You might be able to spend a bunch on newer super duper materials and they might work better and not wet out like old stuff, but eventually, if it rains enough, you get wet.
I have an event jacket that hasn't been in bad weather yet so I don't know what to expect there. Older Mountain Hardwear conduit material worked fine for me in very wet conditions.
A lot has to do with your layering under the shell. I've found that if I need a puffy to be warm when it's raining, then I need fleece over that so that the puffy doesn't wet out against your shell. So I'm typically using a puffy vest or jacket, and a light fleece pullover large enough to go over the puffy if it's wet. The fleece over top can fit a bit snug...normally it goes under, but if it's wet and cold, it goes over. The idea is to get your internal dew point out of your puffy (where condensation can cause problems) and out against the shell where it belongs. Fleece does well maintaining its loft if a bit wet, not so for some of the typically thin and flimsy UL puffy insulation materials.
As far as I'm concerned, all of the cheaper laminated raingear is the same, be it from marmot, Patagonia or MH.
