I am typically a function trumps form guy… just ask my wife. I typically don’t care how something works so long as it gets the job done, but there have been some exceptions. For years I have eyed the Kavu Chillba and the Montbell Umbero but just couldn’t bring myself to give them a try. I thought they were just too silly looking.
A couple of years ago my wife bought a MB Umbello for herself (she is cute in it) and then purchased one for me and strongly encouraged me to give a try. Â Ah the things we do for marital harmony. Â I still think I look silly in it, but I have really come to love the function of the hat.
It has better ventilation than any hat I have used even while it keeps my head dry in the rain. There is enough coverage that the sun never hits my face or neck. It weights 1.8oz and folds up small enough to fit into my pocket. Â While it’s best in windless conditions, it continued to protect my head from rain in continuous 20mph winds. Montbell said the hat doesn’t offer UV protection though I used it for most of a year as a sunhat without getting burned. Just to be on the safe side recently I coated the inside with UV opaque fabric paint.
