i have all the cold weather gear i need, and my boots are supposed to be water proof. i also have some seal skinz socks. you can stand in a pond with those on for hours and never leak a drop. what i need is something to keep me relativly dry in case it rains. my brother had one of those $2.00 poncho's, he gave me that. i have my doubts as to how good it will be. $2.00 isnt much money. if i can stay dry, i can stay warm. but typically here in michigan, november brings 34 degree rain / snow mix with a 30/40 mph wind. nice huh!?! i have hunted with my orange camo outer gear in 40 mph wind / snow with temps down around 10 degrees. i wasnt exactly toasty, but i survived. after aprox 90 minutes, i have to get up and walk around in those coditions. just to much wind and cold. when you just sit, your heart rate slows down, and so does your circulation. i walk slowly for 20 minutes or so, and it slowly raises my heart rate/circulation enough to sit back down for another 60-90 minutes. in the past, i would always have to quit if it rained for very long. i tried the silicone spray. it kind of works for maybe an hour. after that, the water starts seeping in. when you are wet, you are cold. it is as simple as that. i thought about an army parka. i thought that if it would keep our soldiers dry for hours or days, it should work for me. well, at the army surpluss store they had 5 or 6 different ones. varrying from 16.00 up to 300.00. anything that looked any good was upwards of $125.00. to much for me this year. i had also thought about one of those umbrellas that you strap to a tree. since usually, i sit against a tree. but i dont know if they will work in the wind, or take the wind without breaking. any ideas about those?