Manufacturer: Coolibar - 2401 Edgewood Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55426 USA
Tel: 800-926-6509 Fax: 952-922-1455
Year of Manufacture: 2006
URL: http://www.coolibar.com
E-mail: service@coolibar.com.
Listed weight: 2 oz. / 57 g
Weight as delivered: 2.5 oz / 72 g
MSRP: $29.95 USD
Available Colors: Cobalt / Navy / Sage / Stone / Tan / Ecru / White
Color Requested: White
Color Received: White
 

Field Test Locations and Conditions:

Testing of the Coolibar Sun Block Hoodie took place primarily in Southern California (at home in the San Gabriel Valley, a handful of beach trips in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, one trip to the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains), and Salem, Oregon, during the months of August and September 2006.

The southern California region (and most of the western United States) typically has one to two "heat waves" (several consecutive days of higher than normal temperatures) over the summer months. This summer, however, our heat wave lasted much longer than is considered normal. For the remainder of the testing period, most days were warm to hot, sunny and cloudless. Lately cooler temperatures have encouraged the development of a thick marine layer (low clouds) which often persists until mid to late afternoon.

Field Tests:

I have tried to wear the Coolibar Sun Hat as often as I could during the past few months. Fortunately, this was not a great hardship! Although I did not necessarily want to go outside during this summer's high temperatures, I must go to work, play chauffeur to my children, run errand, etc., and the abnormally long heat wave made for perfect testing conditions. Near constant use this summer in a variety of temperature ranges has provided me with a good sense of the Sun Hat's abilities. In my Initial Report I posed several questions; I have listed them again below with my comments/findings.

• The Coolibar Sun Hat is supposedly designed to keep the wearer cool and shaded. The Sun Hat is made of lite SUNTECT™ fabric (rated to block 97% UV light).
  • How effective is the lite SUNTECT™ fabric - is it any better than "normal" fabrics, as they also block sunlight? - This question is somewhat difficult to quantify. Did I get sunburned while wearing the hat? No. Do I usually get sunburned while wearing hats of a similar style to the Coolibar Sun Hat? No. Other than to go out and get a ultraviolet (UV) photograph done before and after wearing the hat to determine if there is a significant increase in skin damage, I don't think I'm going to be able to easily answer this question.
    
    However, in terms of shading my eyes from the sun, I'm happy to report that the Coolibar Sun Hat did an excellent job. Notice all of the photos of me wearing the hat in this report. The shading across my face is not the result of the photograph being taken in poor lighting conditions; rather, the photos show just how well the Sun Hat shades my face. While not all of my face is shaded, my eyes and nose are definitely well shaded.
    

  The Leyva Family - Benjamin (11 mo, in the Yakima Grasshopper Child Carrier), Robert, and Sonjia in the Coolibar Sun Hat - on the Eaton Canyon Trail, Eaton Canyon, Pasadena, CA. Photo by Julia Leyva (age 4)

  • How durable are each of the items? Will they handle being crushed in a daypack, the car, my children? - I'm pretty tough on things. Thus far the Coolibar Sun Hat has been stuffed into a backpack for several hours, survived being crammed into an over-packed suitcase for a two-hour flight to Portland, Oregon (and back again), disappeared for a few days in the back of the Jeep, was worn nearly constantly during the test period, and, finally, survived my son's does-this-taste-good-enough-to-teeth-on-it test (the answer was no). The Sun Hat survived most of this fairly well. I encountered two "problems" with the Sun Hat during the testing period. One was some sort of smudge picked up during the Sun Hat's disappearance in the back of my car that never really went away. The other was a bend in the brim of the hat following the flight back home from Portland, Oregon, that seems to be permanent, in addition to some wrinkles and puckers. The bend is not enough to affect the look of the hat, however.
    

   

  The Coolibar Sun Hat after being packed in a suitcase and flying back to Burbank International Airport from Portland, Oregon. Note wrinkling and puckering on the brim. Circle shows the approximate location of the bend in the brim.

