Owner Review for Outdoor Research Safari Sun Hat

6-11-2002

 

 

PERSONAL INFORMATION

 

Jason Rumohr

29

Male

5'10"

143 lbs.

jrumohr@yahoo.com

Seattle, WA

 

I have been hiking, backpacking and climbing for 15 years. Most of my trips

have been in the Cascade Mountains, in Eastern and Western Washington and

Northern Oregon. Elevations range from 500' to over 14,000' (summit of Mt.

Rainier). Landscape varies from wet, mild lowland forest to dry sub alpine

forest to perpetual snows and glacial ice.  My trips have ranged from day

hikes to 2-7 day backpacks/climbs. I generally do several day hikes and a

few trips during the winter and spring. For the rest of the year, I do day

hikes weekly and overnight trips several times as well. I usually do the

multi-day trips during summer or fall. I have also backpacked on Kauai,

Hawaii. I started out as a heavyweight backpacker, am now lightweight,

working towards ultralight. My 3-season base pack weight now averages 14.5

lbs.

 

 

PRODUCT INFORMATION

 

Outdoor Research

1996 - year of purchase

http://www.orgear.com/

Listed weight: ??

Tested weight: hat (2.1 oz) + neck drape (1.1 oz) = 3.2 oz for the whole hat

(as packaged, no mods)

        weighed on a Royal eX2 postal scale

 

 

FIELD INFORMATION

 

Tested on numerous day hikes, backpacking trips, glacial/snow mountain

climbs, and paddling trips. Estimated over 90 days of field use, not

counting occasional  in-town use.

 

Locations included: temperate forest, tropical rainforest, exposed alpine

regions, snowfields, glaciers and lakes. Elevations used: from sea level to

over 14,000'.

 

Weather conditions used in: mostly sunny, temperatures between 40F-80F.

Light to moderate rain and/or snow.

 

Style of the hat is lightweight at 3.2 oz, but not ultralight. Size Large.

Color is khaki.

 

 EXPERIENCE COMMENTS

 

The hat system consists of 3 parts: a visor, a skullcap that Velcros onto

the visor and an ear/neck skirt that Velcros onto the skullcap. The entire

system is made of the same type of fabric called SolarPlex. According to the

OR website: "SolarPlex fabric is an OR exclusive that combines tough Cordura

yarns with extremely supple, high-filament-count Supplex yarns. It provides

our sun hats with the UV absorption, vapor permeability, quick-drying,

durability, and comfort they need to live up to our (and our customers')

high expectations." I am not entirely sure this is the same version of

SolarLite that my hat is made with, but it does dry fast and seems to

provide adequate sun protection. The bill of the visor is made with a

flexible plastic covered by fabric. The visor is adjustable via a Velcro

headband inside the headband of the visor. The skullcap is not adjustable.

The neck skirt has removable chinstrap with a drawstring toggle.

 

 This hat is my favorite outdoor recreational hat. It is lightweight, dries

fast and is adaptable. I bought it to use for sun protection while glacier

climbing the Washington volcanoes. It now comes with me on nearly every

trip, except in winter when I need a warmer hat. It dries quickly and

breathes fairly well. I say fairly well because when the temps start going

up beyond 70F, I am always sweating as I hike and anything on my head just

makes me hotter. That's where the removable skullcap part comes in nicely. I

don't use the feature often, but it is nice to have and I estimate it only

adds .25-.5 an oz to the total weight. The removable neck skirt is why I

bought the hat. I had quickly learned the pain-of-sunburn-like-no-other

while hiking on an open snowfield or glacier. I like to minimize my use of

sunscreen and even using sunscreen, I need extra clothing sun protection in

such harsh sun environments. I have to say that in the middle of July on the

Kautz Glacier on Mt. Rainier in bright sun, my head was roasting in this

hat. Even with its light color, the dense fabric pretty much blocked all

wind. But it did keep the sun off. In less harsh environs, this hat has been

wonderful. Hiking on trails where there isn't so much reflected UV rays is

where this hat shines.

 

 Some dislikes and improvements I have made: The neck skirt extends down to

just above my clavicles and swoops up around the back of the neck to the

base of my skull. I think their design idea for this was so that when you

look up, the skirt doesn't bunch up around your neck and also to save

weight. Well, this is the biggest flaw in the design as far as I am

concerned. The result is that the skirt leaves exposed the whole nape of my

neck. I don't have long hair to cover my neck. I have since safety-pinned

onto the skirt a bandana which gives me plenty of neck protection. The

fabric of the skirt is the same as the rest of the hat, which is kind of

rough on the neck after a while. The adjustable headband in the visor is

difficult to adjust. It is all a Velcro band. I have to pull it out of the

fabric through a thin slot and mess around with it to get the whole strip

flat and to fit flat back into the headband. I haven't had to adjust it in a

few years now, but it seems a complicated system to adjust the headband.

With the Velcro band (ordinary Velcro), the headband has no stretch, so the

fit must be just right. I appreciate the hat's sun protection quality, but

it just doesn't allow for much of a breeze to pass through. The skullcap is

too big for my noggin, so I folded back about 3/4" and secured it with a

safety pin. One more gripe that is purely fashion: The hat is very packable,

except for the plastic brim. The plastic is similar to that of a plastic

gallon milk jug. I once packed the hat too hard and it put a permanent

crease in the brim. I don't mind it much now, it's rather grown on me.