I've gone through phases of preferring one form of raingear over another, and overall don't have too much of a preference. A poncho can work fine in sideways rain and wind, depending on your expectations. With the caveat that I "belt" mine, using a little stretchy shock cord and a cord lock. Without that, yes, PITA in the wind. If you expect to backpack or dayhike a lot in rain, the Packa is a great piece of gear. I don't tend to ever use mine, however, because --- as it turns out --- we most of us don't go hiking in conditions where we expect a lot of rain! :-)

My go-to rain jacket is an OR Helium II. I used the original Helium and liked that too until the zipper got wonky on my and OR replaced it for free with a II.

I don't expect this to keep me utterly dry in any conditions. Again, it's about expectations and process. It will keep me dry for a bit, and if it keeps raining beyond that it comes down to temperature control a lot more than "being dry". I like that the Helium II is lightweight enough that I don't consider bringing a separate windshirt, this jacket does double duty. And I like that it can be sort of "modular". With a poncho, it's all or nothing. With the light rain/wind jacket I can optionally add a cuben rain skirt, cuben pack cover or neither.

I like also that it looks and works like a "regular jacket" around town, and traveling to and from the trail. I like that it packs small as well as light. I'm about to do a fairly long bike trip, where volume in my saddlebag panniers is a bigger factor than weight, and this jacket is "making the cut" for that trip.

It's worth occasionally reapplying the DWR onto the fabric, which is a little hassle, but no disaster if I get lazy and just don't.

I'm sure there are lots of fine choices; this one works for me.