Domke - Ruggedwear or Cotton?

Which to choose?

Other than better water resistance, what is the advantage of Ruggedwear? Any disadvantages?

The Ruggedwear fabric itself is a lighter weight than the straight canvas, so probably won't wear as well. My canvas Domkes have been through a lot and are still going strong. You can always treat them with a Scotchgard type spray for additional water repellancy, but they're quite good on their own, unless you like standing yourself out in a torrential downpour, when you'll be wet to the skin too. I just pull a trash bag over mine if I'm stuck out for long and don't have rain gear myself. I also carry a disposable poncho in every bag; covers me and lets me pull the bag under it to keep dry.

After posting I thought about the same thing - Scotchguard or some other water repellent treatment would probably more than equalize the playing field.

Got my first Rugged f2 yesterday. Fabric has an oily feel to it, it seems alot tougher than expected, which is good I chose the rugged version because of the water repellancy and the style. Never having seen the canvas version, I really cant compare them, but based on some movie reviews online, it seems the canvas is more shape-able? to your equipment/body..

Will do my first walkaround with it this weekend and come back with more details.
(hoping for very light rain)

Did 600 miles in the rain on a motorcycle in my Barbour suit one day. The treated cotton stood up better than my leather boots and gloves.
Pros have used the canvas Domkes for many years in all weather. Takes planning (Jon's comment) and care.
I have a ruggedwear Domke I bought, and an F2 canvas I traded for, used. I prefer the canvas bag personally.
Your in a better market than I am for purchsing inserts and pads. Here they're prohibitively expensive.
For me the optional postal shoulder pad is essential.

Canvas. And look at the Safrotto knock-offs of the Domke bags, they come with inserts, a strap pad, metal hardware not plastic, better stitching, heavier canvas, and half the price. And before anyone berates me on design rip-offs, Safrotto negotiated the manufacturing rights with Tiffen. I use a 20+ year-old Domke F2 and two Safrotto satchels, and the modern Domke bags just don't compare with their older products and the Safrottos in terms of quality.

WRT shower resistance, use Nikwax TX.Direct Spray-On; one spraying for shower resistance, three sprayings to waterproof. I've been caught out in torrential downpours with my Leica equipment and everything has been completely dry inside the F2. Cotton plus Nikwax retains the softness of the cotton but really works well. Originally designed to waterproof canvas tents, it's available from outdoor suppliers like REI.

My F-3X arrived. I ended up going with Cotton. Color has as much to do with it as anything. If I were to place the order again I might have gone with the Ruggedwear but there are enough waterproofing options with the Cotton that I'm not going to swap.

The ruggedwear is plenty rugged, not thin at all. It is more supple than the canvas until the canvas gets broken in. The ruggedwear sort of feels already broken in if that makes any sense. Both are awesome, you really can't go wrong. Love my Domkes!

UPS guy just brought me my new rugged wear f-3x. This thing is sweet. Both looks and feels very solid. I don't know why I didn't try Domke earlier because so far it is awesome.

Here's the crazy thing. I originally asked the question after ordering an F-3X in cotton. It arrived but I'm finding it is a bit big, so I've ordered an F-5XC. So, once again I had the Ruggedwear vs cotton decision and went with ... cotton.

The F-5XC in cotton has a front bottom zipper which is not there on the Ruggedwear version

So, I'm 0 for 2 on getting Ruggedwear.