Has anyone tried Scotchgard™ Durable Water Repellent?

If I want to turn an expensive piece of technical outerwear into the equivalent of a rubber raincoat. The Scotchgard is what I would use.

Scotchguard works great! I'd give that a try. You can even water-proof jeans for rainy days, when you're working outside. Work's like a champ from my experience.

The problem with Scotchgard is it deters the ability of the fabric to breath.  On the other hand, it is a cheap way to make sections of your clothes more waterproof.  When I lived in Oregon I would use it to waterproof the thighs of my pants as they would usually get saturated by falling wet snow as you rode the chairs.  If you want to preserve the fabrics ability to breath there are other more expensive products around with Nikwax being the most popular.

I actually just noticed the other day that they now make a scotchguard brand dwr spray for breathable fabrics, in addition to the old school spray. No idea how it holds up compared to nikwax, grangers, revivex, etc. I've thought about going old school scotchguard on the butt of my pants because the breathable spray products just don't seem to be cutting it anymore, I still wet out quickly on snowy days. But hadn't tried it yet 'cause there's no going back.
Maybe I just need new pants with a better factory dwr.

I still scotchgard my bike helmet straps, stops the nylon from loosening (and chafing by sliding)  as it absorbs schwitz.

Hi.  I was actually just Googling Scotch Guard because I am having severe eye trouble dryness, burning, pain after using the product even though I used it OUTDOORS in no wind,  wearing a mask and goggles.  My hunch is that basically despite the protection while using the product to protect my patio cushions that vapors may have still been in the air after I removed the goggles and mask.  Now, my EYES are basically water repellant, thus the dryness AND when I went to see my optometrist last week she said that the tears she could see appeared "oily".  It wasn't until this evening when I was considering picking up some additional Scotch Guard for other cushions that it finally hit me -- BINGO it makes sense that the Scotch Guard is the cause.  It has been about a month since I used the product and I am still having the pain, dryness, etc.  I am calling to see my eye doctor in the morning to let her know what I believe is going on. So, in my opinion, don't use this product.   I am an extremely careful person, read warning labels, etc. and still I really think that even taking reasonable precautions, this product has cause me severe issues.  In fact, I am getting ready to log off of the computer right now because I can only look at computer screens, televisions, and even reading material for a few minutes before I am blinking so incessantly that I am unable to focus on or do anything else.  Please, don't use it.

Is putting on a pair of safety glasses beyond a reasonable precaution?

 

As Rio suggested, Nikwax is the most popular. Are you in Canada? If yes, check out this MEC page:

 

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/MensClothing/CareRepellency.jsp

 

Even if you aren't, the member reviews are usually very helpful and accurate. There are 3 brands of spray-on, Nikwax and Grainger's being the best. I tried Revivex once but don't think it works as well as the Nikwax and Grainger's products. There's also a few other wash-in types. The Grainger's wash-in DWR seems to be working well on my North Face shell.

Note that Post #9 is basically a thread hijack, and a year later than the OP.  She is getting a bad reaction to Scotchgard, so we all shouldn't use it........with her first post on EpicSki.

 

Nikwax on patio furniture cushions?  Spray on might work, it might be hard to stuff the cushions into the washing machine.

I wonder how much time she spent googling for a hit on "why you shouldn't use scotch guard in windy environments when the can warns you about getting the spray in your eyes"

Nikwax is the same stuff I used to waterproof our tent.  Two cans on a small rain fly and it still only remained "waterproof" for about 4 hours.  After that it leaked like a sieve all over and all night long.  I'm sure it is better than  nothing as it worked great for the first four hours, but eventually nature won. Next time we will add a tarp over the fly.   That said, I'm still for buying cheaper stuff and spraying it periodically with something to make it repel water better.  You also need to add something should you need to machine wash your outer wear as that often takes away a lot of the waterproofing they came with.

it really has a lot of to do with the material. If its a very porous material, the DWR will not really help that much. It basically clogs up the pours. If the openings are too large, it just won't stop the moisture

 

 

 Scotchgard is not even really among the good options for that application.     Pretty much anything from Armor-All to 303 Protectant would have been better.  

or buying water resistant, outdoor cushions........