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I tried a cheap poncho at a festival over the weekend (UK) and I was surprised at how effective it was. It kept me dry and cool while I walked/danced about the festival in the rain to the tune of around 15 miles a day for 3 days. And there was A LOT of rain.
I've always been a goretex jacket and trousers guy when I'm /out/ in the rain, and I use a packable stormproof umbrella too but I had such a good experience with the poncho that I just bought pic related to try for future /out/ adventures (Turbat Molfar Pro). It has proper sleeves, pit zips and pocket access openings which can also be used to put your pack hipbelt through to secure the poncho down in windy conditions around your waist.
The only gripes I had with the festival poncho was that it would blow around a lot in high wind and strong gusts would pop open the side snaps. The "sleeves" were too short as well as seems to be a thing with ponchos. They only reached to the midpoint of my forearms.
I found I got much less sweaty in the poncho when it was soaked than I would in my goretex jacket when it wets out, which surprised me somewhat. I hike in the rain a lot here so wetting out most of the time and getting sweaty is expected and prepared for on hikes etc.
Anybody else use a poncho? Why has nobody developed ponchos further? It feels like a somewhat untapped area where some innovation could happen.
