The Best $100 Rain Shell on the Market: REI Co-op Rainier Rain Jacket Review

The river valley I live in now receives between 30 and 95 inches of rainfall per year. That’s a pretty big spread, and at its worst, equivalent to living in the world’s largest temperate rainforest. My rainwear is varied to cover that range, and while I’ve got batten-down-the-hatches shells, sometimes you need a lighter touch for milder days.

The REI Co-op Rainier Rain Jacket is, in my opinion, just the ticket. A 2.5-layer shell made from the Co-op’s in-house waterproof membrane, this jacket sports some dependable weather resistance, doesn’t shy away from features, and, most importantly, is offered at less than $100. When the weather forecast looks mild, it’s the shell I grab every time.

In short: The world needs good budget rainwear, and the REI Co-op Rainier is just that. More so than that, it also doesn’t whittle itself down to hit a price point. I’ve tested the shell for more than a year now, and here’s what I found in that time about this budget-friendly jacket.

Looking for some new rainwear? Check out GearJunkie’s Best Rain Jackets Buyer’s Guide for more of our favorites.

REI Co-op Rainier Rain Jacket: Review

My rain jacket testing for GearJunkie has me suit up in just about every shell that comes out each year, and it runs the spread from high-end mountaineering armor to skimpy thru-hiker waterproof lingerie. The Rainier lands somewhere in the middle, but it’s the value that makes it stand out.

There are less expensive rain jackets out there, but most of them make some major concessions to do so. REI has carved out a niche for itself in making gear that nails the balance, and this jacket is certainly among them.

The GORE-TEX/In-House Waterproofing Difference

For a long time, GORE-TEX was the ultimate signifier of a quality rain jacket. That also means you’ll have to pay a good bit more out of pocket to get one. Right now, based on my own research, the cheapest you can snag even a two-layer GORE-TEX rain jacket is $259 (another REI jacket, the Teris GTX).

GORE-TEX doesn’t have a monopoly on good waterproofing membranes, however, and REI has a solid contender in the 2.5-layer HydroWall used in the Rainier jacket. It’s a typical polyurethane membrane (where GORE-TEX has now pivoted to polyethylene) that is laid up with a face fabric and a thin protective print on the interior.

In practice, this is a fairly standard rain jacket, and the membrane has benefits (and drawbacks). Since the liner is printed on, the membrane itself is fairly thin, meaning the jacket packs up quite small. The flip side is that without much to wick away moisture from your skin, excess can cling to the interior, feeling clammy.

The best solution? A long-sleeve base layer and keeping your internal temperature down! Ample ventilation works best here, and thankfully, the Rainier isn’t in short supply. Across all of my testing, in both sprinkles and heavy showers, the jacket performed well to keep rain out and worked admirably to not hit the condensation limit. Just don’t expect hours-long performance.

Genius Hand Pockets

I’m unsure how this hand pocket design hasn’t become the absolute standard: it’s just so good. The outside is unassuming, and it’s really only given away by the chunky storm flaps that cover both of the zippered entrances.

It’s what’s on the inside that counts here, however. The pockets are ample and made from a mesh material that immediately turns these pockets into additional core vents when opened up. That additional venting actually makes a significant difference, and in my testing, I found I could keep the shell on a good bit longer on uphills by utilizing them.

That’s also not even the best part! The same mesh material used for the hand pockets is also tacked on in such a way that it forms another drop-in pocket on the inside of the jacket. This double-use design means that this simple jacket is actually packing four separate pockets. Not shabby at all.

Finally, the jacket also stuffs into one of these pockets when you’d like to port it around, and a small webbing tag is available for clipping the shell off to something.

Comfort & Fit

The great thing about most REI apparel, this jacket included, is that it is typically available in a wide range of sizes. In the men’s fit, the jacket has 11 different permutations, and in the women’s, there are eight. I didn’t wander far in testing a size medium, but to its credit, the jacket has a great fit and cut. 

The hem lands at a comfortable hip level, and is wide enough to provide a bit of a breeze when uncinched, or snugged close when the weather is whipping. The sleeves are generous enough to cover the backs of the knuckles and are secured with simple Velcro closures on the wrists.

Wide stormflaps on the center zip and pit zips keep wind-driven rain from sneaking around, and the fabric of the jacket has a soft hand and lacks much in the way of crinkling while hiking. The hood is accommodating (but not helmet-compatible), with a soft tricot lining inside the chin flap, making for a cozy spot to tuck down into.

What Could Be Better?

As mentioned previously, the 2.5-layer membrane is going to be the main trade-off on the Rainier jacket. Without that interior wicking liner, the shell tends to accumulate perspiration on the inside when you’re really working up a sweat. The issue only gets worse when the DWR finish on your jacket gives up the ghost (something that newer PFAS-free finishes tend to do more quickly).

This is because when a jacket’s face fabric wets out, it saturates and blocks off the exit for your perspiration, causing the backup inside. Luckily, there’s a simple fix: slightly more gear maintenance! Newer shells require more frequent washing and drying to clean and reactivate the DWR finish. Now, having tested a handful of newer PFAS-free rain shells, I’ve found that an extra washing per season (twice in summer, twice in winter) keeps them happy.

REI Co-op Rainier Rain Jacket: Conclusion

It’s nice to have the most protective, total-protection hardshell jacket out there when things are truly grim. The thing is, most folks aren’t outside in those conditions. They’re jetting into town for a quick bite, or sneaking away for a day hike, and just need something that plain works.

The REI Co-op Rainier just plain works. And for $100, it’s not a difficult purchase to make on the way out to the trailhead or to grab as a backup shell to keep tucked away in your car. Don’t expect hours-long performance, but also don’t expect to feel like your jacket has been stripped clean of features. For one of the best balances in hiking and backpacking rainwear today, it’s tough to go wrong here.