   

  • Will they hold up to numerous washings? - The directions from the manufacturer indicate that the hat is to be hand washed with mild, soapy water and a sponge or brush, rinsed, and air dried. I was a bit afraid when I requested the white color that the hat would constantly show dirt. Well, it did get somewhat dirty, but most of the dirt washed off. I have washed the Sun Hat according to the directions, and was a bit disappointed. I used a soft brush, warm, soapy water, rinsed well, and let it dry on top of the dryer with a towel underneath it. I have discovered with stuffed toys that, when washed and left to drip-dry, stubborn dirt particles not removed during the washing raveling down and out of the toy collects at the bottom and forms a yellowish brown spot. I was surprised to see such a mark on one section of the brim of the hat after I washed it the first time. A second washing - and an extra long rinsing time - removed the spot. Now when I wash the hat I spend a bit more time scrubbing and rinsing than I normally would.
    
    
  • Can they handle hiking or just everyday use? - So far it does both rather well.
    
    
• Size:
  • Supposedly there is a "hidden elastic drawcord adjusts for the perfect fit". How well does it fit when adjusted? How easy is it to adjust? Does it stay adjusted as activity level increases? - The elastic drawcord - tucked away inside the hat - is very easy to adjust and stays adjusted until you change the setting. Thus far I have had no problems with it.
• Brim:
  • Does the brim indeed hold its shape after washing and other normal abuses? - The brim does hold its shape well after "normal" use. However, it did develop a slight bend to it after being squashed into an over-packed suitcase for a two-hour flight home from Portland, Oregon.
    
    
  • Will the 3" width be enough to shade my eyes - or will it be too big or too small? - The brim does an excellent job of shading my eyes. No complaints here!
    
    
  • Will the width interfere with my backpack or child carrier? - It would be more correct to say that the child in the child carrier interferes with the Sun Hat! Ben thinks it's great fun to grab, pull, and twist the hat anyway he likes while I'm carrying him. The only difficulty I have had with the brim of the hat is that it always is bumping against the back of my car seat. This means that I cannot wear the hat while I am driving. Of course, I really don't need to be wearing the hat while I'm driving, so it is not much of a problem.
    
    
  • Other - The brim is also somewhat flexible, allowing the user to flip one side of the hat up and leave the remaining parts of the brim in their "original" position. This feature comes in handy when I need to not have my eyes shaded, or just for fun.
    
    
• Headband:
  • Does it do as advertise, and "wicks moisture away"? Where does the moisture go? Will I end up with a soggy brow? - I actually had to think about this one. I have worn this hat in extremely high temperatures greater than 110° F (43° C) and I was definitely perspiring during that time. But I cannot recall my Coolibar Sun Hat covered head becoming sweaty. The absence of sweat - or, at least, the failure to recall such an event - suggests that the headband within the Sun Hat really does wick away moisture, as advertised.
    
    
• Other:
  • Temperatures in So California can get really HOT. How well will the hat keep me cool in those conditions? - The Coolibar Sun Hat did a good job of shading my face, head, and neck. While it may not have made me any cooler, I certainly did not feel hot wearing the hat.
    
    
  • The Sun Hat also has no chin strap - how well will it stay on my head in windy conditions? - I had mixed results with this one. In general, the hat has stayed on my head in breezy conditions. However, in strong winds (or in gusty conditions), the hat did not feel as if it were as secure as it could have been. In these conditions, a chin strap would have been desirable, as the hat did fly off of my head once.
    
    
  • Use in the rain - It never truly rained while I was up in Oregon, but it did drizzle. The hat also does a fairly good job of keeping my head warm. While up in Oregon, I wore the hat during an early cold snap, when temperatures dropped thirty degrees to a high of 55 ° F (13° C) with drizzle from one day to the next. I initially wore the hat to keep my head somewhat dry as I dashed to the car. I next wore the Sun Hat on a 1 hour walk/hike through Minto Brown Island. The water beaded up on the surface of the hat and did not soak through. Granted, it was a very light drizzle over a short period of thim. While the Coolibar Sun Hat is not a rain hat by any stretch of the imagination, it did a passable job of keeping the drizzle and cold temperatures away from my head.

   

To sum things up:

Test Plan:
Now that the weather has cooled off I plan to spend more time in the Great Outdoors. Most of my activities will be around town, daytrips to our local mountains and maybe one more trip to the beach - elevations at these testing locations are similar to those reported at the beginning of this report. I shall continue to wear the Coolibar Sun Hat daily as I have for the previous couple of months. Temperatures over the next two months should be moderate to cool, ranging from 60 - 85° F (16 - 29° C) during the day and 40 - 50° F (4 - 10° C) at night. October is the month for Santa Ana winds to kick up, so daytime temperatures could get up above 100° F (38° C).