Vendor, User , Designer , whatever I will give a pretty unbiased answer, or try at least.
In really cold weather , Cuben is noisy as are most XPAC materials. The soft hand Coyote VX21 is not bad at all IMO. I've been out skiing 3 days in a row, with a 4800 Unaweep , Coyote / Side Zip in tow and I have not been like wow it's noisy and I don't think I have been in a temp above 15 F. As a plus the soft hand coyote is a little lighter than a standard vx21.
If noise matters, the Coyote VX21 is pretty good IMO, especially in the cold. Obviously , sub freezing and bow hunting are not really in the same environment. Above freezing, I think most (Cuben , any XPAC ) are fine when worn. Perhaps not a quite as a soft fleece or wool when struck by a branch but no louder than a Cordura IMO or not much louder.
In summary, at least as a user, above freezing, none are much different than Cordura , below freezing some get real loud, and some (Coyote) do not.
As for sizing / style from a user perspective. I gravitate to the Unaweep 4800 Side Zip a lot. I have a Cuben 3900 no zip, I have Evo's etc but IMO , the EVO with a talon only is not large enough for off season / winter stuff on it's own. With a pack bag, they are both about the same, except the Unaweep is lighter. The side zip is handy for day access and thus the 4800 gets the call even on day skiing trips when a small little pack is just not enough.
Packing animals, I packed 4 with the Unaweep this year. The Evo allows you to use the load shelf which is a positive, but in my cases, I either put it in the pack bag or compressed it between the bag and talon and got camp on the next load, or put camp outside the pack and meat inside. I stuck the unaweep bag in the washer, no detergent and ran it and stuck it in the sun and it looks like new.
Everyone has their own style and what they prefer. For me, I end up gravitating to a certain setup most of the time.
Kevin
