AllOutdoor Review – Outdoor Research Foray Jacket
Patrik Orcutt 07.05.23
Outdoor Research is a Seattle-based manufacturer of technical apparel and gear for outdoor sports, They were formed back in 1980s after a climber was attempting a summit of Mt. Denali when he and his team had a failure of a set of gaiters that sent them packing back down the mountain. That climber was Ron Gregg and after just over a year, Ron would have started his own outdoor brand, Outdoor Research (OR). Back in 1980, their flagship product was an improved pair of gaiters, fixing the problems Ron had with older pairs. Today OR’s product line includes everything you would need for alpinism, rock and ice climbing, backpacking, paddling, and backcountry skiing and snowboarding. This particular review will focus on their Outdoor Research Foray Jacket.
The OR Foray Jacket was purchased by myself and OR has not been allowed to preview this review prior to publishing. The Foray has been tested over the course of the last 4 years in various activities including hiking, skiing, and daily activities while traveling.
The Foray is what I would call a general purpose, rain jacket. It has excellent water resistance. It’s very versatile, and incredibly durable and very comfortable. But it’s also going to be a bit heavier than most rain jackets.
Specs – Outdoor Research Foray Jacket
- Weight: 16.3 oz or 463 Grams
- Waterproof Membrane: GORE-TEX Paclite
- Fabric: 100% nylon and 50D Plain Weave
- Manufactured in: CHINA
- MSRP: $225
Water Resistance – Outdoor Research Foray Jacket
When we look at weather resistance for this jacket, obviously with it being a rain jacket, we want it to be good in the rain. This is honestly a category I feel like I’m going to struggle with with this review.
I think the best way to put it is that the jacket is highly water-resistant to a point. I have worn this jacket on numerous occasions in light drizzles and had no problem, but there have been a few instances where I have worn it in complete downpours and I feel like the jacket really didn’t hold up, as well as I was expecting.
I have found that once enough water buildup on the face of the jacket, it seems to lose its water-resistant capabilities and just becomes wet. This really isn’t something I appreciate in such a honestly expensive rain jacket and this was a very disappointing part for me. Honestly, I’m not sure if the DWR coating wore off over time from too much use, or if this jacket really never had much water resistance to begin with.
Now it is important to keep in mind I am reviewing the 2019 version of this jacket and there has since been an update in the Foray 2. From all of the reviews I have read online, it seems that the water resistance has been greatly improved on that iteration of this jacket.
Breathability – Outdoor Research Foray Jacket
The breathability of this particular jacket is pretty damn good. At its price point, you’re going to have a hard time finding a more breathable jacket. The fabric is designed in a way to help dump, heat and moisture as quickly as possible. Outdoor Research also opted to include a full poncho-style zip that runs from the armpits all the way down to the bottom of the jacket. I will say I found this to be an incredibly useful feature.
When I started to get warm while hiking in this rain jacket, this is also a nice feature in the fact that it allows the user to have another way to get to another pocket on an internal layer. You can also use this as a great place to draw a handgun if you were wearing this jacket over a belt at the range. One more thing to mention is that there are two zippers on the elongated pit zip meaning that you don’t have to undo the entire side of the jacket to get better breathability.
Comfort and Mobility – Outdoor Research Foray Jacket
I think this jacket is very comfortable, and with the fabric having a little bit of a stretch and gift to it, this really helps out with the overall mobility of this jacket. I personally wish the arm sleeves were a bit shorter as they are a bit long for me, but that’s just a nitpick, the face fabric of the jacket is soft to the touch and helps you feel like you’re not wearing one of those hyper white trash bag-is rain jackets. The cat is really good on the jacket. Overall aside from the arms in the hood is quite large and facilitates the use of a helmet. Of course, when the helmet is not in use, there are two drawer cords to help cinch down the hood for me for a more comfortable fit.
Weight and Packability – Outdoor Research Foray Jacket
Coming in at just a hair over 16 ounces, the foray is a bit on the heavier side when compared to other jackets at the same price point. I think that extra weight is well warranted. The fact that you get a tougher fabric and you get more zippers on this jacket than most.
When it comes to packability, this jacket has a few tricks up its sleeves. And one of the front hand pockets has a double zipper meaning that you can turn this pocket inside out and stash the entire jacket inside of itself. This makes for very convenient packing and is also a great way to transport or store the jacket when not in use. I love this feature, but unfortunately, Outdoor Research decided to omit it on the most recent version of the Foray.
Durability – Outdoor Research Foray Jacket
Durability is another category the Foray really shines in. In all the outings I’ve had with this garment, I don’t have a single hole in the face fabric. When you open up this jacket, you can see that all the seams are taped and everything was put together meticulously unfortunately as we talked about earlier weatherproofing doesn’t seem to be that good when in a downpour.
Wrap up – Outdoor Research Foray Jacket
The Foray is a jacket that does a lot of things really well, unfortunately, it doesn’t do the one thing a rain jacket is designed to do well. I love the fabric. This is constructed out of, and I love all of the additional features like the extended pit zips, but at the end of the day if a rain jacket can’t stop a lot of rain. What good is it? hopefully, this is a sample size of one, and other people don’t have the same issues with the original foray. I’ve been happy to see that the Foray 2 has had exceptionally good reviews in the waterproofing department, so it seems that outdoor research has figured out the issue if there was one. Since this is an older jacket, you can find it for quite a bit cheaper than its original price but if I was going to spend any money on a rain jacket, I would just spend a little more and get the Foray 2 at this point.
