Merino sweater effective weight/warmth?

I don't think either Merino or Fleece provide much warmth for the weight

If you want warmth for the weight use synthetic or down

interesting question- for the same warmth, I think??? fleece will be lighter than wool; fleece definitely trumps wool as far as drying

clearly syn or down trumps either the above for warmth/weight, but when they (syn/down) get wet- fleece (or wool) trumps them pretty handily :)

All we are saying is give fleece a chance.

Sorry couldn't help myself.

I saw a nice cashmere vest in a thrift store the other day. Soft, fluffy and real light but wrong size. The weave is going to have a lot to do with the warm to weight ratio. Fun to look though. I am still watching for that monocular that Dale found.

We are talking mid larlyers with an eye to breathability. The weave and loft and details like collars and cuffs will make weight ratio differences. Where is Nisely?

The question is how a light merino sweater compares to 100w/200w fleece, Power Dry or Power Stretch products.

Wool is much warmer when wet than fleece. That's why wool socks are so warm even when soaking wet. In constant rain with little chance to dry your clothes, drying quickly is kind of irrelevant. In those situations, a nice fluffy wool sweater is the perfect thing to put under your rain jacket. Or a light wool layer, depending on how cold it is.

In dry weather, wool doesn't win in warmth per weight. But it's still not that bad in my opinion compared to fleece. And wool is somewhat self cleaning. Your clothes won't smell as bad. I'm not a fan of the thickly woven wool stuff that looks like synthetics, I like the fluffy stuff. That's just a personal thing. Check out sportsmans guide for some cheap mil surp wool sweaters and try one out. Something like this would be good to try out: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/used-bulgarian-v-neck-wool-sweater-brown.aspx?a=772960&e=Y

It doesn't mater what the meterial is. What is important is how much air is trapped in the fabric. It's the trapped air in the fabic that keeps you warm. The warmest jeckets are those that trap the most air and yet block the wind.

Wind has an easy time passing through a sweater so the slightest breaze will raplace all the warm air with cold air. Same goes for Fleece but fleece is generally denser which would reduce the effect of the wind. The denser the material the better. If you put on a wind shirt the sweater might be better then the fleece.

Years ago Polartech came out with a new fleece that was stated to be as light as regular 300 weight fleece but lighter. I purchased it but quickly found the claim was only right when you were completely out of the wind. The slightest breaze would quickly give you a chill and in the end I found it was no bettern than regular 100 weight fleece. Polartech stopped selling it and then came out with wind block fleece. The windblock fleece was no lighter then the old fleece but it did perform better with the wind block layer.

Fleece is warmer than wool, given a given weight.