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Reviews > Footwear > Accessories > Gaiters > Hillsound Armadillo LT Gaiters > Test Report by Theresa LawrenceHILLSOUND ARMADILLO LT GAITERS Field Report - February 8, 2015 Long Term Report - April 14, 2015 TESTER INFORMATION
I have more than 15 years of backpacking experience. Day hikes and 2-3 day backpacking trips take place on most weekends throughout the year while longer trips are only occasional. I backpack predominantly in mountain terrain (Coast Range, Cascades and Canadian Rockies) with the goal of summiting peaks. Activities I use my gear with include mountaineering, ski touring, rock climbing, kayaking, biking, trail running, Search and Rescue and overseas travel. I like my gear to be reasonably light, convenient and simple to use though I would not claim to be a lightweight hiker. PRODUCT INFORMATION 
Image Courtesy of Website The Armadillo LT gaiter, as can be seen from the photo, looks like a typical outdoor gaiter used for hiking, snowshoeing and the like. Key features that I feel are different from gaiters that I have used in the past are that the main body material is slim-fitting, stretchy and it has a zipper closure. My previous experience was with rigid materials and a Velcro closure. The stretchy material featured here is branded Flexia (79% nylon, 12% polyurethane, 9% elastin) and for the technical junkies that know what the following means; it is said to be waterproof to 20,000 nm and have a breathability rating of 6RET, 15.000 + g. The manufacturer also boasts that it has a Durable Water Repellent (DWR) coating that will stay intact for up to 50 washes. I see now that it also has a unique and beefy 2-wire hook that hooks under the laces to secure the gaiter in place. I would wager that with this set up, the chance of it unhooking while wearing would be a highly unlikely event. The lower gaiter material is made from highly abrasion resistant 1000 Denier nylon with a Velcro closure. The zipper zips from the top-down and is meant to be waterproof. Underneath the zipper closure is a strip of padded nylon. I believe this is to offer protection along the shin from the zipper. A piece of orange nylon webbing with a plastic quick-release buckle allows for adjustment at the top of the gaiter. The manufacturer has provided some washing instructions, which recommends hand-washing in warm water and hanging them up to dry. TRYING THEM ON & FIRST IMPRESSIONS  Although it was a close fit, they did in fact fit all of my boots that I
would use with gaiters. My light hikers, which are quite small
were almost too small. They required the smallest hole on the stirrup
and were nearly encompassed by the gaiter, as shown in the photo. My other hiking boots, which would be
predominantly worn and my big plastic boots fit the gaiters well. The stirrup is quite hefty and apparently can
be replaced. I do find the stirrup difficult to do up and undo. However, once
I know which boots I'm wearing for the outing, I will already have
adjusted the stirrup at home, so this would not be something I'd need
to do in the field. I found the stretchy material to be soft and light against my calf and the padded strip along the zipper works well to protect my shin from the zipper. I'm wondering if the zipper will get gummed up in the field and be difficult to do up and undo. They seem to be quite comfortable to wear on bare skin. I am curious however, how well they will breath. I 'm typically doing something of high intensity when I'm wearing gaiters such as snow shoeing, cross-country skiing or hiking, and in my experience I tend to overheat and become very sweaty when wearing gaiters. The craftsmanship appears to be of high quality and I have no concerns over their durability at this point. SUMMARY FIELD CONDITIONS The field conditions consisted of 3 day hikes in the Southern Canadian Rocky Mountains wearing hiking boots and Microspikes in mixed ice, snow and rock. The hikes ranged from 5.5 km (3.4 mi) to 16 km (9.9 mi) and had an elevation gain between 364 m (1194 ft) and 1025 m (3363 ft). Temperatures ranged from -6 C (21 F) to 1 C (34 F) and weather included brilliant sun, clouds, snow and periodic strong winds. I also used them on two Search and Rescue practices in the snow on foot and with a snowmobile in temperatures around -5 C (23 F) to -2 C (28 F). The gaiters also came in handy while kayaking down a toboggan run ('Snow-Boating') in 91 cm (3 ft) of fresh powder at -23 C (-9 F).    OBSERVATIONS   Pins broken off the buckles Apart from the buckle mishap, the fabric has held up well and proved to be snow, wind and waterproof. My layers have stayed dry and they have been enjoyable to wear. I found the zipper access easy to undo and put back together when my boots needed to be retied. I also found them to be light, fast drying and easy to carry and pack. SUMMARY LONG TERM FIELD CONDITIONS Since the field report I have used the Hillsound
