upsides: it's comfortable, the padded knees are a very nice touch, the hood adjusts for high-speed runs, it keeps the wind off very effectively, and most importantly it kept me dry in an extended rain.

downsides: i wish it came in more appealing colors. i also find the "pee tube" awkward to use. it's designed in a way that makes it difficult to get about your business. without zippered access, i can't easily undo my pants inside the bibs and it's too difficult to do so by reaching up the tube. this is of course compounded by the rainy, wet, windy, wavy "extreme" conditions where i'm most likely to be wearing the suit.

what are your experiences?

unfortunately, my hips don't stick out quite as much as they used to 10 years ago, so most every pair of my pants and shorts have either a draw string or a belt to keep them from sliding down. i wish i could slap on a pair of 32" jeans and expect them to stay in place, but those days are long behind me.

i can get one hand through the tube...but it takes someone more nimble than i am to reach in through there, untie/unbelt, unzip, and move aside pants with one hand. all while standing on the edge of a boat in rainy, windy, wavy conditions. clever, but awkward. it's much easier to undo the pants with two hands behind the bibs, so that's what i end up doing. meh.

my experience, my opinion, they'd be better off with a sealed zipper on the bottom half of the bibs...big enough to allow you the use of both hands and you could still access it without taking off your parka and bibs to get at things.

during my recent trip to Lake of the Woods, rain gave me a reason to wear my new StormSuit on 3 occasions and test it out more thoroughly. the pee-tube is still awkward, but that's a subjective personal opinion. the real purpose of this stuff is to keep you dry when it rains...so, here's an objective performance report:

1) hard rain lasting 15 minutes while standing up casting; i stayed dry

2) light rain lasting 1 hour while standing and sitting running the boat; my shorts were damp to the touch in the crotch and butt

3) alternating heavy showers and light sprinkles lasting 4 hours while mostly standing casting and occasionally sitting driving the boat; my butt and crotch got wet enough to feel it; my left shoulder soaked through to the point that my sweatshirt was visibly wet

this is no more than a minor inconvenience when it's 75 degrees outside. on the other hand, this fall when it's raining and only 40 degrees ("extreme" weather) it's means not being able to stay out for a full day.

i could have bought a store-label suit for much less money to get the same performance.

There's different grades of Gore-Tex.  It used to be the tags were differnt colors, like blue, red and gold I think.  Now there's PacLite, XCR, Proshell, etc for uses from everything to lightweight jogging suits to fully submersible fabrics like in waders and dry suits (which I can personally confirm are dry submersed and breathable above water.)  In rain suits, I've had great luck with BPS 100 MPH suit and for summer wear Simms G3 jacket and UA Full Throttle Bibs.  Only the UA bibs aren't GTX.  The 100MPH is a standard grade GTX and the G3 is XCR, as is all of my climbing and mountaineering GTX.

I prefer thei XCR or Proshell.  You'll pay for it, but it's worth it.