Gaiters are a lot quieter and shed snow and water a lot better if you put them on and drape your pantlegs over them...
If it's cold enough to want them for snow and warmth, your pants won't be wet, but the snow that goes over the top of them if they're over your pants will make your pants and boots wet.
Ditto! Excellent point.
Pants inside gaiters drain/soak water down inside the gaiter tops as the pant material gets wet. Soaked my boots that way on a rainy sleety dash through sub-alpine brush after a ram. Pant legs outside of gaiters shed water down and outside the gaiter. If wearing waterproof rain pants, the rain pants go outside the gaiters.
Gaiters inside soft fabric pant cloth also lets you wear noisier gaiter fabric and still be quiet moving through low brush.
