The bottom portion of each leg incorporate hooks to clip on to your hiking boot laces as well as adjustable straps to create a seal against the boot. Nice attention to detail. The Nano Pro Eco material has a ‘dry-touch’ outer layer which makes it soft to handle and not too noisy or ‘rustly’. I hate it when overtrousers make too much noise, and the Marmots were pretty quiet in that regard when walking. There is also no netting layer inside them which is much my preferred design option as it stops your boots getting caught up when putting them on.

Stormflaps around the ends of the overtrousers are a welcome touch and help seal you up completely against the elements. We must also mention the overall style of the Spraysways – they look great and seem to have a better shape/fit than more expensive competition. Great work Sprayway! The R900s are perfectly adept for walking, but they are certainly heavier than standard walking trousers at around 1kg. But you are getting doubly reinforced front thigh, knee and calf areas which means you can kneel down without fear of tearing your trousers. To give that price some context we then looked at all of the products available from Go Outdoors in the Waterproof category. We found 111 items in total. What’s the price of Waterproof? Unfortunately none of these tests correlate with each other and in fact different fabrics types appear to perform better on different tests so they are not interchangeable.As the fabric in question is Gore-Tex Pro we can only provide data using RET as this is the standard test Gore-Tex use for their fabrics (Gore may be able to supply more data). However to speak in general terms you would normally expect most fabrics with a RET of 6 m²Pa/W to have an Moisture Vapour Transmission Rate of well over 20,000 g/m²/24hours when tested using the most commonly known MVTR test method (Inverted cup B1 method). The Spray Rainpants are at the budget end of the scale, but offer a good fit and decent(ish) breathability with their two layer HydroDry construction. We like the simple elastic waistband on top, but are less keen on the mesh netting layer inside the rainpants – it can be easy to catch a boot on when trying to elegantly put them on.

What to look for in the best waterproof trousers?

AT Optic - Combine the thermal insulation and pill resistance of a good mid-weight fleece fabric but with a unique look to ensure they look as good as they perform. All of our waterproof products, following their manufacture, are treated with a waterproof coating on the outside of the garment. This feature is in addition to the Gore-Tex or AQ waterproof membrane inside the garment. That’s why we’ve pulled together this list of key factors for Berghaus Women’s Maitland GORE-TEX® Overtrousers (Short) below, to help you choose if it’s the right product for you and your budget. Answer Two is to go for some walking/outdoor trousers which are waterproof from the off. The advantage here is that you don’t have to faff around standing comically on one leg while you try to thread overtrousers over your walking boots without ripping them. The disadvantage is that genuinely waterproof walking trousers can be heavy and cloying against the skin because they are often not as breathable as the overtrousers option. As a general rule, the general style of the trouser isn’t something that matters enormously in terms of performance, it’s the quality of the waterproof trousers that we really care about.

I really like the fit of the trousers. While we only tested the men’s version (see video review), the size and fit was well suited to my size (6ft3 tall, and I wore XL). The Dry Rangers use pop buttons for the waist and comes with a great webbing belt which simply clips together when required – nice! We gave the Berghaus Paclites a pretty thorough going over in terms of water. Both my wife Alison and I donned a pair and our daughter Loz took great delight at spraying water at us with a hosepipe. The trouble is she couldn’t get us wet! The water was simply beading off the Berghaus trousers and at the end of the exercise they looked completely dry – impressive!Berghaus recommend that you machine wash your item at 30 degrees Celsius and use soap powder or liquid with no fabric softeners or conditioners. For stubborn grease and dirt use non biological detergent with no softeners or conditioners. The garment should be air dried or if the care label allows tumble dried at a low heat setting. Lightweight but tough – the face fabric is remarkably light yet twice as durable as any other competitor. The reason why we have stitch through baffles in the other areas is to reduce bulk and to deliver warmth where you really need it and save weight in areas where you don’t need the extra warmth. This has come from extensive thermal body mapping.

Another nice design touch is a small hook included at the lower end of each leg which can attach to the laces of your walking boots in a similar way to gaiters. This can prevent water and mud splashing up inside the overtrousers and onto your main walking trousers. Bear in mind that the fit of the Ventus is quite slim in terms of waist size although there is elastic which allows some expansion and adjustability. Waterproof overtrousers are often baggy by necessity. Some manufacturers offer articulated knee joints, Velcro calf adjustment, ankle cuff press studs, waist drawstrings, and varying leg lengths to help combat waterproof trouser looseness. WaistbandRohan’s Ventus waterproof overtrousers are an excellent performer for outdoor rainy days with a number of decent design cues from the top to the bottom. In particular, we were impressed with the full length two-way waterproof zips on the side of each leg. These are excellent quality and allow the leg of the trousers to be opened up from the ground up – easy to then slip your walking boots through on a rainy day!