Reviews > Clothing > Jackets and Vests > Smartwool PhD Vest > Test Report by Kurt Papke

Smartwool PhD Ultra Light Sport Vest

Test Series by Kurt Papke

Initial Report - May 1, 2018

Field Report - July 23, 2018

Long Term Report - September 18, 2018

Tester Information

Initial Report

Product Facts

This garment is intended to provide warmth at a low weight, with some wind and weather protection from the DWR-treated shell.  Breathability is pretty much guaranteed from the vest design, but it also includes mesh panels in strategic areas.

It is also designed to be very compact and packable, with the ability to pack into the chest pocket.

Initial Inspection

Summary

Great little vest for cool evenings.  I'm looking forward to getting it into the backcountry where I can try sleeping in it and other camping activities to see just how much warmth it adds.  Generally I wear just a T-shirt while hiking, but this vest may be lightweight enough for me to be able to wear while in motion without excessive sweating.  We'll find out!!

Field Report

Test Conditions

Showers Point

This was a regional "hammock hang", a car camping trip with a group of avid hammock campers.  We did some day hiking as well, and I wore the vest on the day hikes.  The photo at left shows the vest early in the morning on the Palisades trail.  I also wore the vest at night while sleeping, which was surprisingly helpful.  The vest fabric is "slippery", so it allowed me to roll over a bit easier in the hammock.

The vest provided extra warmth on the cool mornings.  I could certainly tell the difference when I took it off when I began to overheat as the sun rose higher in the sky.  The vest packs down nicely into a ball about the size of my fist, which makes it easy to stuff into a lumbar pack pocket.

Crest Trail

This was supposed to be a 2-night outing, but I ended up cutting it short due to the extreme winds.  The wind was blowing so hard it was difficult to set up my hammock, and I had to constantly re-adjust my underquilt because the wind made it shift off my backside all night long.  Not a fun night, so I hiked out the next day.

The photo at right was taken around 7:15AM after I had been on the trail for well over an hour.  Right after I took the photo I stashed the vest in my pack.  The morning had been cool and (still) windy, but with the Arizona sun shining on me and hiking with a full pack I was heating up fast.

This seems to be the pattern I have adopted with the vest: wear it at night, and for the first hour or two of hiking in the morning before it comes off for the day.

Samaniego Ridge

I was looking for a break from the Tucson summer heat, and I hadn't been up to one of my favorite campsites up on Mt. Lemmon for years, so I set off in search of altitude.  The trail begins just a few steps away from the mountain peak, and descends 1300 ft over 3 miles to a bucolic spread of Ponderosa pines with a thick bed of needles beneath.  Great spot to pitch a tent, too bad I hang from the trees in a hammock!

I didn't put the vest on until I arrived at my campsite and settled in.  I put it on over my night time silk baselayer.  I sat by a tree and read a book while there was still daylight, and I appreciated how the vest protected my silk garment from snags, etc.  The vest is pretty bombproof, which is nice.

I wore it again the next morning, my predictable first hour of hiking before I had to shed it due to overheating.

One other use for the vest occurred to me on this trip - when worn over "underwear" such as a baselayer, the vest made me feel a little more presentable.  Not that I care much in camp what I look like, but it is nice to feel like I am not just walking around in my underwear.

Colorado Trail/Continental Divide Trail

The Tucson Backpacking Meetup group traveled to the San Juan Mountains for a week of camping and hiking.  Several of us took off and did a 3-day backpacking jaunt.  We headed East from Molas Pass on the Colorado Trail, then turned North on the Continental Divide Trail before turning Northwest to our trailhead and shuttle in the Highland Mary Lakes area.  I also wore the vest for two days of day hiking prior to the backpack trip, so I used it for five total days of hiking, and slept with it on every night.

I used the vest over a nylon shirt and with a day pack as shown in the first photo taken along the trail to Crater Lake, a long-sleeved merino wool shirt as shown in the second photo along the Continental Divide trail above tree line, a short-sleeved merino wool shirt (not pictured), and all alone over my bare skin as shown in the last photo along the Colorado Trail during a lunch break.

I liked wearing it over the merino wool, because my shirts often get small holes in them where my backpack rubs against the shirt, and the nylon vest provided great protection.  I think my favorite use was when I got overly warm and just wore it all alone, though I did get some sunburn on the tops of my shoulders where I am a little whiter due to that skin normally being covered by short sleeves.  It was surprisingly comfortable worn all alone, and it got a lot of comments from the female hikers who were on the trip.  It seemed the least useful when worn over the sturdy nylon shirt, and the vest simply provided another layer of nylon which adds little wind protection nor warmth.

When I wore the vest over a T-shirt, I found it useful to stash my reading glasses in the chest pocket, since wool T-shirts rarely have pockets.  My nylon shirt has two chest pockets, so once again the utility of the vest was not as great with it.

Summary

The Smartwool PhD Ultralight Sport vest is indeed ultralight and a very attractive and unique garment.  It does not provide a lot of warmth, but it is one of the few things I can wear over a shirt and still hike comfortably without immediately overheating.  I've found it useful as well to wear in camp over my baselayer to protect it and to make me a little more presentable in camp.

The vest is an unusual garment, and it took me a while to figure out what it is best suited for.  In the future I will use it primarily as a protective layer over my merino wool T-shirts, which I like to wear in cooler temperatures and have no pockets.  I will also use it in very warm conditions over my bare skin to provide some sort of modesty, and to protect again abrasion of my pack straps that would result if I wore no shirt at all.

The vest does add some, but not a lot of wind protection nor warmth. I would not use it as a substitute for a windshirt.

I washed the vest after each trip, and it still looks brand new.

Long Term Report

Test Conditions

Summary

Reviews > Clothing > Jackets and Vests > Smartwool PhD Vest > Test Report by Kurt Papke