say neoshell is a better membrane than the competition, the reviewer thought the difference was negligible... and the most breathable membranes were the ones with the thinnest face fabric not with the most breathable membrane, they still needed a reasonably performing membrane to perform well and there where plenty of garments that could perform close to the performance of the neoshell to make the difference indistinguishable.
did i want to spend the extra money for the breathability and see how long it remained waterproof?
not really , i could afford to buy it but wasnt convinced thered be enough noticeable advantage in the breathability over event from the reviews I'd read and i'd used neoshells fore runner powershield pro and found that was oversold as highly water resistant and found it was no better than any windshell or softshell for water resistance... so i saved money and put the money saved into getting two shells an ultra light weigh and a heavier weight ones which will give me more choice on what i wear based on the weather conditions and environment i'm going into and pad out the life of the jackets even longer...

in some cases i'd consider buying the latest technology, i bought some grid fleece jackets, i was happy to do that, but i didnt think i could strike issues that could be as problematic as with the neoshell. ie wanting a waterproof that didnt retain its watrproofness long term..
the grid fleece cost less so i was willing to wear the cost to try in out and put up with long term failure on durability. my impression was it was less likely to fail, it was a different technology, less technical than the shell membrane which was crucial to its success or failure

you've got gore tex bringing out a new waterproof membrane in the next year gore pro and you'll be looking at around the $900- $1000 mark for it, will you spend that much money on it because its gore tex and or it's new technology? and they say it's better?
if you can afford it, would you not buy it because its too new and or too expensive?

[stuey69]

I don't mind getting carried away and taking a shot at new gear lines, but there's no way you'll get me paying $900 or so for a new line of Gore Tex jacket.
I have three rain jackets for differing situations and I suppose in total they've cost me $1,000.
I'll test the waters but $900 is far too much money to risk for something that might or might not work for me.

[wayno]

damn, i'm looking for a guinea pig to tell me what they are really like
thats just the euro price, who knows what they will cost down under..