Cheap compression hoodie as base layer

If you want to be ‘able to breathe’, I’d recommend against form-fitting, skin tight tops. I mean, of course you can breathe, but they’ll feel very restricting, even sizing up two sizes. FWIW.

Lycra will almost certainly dry a lot slower than some other choices out there. But perhaps it doesn’t matter a lot if you don’t sweat so much. for the money you could try it out?

Ito has a point…agonizing over a $17 purchase when we’re spending thousands of dollars on a three-week trip to the Canadian Rockies in a few weeks is sort of silly (airfare and rental car come in at about $2k).  I just ordered one, a size up (XL), I’ll report back…

It just arrived today.

I was hoping an XL would give a loose fit, but the people who buy these things really want compression.  The XL looks more like a medium, but because it really stretches a lot it fits me, but skin-tight (as noted above).  I was thinking to wear something underneath, not sure this is possible.  And the hood is pretty tight as well.

My advice…forget compression clothing unless you really want compression, buying extra large in the hopes of getting a loose fit didn’t work.  I suppose I could try XXL and XXXL, but I don’t plan to.  I’ll give this a try in the field, probably as a base layer, not as an intermediate layer.

On the positive side, when I look at myself in the mirror wearing this, to me I look like Conor McGregor.  Unfortunately no one else agrees…    ;-)

Ok, my wife sees the XL on the bed and thinks it’s a medium for her.  She tries it on and it’s a bit tight, but it fits.  Now it’s hers.  Maybe as a base layer, maybe over something, maybe something to sleep in (she likes the Ninja hood to help with drafts under our two-person quilt).  We’ll be in the Canadian Rockies for three weeks in Aug and she’ll find out.

So I ordered an XXL. Looks sort of like a men’s L, still somewhat tight, but not overly so.  Hood fits better, too.  Suitable as base layer and should work ok over another base layer, maybe over fishnet if it’s cold.  Will figure it out in Aug.  Recall it’s 100% Lycra, which I have no experience with.

N.B.  they don’t advertise XXXL, which likely would fit me even better.

Finally, if you see Ninjas hiking in the Canadian Rockies in Aug, you’ll know it’s us!

My experience with a Lycra hoodie is mixed.

We car-camped and hiked in the Canadian Rockies, no backpacking (permit problem).  I wore the hoodie hiking but mainly used it for sleeping, mainly for the hood (plus a buff on colder nights, in the low 40s).

It worked fine except that it picked up odors pretty quickly, after a few uses I couldn’t deal with it any more.  It might have been less of a problem while backpacking, where odors tend to be less of a problem.

Merino supposedly is much better about odors, but Merion hoodies cost way more.

Great deal on Rab’s non-hooded lightweight Merino top:

https://www.campsaver.com/rab-merino-160-long-sleeve-zip-tee-men-s.html?_iv_code=1CC-AT1-RAB0903-336220&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwrCRz-zJ3QIVBI3ICh1f_w1_EAQYBCABEgLXrPD_BwE&_iv_mens-clothing-size=extra-large

I scored one of the hooded models for $70 last week. A piece like this may be expensive, but you’ll have it for years, and it’ll perform so much better than the cheap stuff you end up replacing periodically. Merino really is super comfortable in a very wide range of conditions and temps.