Men's Beta Pants vs Women's Torrentshell 3L Pants: which is safer?
Patagonia Women's Torrentshell 3L Pants is our pick: better on PFAS and on the overall hazard picture.
Arc'teryx
Men's Beta Pants
PFAS grade
Bad 20/100
Overall grade
Bad 12/100
Verdict
Skip
Hazard flags
⚑ 2
Material
Nylon shell with water-repellent coating water-repellent coating finish
Confidence
35%
PossiblePFAS in water-repellent coating finish
Possiblewater-repellent coating finish degradation and re-application exposure
Our pick
Patagonia
Women's Torrentshell 3L Pants
PFAS grade
Poor 45/100
Overall grade
analysis pending
Verdict
pending
Hazard flags
none flagged
Material
Nylon with water-repellent coating water-repellent coating finish
Confidence
72%
Where these two actually differ
- We flag PFAS in DWR finish and DWR finish degradation and re-application exposure on the Arc'teryx and not on the Patagonia.
- The Arc'teryx is Nylon shell with DWR durable water repellent finish where the Patagonia is Nylon with DWR durable water repellent finish, which is most of the difference in these two grades.
- The gap is 25 points, wide enough that this is not a close call, and the Patagonia is the one to buy.
- We are less certain about the Arc'teryx grade, at 35% confidence against 72%, because it discloses less.
Both products run through the same public rubric: materials, coatings, brand disclosure, lab findings, and recalls, plus a beyond-PFAS hazard analysis. Grades are model-based estimates, not lab tests. How grades work →
More rain pants: see the full ranking