I wont shoot anything but feathers, its just a preference thing though. I will say that the majority of archers who try feathers will tell you they like them better than vanes. Yes they are noisy, but if you do some testing with a tape recorder close to your target, you will find that broadhead tipped arrows make much more noise in flight than you might think they do, with feathers or vanes. As for the water problems, I dont even use a waterproofing agent. tested my arrows many tiimes by wetting the feathers and even allowing them to soak in water,point of impact with a wet feather and a dry feather doesnt change enough to make a difference and my groups dont get any bigger. ill take the tighter groups, faster and better arrow flight i get with feathers over vanes.