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Feedback on HeiQ Fresh?


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  • #3637338
    Stumphges
    BPL Member

    @stumphges

    Patagonia switched last year from Polygeine to HeiQ Fresh as their anti-odor treatment for pieces like Capilene Thermal Weight baselayers.

    I wore a power grid hoody (Macpac Prothermal, very similar to Patagonia Capilene Thermal Weight) quite a bit this winter during a season-long baselayer shoot out and it clearly triumphed in every category but stink.

    Despite it’s Polygeine treatment, I would say it’s good for one hard hike before it needs washing. Even if I could bear the smell for a multi-day trip, wearing it two days in a row results in the stink being transferred to the overlying wind layer. The DWR of the latter is important enough to me that I avoid washing it more than necessary, so the Prothermal will not be coming with me on any multi-day trips.

    Has anyone tried a piece with HeiQ Fresh? Is it much better than what it replaces?

    #3641311
    Stumphges
    BPL Member

    @stumphges

    Bump: Anyone have opinions on HeiQ Fresh?

    #3647270
    Stumphges
    BPL Member

    @stumphges

    Just bought a Tropic Comfort II hoodie with HeiQ Fresh. Will report after 14 days in it.

    #3647347
    Jameson T
    BPL Member

    @jamesontisch36

    Have been looking at purchasing the same item. Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

    The Polygiene treatment I’ve used previously seems to be better than other no-name antistink treatments but I’d agree only good for about a day, maybe two. Hoping HeiQ would be an improvement, but not expecting anything dramatically different.

    #3650412
    Stumphges
    BPL Member

    @stumphges

    So I wore the Tropic Comfort II with HeiQ Fresh on two 5-day backpacking trips with one travel/laundry day in between. Temps were 70-80 so I wore it every day, all day.

    I made the mistake of treating with Permethrin, which made me unwilling to rinse it in stream or lake at the end of each day as I normally would. Consequently, it was only washed or rinsed one during this ten-day period, which makes my experience a fairly stern test of HeiQ Fresh.

     

    I did not notice a strong odor in the pits until the end of Day 3, which I thought was pretty impressive. From there the stink increased a little and then leveled off until laundry day, when it definitely needed it. I think a merino top would have as well at that point.

    I wore it again for the second 5-day leg and had similar experience. Certainly not stink free but much less smell than my wife’s OR Echo, and she is much less smelly than I.

    My sense is that a merino blend is probably still superior, but I would take it again for all-day wear (wore merino T at night) during trips 5 days or less; if able to wash or rinse I would be OK with it for longer trips than that. So altogether pretty decent. I don’t have enough direct experience with Polygeine to compare well, but I can say that I would never consider taking my Polydry HE top with Polygeine on 5-day trip.

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