Costco outback hat $14.99 – Tilley Airflo knock-off

[J R]

I searched but did not see any discussion of this here on BPL.

Was in Costco recently and ran across this hat for only $14.99. Brand name is Solar Escape, which a quick Google search seems to reveal is a brand owned by Sunday Afternoons. So it would seem to be a knock-off of SA’s Charter hat, which itself is a knock-off of the Tilley Airflo.

Weighs 3.6oz on my scale with the tag still on, so call it 3.5 oz for the hat. Color is more of a dark tan / olive green rather than a khaki (photo below seems pretty accurate color-wise). Has a very large airflow/vented area, as you can see (larger than either the SA Charter or the Tilley). The top of the Charter hat has a bead around it, which gives it some structure, this had has no such bead so the crown is very flexible — holds its shape but hard to pick it up by the crown.The brim is the same size as the Charter hat in front and on the sides, but it is about one inch shorter in the back. Still decent coverage, and for those with tall packs that the back of a hat brim can brush against this might be a plus.

Here’s a link. Anyone else picked one of these up?

[DAN-Y]

Thanks for the heads-up

Negative comments at their site:

of 5 stars.

ArtW
· 13 days ago

Outback men’s hat

I liked the hat, but the sizing feature didn’t hold my size .
✘ No,   I do not recommend this product.

—————————————–
of 5 stars.
daw1
· 17 days ago

Excellent Price and Quality
As others have stated, the hat size is advertised as one size, but adjustable. The adjustable part simply doesn’t work !
✘ No,   I do not recommend this product.

———————————————
of 5 stars.
Billieboy
· 18 days ago

It is OK, Not Great
I bought this hat because it was a low price, but you get what you pay for. The fit is below average because the size adjustable cord does not stay tight. The hat does not breath that well. The picture looks like the top of the hat is perforated to let air through, but that is not the case. I would not buy this hat again.

[J R]

Huh, thanks Dan. I tend to take reviews on a non-hobbyist website with a grain of salt. As for the adjustable sizing cord not holding, don’t know as it fits me pretty well right off the shelf. The comments about venting I chalk up to ignorance — it is in fact “perforated” as the reviewer claims it is not, but I’m thinking that person expected just a mesh that you could see through, but this hat — like the Charter and the Tilley — has an inner breathable liner around the mesh area as well.

I’ll have to actually wear it around a bit before I can judge any better, will let you know. Just couldn’t resist the price — the quality in materials and construction seems equal to the Charter hat I had in hand to compare it to.

[J R]

Looked at the Costco reviews and overall 4.1 out of 5 stars. Of 35 reviews, 20 are 5 star, another 6 are 4 star.

[jscott]

I bought one on impulse: 15 bucks! I like it. It’s really broad brimmed and keeps the sun off my face. And it looks much better than my trusty Sunday Afternoon hat. However, for backpacking. I like having a floppy back to a hat.

so yes, a thumbs up here.

[Anonymous]

Last year, i bought a hat at Costco made by the same brand and for i think the same price, but with a MUCH wider brim.  The brim on the current hat seems a little too short to be practical for serious sun protection.

Hopefully Costco will get that other model back, because it was a great deal.

[jscott]

Interesting Justin, I think the brim is pretty broad; just a tad less than my Sunday Afternoon hat, I’d guess. More is better though when it comes to sun. Still, I’m near phobic about sun exposure and this is a pretty good hat for that. I like how stiff the brim is compared to the Sunday Afternoon.

 

[Anonymous]

Jeffrey et al., i spoke too soon.  The hat i picked up at Costco last year was actually made by a different brand, and is the hat below:

http://www.sunprotectionzone.com/mens-booney-hat.aspx

It has a 4 & 3/4 in brim, which i love.  3 in brim is ok, but is kind of the bare minimum that i would use for serious sun protection.

[Roger Caffin]

Cheers

[Anonymous]

While the comic is funny and has a lot of truth Roger, it seems out of place since the hat(s) in question cost 14.99 at Costco.  Would make more sense if someone was posting about a 70 dollar hat and they were raving about how great or superior it was.

[Roger Caffin]

Chuckle. The Costco hat is the ‘$12 sneakers’. There are far more expensive hats available – but are they worth any more?

cheers

 

[Jim Colten]

We don’t have a costco membership but a neighbor who does occasionally picks up things there for me.

That would include the aforementioned Booney hat … fantastic sun shading but it limits my field of view to a cone sloping downward.  I hate that but I use it when I’m doing yard/garden work.

As of about three weeks ago their contributions now include the Solar Escape hat.  I like it but the limited number of sizes means it does not fit as well or comfortably as a hat with smaller size increments.  The shockcord/cordlock adjustment scheme puts pressure along a narrow track along my head.    I’ve only used it on short (2 hours) hikes … in three weeks I’ll know how it feels when worn all day for multiple days.

