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OR Sahale
Sombrero
Owner Review by Rick Allnutt
PERSONAL
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Rick Allnutt
51 Year old male
6' 0'' (183 cm) in height
190 lbs (86 kg) in weight
US hat size: 7 or 7 1/8
Email address: ra1 (at) imrisk (dot) com
I live in Dayton, Ohio
BACKPACKING BACKGROUND
Over the last 24 months, I have gone from being a heavy-weight (2 Duluth
Pack) canoe camper to a three-season base pack weight of about 11 lb (5
kg) and skin out weight of 20 lb (9 kg). I have completed many section
hikes on the AT in all four seasons, with a total mileage of nearly 450
miles (725 km). I am an ultralight hiker, a gearhead, a hammock camper,
and make much of my own equipment.
My Sahale Sombrero on top of
Albert Mountain, North Carolina,
in the sun and wind, March 2004
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Outdoor Research (OR)
Year Manufactured: 2004
Manufacturer's Link: Outdoor Research
MSRP: $50US
Size: Large
Listed Weight: n/a
Measured Weight: 3.2 oz (92 g)
Review Date: 2 June 2004
TEST CONDITIONS
I have used the Sahale Sombrero on several section hikes on the AT, for a total
of about two full weeks of hikes; in rain, sun, heat, and
cold. It continues to look great and has given me no problems at all. Temperatures have ranged
from below freezing to about 90 F (32 C). I have worn it in daytime, nighttime,
fog, wind, on still hot days, and in thunderstorms. It works.
REVIEW
There is a patter of sprinkling again on the leaves overhead. The granite
boulders, between which and on which I carefully put my feet, show small 2 mm
(0.1 in) perfectly round wet spots. The first drops of rain are stopped by the
foliage overhead, but they soon drip from the leaves to the forest floor.
The vocalization of the woods around me begins to sound more and more like a
spring is nearby. I can hear the soft tinkling of a thousand drops, the gurgle
of a stream, but when I turn my head about, I can not localize its source. I
begin to feel a few drops on my arms, but none on my face. No drops streak my
glasses. There is this wonderful contraption, the OR Sahale Sombrero, sitting on
my noggin.
I see a number of hikers wearing all sorts of head gear, or none at all. I have
tried almost all hats for hiking: baseball caps, wool beanies, sweat bands, and
felt hats. However, this GORE-TEX, wide brim hat I now wear is superior to all of
them.
It protects me from the sun while walking through the woods of early spring, in
which the green leaves of the trees have not yet emerged. The wide grassy balds
sometimes last mile after mile (many km), and the hat protects me from the sun
there as well.
In the heat of summer, the internal felt hat band of the Sombrero catches the
sweat of my brow before it can drip into my eyes. The GORE-TEX material allows
the sweat in my hair to transpire, driven by the heat engine of my head. When
walking through sweltering ravines and I attract a cloud of gnats, the swarm
seems to stay out at the brim, and not on my face/eyes/mouth/nose. Early
morning, I am often the "web-walker," the first person along the path, sweeping
the cobwebs of the night's work by spiders off the trail. The wide brim of the
hat serves as an effective bumper to collect the webs and keep them off my head
and face.
On cold mornings, and sometimes at night, the hat preserves the heat I would
lose from this vital and exposed surface. Nothing warms me up like putting a hat
on and taking a brisk walk. When my head feels cold in my camping hammock, I use
it as a thin pillow or put it on to warm me up. More than once, getting up in
the middle of the night, I have returned to the hammock and begun looking for
the hat, only to realize it is already on my head.
Back to that pattering of rain drops around me as I write this on the trail:
this hat really shines in the rain. As these drops surround me, I consider
whether I should put my rain suit on, or just strip to my bathing suit shorts.
Decisions, decisions... However, no consideration need be given to my hat. On my
head the hat stays, a warm spot and bit of luxury, like the smell of the
fireplace when entering a cabin in winter. It makes me feel good.
DETAILS
The Sahale Sombrero consists of a GORE-TEX outer shell and an inner lining of
fleece. There is a patented and easy to adjust mechanism to make the hat band
just the right size within reasonable bounds. The OR sizing chart, on their web
site, gave me a perfectly fitting hat, and I recommend its use. When the
hatband or the fleece become moist (never drenched) with sweat, I find it dries
very quickly when placed in one of the mesh pockets of my pack.
The brim is constructed with a layer of closed cell foam encased above and below
in GORE-TEX cloth. The bottom layer is black and does a good job of attracting
those bugs away from my face. The brim is not as wide in the front as the back,
giving more protection from rain running off the back of the hat onto the
outside of rain gear instead of down my neck. The brim has a snap on each side
to hold the side of the brim against the crown of the hat, though I have not
found much use for this option.
The Sombrero does not leak, even in hours-long rain storms, when everything else
(rain suit, shoes, gaiters, pack) does.
There is an integral and adjustable chin strap, useful
to keep the hat from blowing away in stiff winds. The strap can also be
pulled over the top of the hat to achieve a "cowboy appearance." I usually just
drop the strap into the top of the hat and put the hat on with the strap between
my hair and the inside of the hat.
The Sahale folds or bunches into a small bundle which can easily be stuffed into
a pocket or pack compartment. The foam of the brim is resilient and unfolds
itself quickly to its designed shape.
SUMMARY
The Sahale Sombrero has earned a long term place in my 4-season ultralight
hiking equipment list.
Read more reviews of Outdoor Research gear
Read more gear reviews by Rick Allnutt
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