I recently bought the Altura Vapour at a good price from Merlin. Hasn't had many outings in the rain but has proved waterproof and comfortable so far, it's very lightweight, close fitting and has some stretchiness which is nice and it also packs down nicely. I've also got an Endura Flyte which is very comfortable and I've ridden in some pretty grim weather in this for long periods (including bank holiday monday AM and this years Brevet Cymru ), it's very comfortable but it doesn't pack down very small and that's the reason I got the vapour.
I'm more than happy with the Flyte but if I was carrying lots of stuff and space was a premium I'd go Vapour.
As with Jon B I`ve got both a Vapour jacket and a Flyte jacket (and others
). Vapour jacket is very good, has a long scooped back, good rear pocket, decent length arms with good cuffs to go over gloves. It seems to be quite waterproof too (I can never really judge waterproofness as after a couple hours get wet anyway with sweat !!) and a good overall, slightly stretch fit---more of a racefit I`d say. Although reviews rave about it being so breathable I do find that it will get damp inside with sweat after a couple hours in the dry as a windjacket. But that`s case I find with any waterproof
The Flyte jacket is a much heavier and more robust jacket, more aimed at touring or MTB use and a more generous cut, very large rear cargo pocket, useful chest pocket (eg brevet card , route sheet). But it isn`t as good a fit as Vapour with fabric being stiffer. Breathability and waterproofness as Vapour I`d say but pack size large. But it feels bombproof
which gives a level of secure feeling in bad weather.
On the `legendary` Brevet Cymru 2015 I started off on return trip wearing my Vapour jacket which was OK kept me warm and mostly dry; at deluge time after last control stop I put on Flyte jacket instead (note to oneself kitchen sink mentality must learn carry less
)and continued into deluge for three hours. I was quite wet inside at finish, but also fabric of Flyte jacket was soaked through which made it quite cold. Whether Vapour jacket would have been better
BUT as it`s lighter fabric with a PU coating it wouldn`t have had the soaked fabric that Flyte with a laminate type fabric had.
Having invested in a few waterproof jackets though I have two conclusions 1. when new all seem great, the DWR works well and sheds water , but 2. after a while every jacket I`ve tried DWR wears out, performance decreases and no matter what I use to reproof it`s never as good as new.
Overall though I`d surmise that Vapour is probably about as good as they`ll get given all above caveats. BTW, I`ve not found Rapha to be any better.....