Armadillo LT gaiters on three additional day hikes. All hikes were in South Western
Alberta in and around Waterton Lakes National Park. Hikes ranged from 3-10 km
(1.9-6.2 mi), with elevation gains of 110-685 m (360-2250 ft) and maximum
elevations encountered of 1610-2150 m (5282-7050 ft). The first hike
consisted of a steep rocky trail with some compact ice and snow, followed by
some wet, crusty snow packs. The second hike consisted of a short muddy section
followed by compact snow and ice where MicroSpikes came in handy, followed by
deeper wet snow, then some nice foot deep powder, where snowshoes became
necessary. The last hike consisted of a muddy, rocky trail intermittent with
compact snow and ice. Some noteworthy weather experienced was a short snow storm
and winds with gusts up to 60 km/h (37 mi/h).    OBSERVATIONS To recount my last outing of the field test, it resulted in the buckle pins breaking off of both gaiters, which limited their function of fitting the strap around the boot. The week following this incident, I emailed Hillsound customer service and received a reply the same day requesting photos of the broken buckles. I emailed the above photos and they said they would be mailing out a new pair right away, which I promptly received a week later. That was probably the best, least hassle and least time consuming customer service experience I have ever encountered. Thank you Hillsound! While I still have difficulty with the stiff strap and continue to struggle to change the size of the strap, the buckles have remained intact to date. It takes a good 10 minutes of fighting with the strap and buckle to change the size of the strap for different boots. I have even been so frustrated as to pass them over to my partner so he can fiddle with them, which I am embarrassed to admit. However, once they are set, they don’t need to be undone to put them on or take them off. On a more positive note, through all the wet snow encountered, they have been completely waterproof and appear to breathe well. I have used them with both MicroSpikes and snowshoes and they have kept snow and debris out of my boots and have kept my pants dry and clean. I have rinsed all the mud and debris off these gaiters with warm water and have come clean as new after several muddy uses and continue to be waterproof. I have observed that they dry fairly quickly. While I still have concerns over the
integrity of the
buckles and whether they will continue to hold up in the long term, I
do not
have such concerns over the durability and integrity of the other
materials of
the gaiter. The zipper I found worked well, was easy to use and didn’t
stick. Undoing the zipper at the toe, to get to my shoelaces when they
needed to be retied, was very smooth and convenient. As
these gaiters fit me really well, and so long as the buckles hold up, I
will gladly
continue to use these gaiters for future hiking trips. SUMMARY With the exception of the buckles breaking and the challenge with the stiff strap, I have really enjoyed wearing and using these gaiters. I found the fit to be very comfortable, not too warm, light weight and flexible and most importantly for snowy and wet conditions, waterproof. Once the strap size is set, they were easy to put on and take off. I think they are a high quality gaiter, but room for improvement on the buckle and strap remains. I fully intend to continue using these as my go-to gaiters for all my gaiter needs. Likes - Lightweight- Waterproof - Breathable - Easy zipper access to shoelaces - Easy on and off - Easy to clean - Comfortable fit Dislikes - Difficult to adjust strap Read more reviews of Hillsound gear Read more gear reviews by Theresa Lawrence Reviews > Footwear > Accessories > Gaiters > Hillsound Armadillo LT Gaiters > Test Report by Theresa Lawrence | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