 

[jscott]

Justin, that sunprotectionzone hat looks pretty good. I’m with you; it’s worth an extra $10.00 for a broader brim.

It’s always interesting to look at people in so-called shade hats (or, baseball caps, which are popular here.) Often, the sun is shining full on their cheeks, necks and lower face, but the wearer is unaware of this. If their eyes are shaded, they feel that their whole face is out of the sun. You’ll often see this in photos of people out hiking too.

It takes a broad brim to shade your whole face; that’s just how it is. And yeah, it’s bound to limit your field of vision, or at least make you crank your neck a bit.

[M Ch]

that “sun protection zone booney hat” is available on ebay for $15-$17

 

[Anonymous]

Good to know.  I remember paying 14 or 15 dollars at Costco for the booney hat.  I re looked at the Tilley like hat in the store the other day.  It’s not as vented as it seems, it’s got like this inner foam behind the mesh.  Might be ok for folks in dryer/less humid climates, but not so much for those of us in high humidity climates.

Roger, thanks for the clarification. I’m inclined to agree with you. Personally, i always look at less expensive gear before checking out the expensive stuff. There must be something in my Scotch blood that very dislikes being screwed over.

[J R]

Well Justin, clearly you don’t think this hat is for you ;-)

But let’s keep some facts straight. This hat does not have “foam” behind the mesh, it’s a thin, loosely woven fabric — which mirrors the design of the SA Charter hat and the Tilley Airflo hat, BTW. It would have been cheaper and easier for them to manufacture the hat without this extra material, no? So it must be there for a purpose, my guess is that if there was only a wide-holed mesh then it would let sun in, which isn’t what you want in a sun hat. The Tilley appears to have multiple layers of mesh rather than an inner layer, but to achieve the same thing, namely to provide some shade in this ventilated area.

As for breathability/ventilation, have you tried it? I gave it the Darth Vader test in the store (yes I got some weird looks), and I could breathe in and out directly through the ventilated area as if there was nothing there at all, so it’s extremely breathable/vent-able. I held the hat up to a light and can see right through this mesh area.

One big difference for this hat compared to the SA Charter and Tilley Airflo is that these last two hats have only a thin band of mesh/ventilation around the top of the crown that is only an inch or less wide, whereas this Costco hat has full mesh/ventilation from the bottom to the top of the crown, more than 3″ wide at the widest part, so should provide much *more* ventilation than either of the brand name hats I’m comparing it to. And as long as we’re comparing, the booney hat you linked to has only 1 or 2 small venting “windows” so presumably provides less ventilation than any of the three hats I’ve mentioned.

Let’s remember this is the Gear Deals section — my intent in starting this thread was to point out what seemed to me like a good bargain relevant for the UL crowd. Certainly was not intending to start a debate on the merits of one hat over another — unless the piece of gear being brought to people’s attention is a piece of junk, which this hat is not. There definitely is a shade advantage in a 4.5″ brim compared to a 3″ brim, but there still are plenty of sun protection hats on the market with 3″ brims that cover your face and neck adequately most of the time. If that’s something that you think would work for you then you might want to consider this hat, and if you don’t think it would work for you that’s fine as well but doesn’t make this hat a dud.

[Anonymous]

Hi JR, i certainly wasn’t trying to start a debate here.  I did not say it was foam, i said like foam.  I said “like” foam, because the inner material was a bit soft and squishy, and reminded me of a certain kind of foam.  I don’t know what the material is exactly though.  I’m sure it’s technically fairly breathable, but i agree with the reviewer from Costco that the outer mesh gives the appearance of very high breathability.

As far as mesh on the side goes and how advantageous or not it is, i think it depends on whether or not one has hair.  Personally, i like more venting on the side.  I wear a hat primarily for the brim, and to a lesser extent to protect the top of my head–the areas that my hair doesn’t protect as well. I would imagine that if one was bald or shaved their head, then they would want more protection on the side than that.

One thing i don’t like about the booney hat, is the lack of venting on the side, but the fabric is fairly breathable so it’s “ok”, if not ideal, with the window venting. It’s easy enough to put extra holes in it.

Yes, i agree with you re: the purpose of this section of the forum.  I mostly chimed in at first, because it reminded me of the Costco find last year, for the same price, and how much overall i like that hat.  I probably shouldn’t have gone into my criticisms of the other hat.  I apologize for somewhat derailing your thread.
 

[J R]

It’s not “my” thread, and I’m always glad to see the merits of a product discussed in earnest.

If anyone is concerned about the venting on this particular hat, if you see it in a Costco just pick it up and breathe in and out through the vented area to see for yourself.

[Jim Colten]

The wind spirits absconded with my favorite (least objectionable really) hat into Canyon De Chelly last year and I found this ventilated alternative at the GCNP North Rim gift shop

 

 

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