I've tried several of the alternatives to Nikwax products and every single time I keep coming back. Although I have probably a half dozen stories to tell about my experience, I only need to relay one fairly recent story to tell you why I trust this (and the other Nixwax products) for most of my waterproof gear. In 2014, we set out for a month long road trip to Alaska in the middle of summer, planning to tent it all the way up and back. Unbeknownst to us, we made the trek in the wettest summer that pretty much everyone alive could possibly remember, it was wet! For 30 days straight, it rained 27 of them. This wasn't your average drip-a-bit then blow over type of rain. No. It was torrential downfall followed by a downpour followed by a steady drench thereafter. It was an unreal bout of rain, like we were living in a rain cloud for a month. All my gear, including my tent, footprint, rain fly and gear's duffel bags were treated with this stuff or other Nikwax products. It's never a cheap preparation, but in hindsight, it's always worth every penny. Night after night, my aging camping gear and waterproof clothing were pounded from all sides with unrelenting rain, put away wet only to be brought out into more wet. What little breaks in the weather we could get usually dried things out just enough to get wet again a few hours later. We could barely get a break, except for maybe once every 8-10 days or maybe a lucky clearing during setup or teardown of camp. The point? We stayed mostly dry. Our clothes, our sleeping gear, our camp gear. Dry, all of it. Every night. Every storm. It kept one pretty lady awfully happy, and that's no easy feat faced with constant rain! To be certain, some of it was probably technique as I cut my teeth camping in Oregon where you learn how to deal with rain well before you can afford technical preparations. But from one rain master to another, the secret to maintaining technical gear for whatever gets thrown at you is Nikwax. Bottom line, it's proven itself to be my trusted waterproofing material and probably always will be. Is it perfect? No, it's not going to make Goretex out of nylon no matter how you slice it...but it'll be better than pure nylon, for sure. Does it help? Without a doubt. When your gear is starting to see it's age, will it revive it enough to keep it going? Yes, and my 20+ year old used and abused Cascade Designs tent that I'd take anywhere, anytime proves it. Do you need to augment your preparations for rain otherwise? That's probably a good idea, at a minimum a solid seam seal on all rainfly seams and liberal use of tarps, when needed. I've used this stuff for years and that's only the latest reason I keep coming back for more.
