Reviews > Clothing > Hats > Psolar Balaclava > Jodi Cornelius > Field Report

My e-mail:bpskids@charter.net
Name: Jodi Cornelius
Age: 41
Height: 5'4"/1.6 m
Weight: 160 lbs/73 kg
Gender: Female
City: Derrick City
State: PA
Country: USA
Date: February 4, 2004
My area of the country: Northwest Pennsylvania

Weight: 2.25 oz. (64 g)
Height: 11.75 in. (30 cm)
Width: (neck) 9.25 in. (23.5 cm)
Face opening diameter: 5.5" (14 cm)
Color: Black w/ white and yellow lettering. White heat exchanger

Field Experience: I have worn this balaclava almost every day since I received it. Our temperatures dropped drastically and hovered in the negative numbers for 2 weeks straight before finally rising to above zero. The temperatures averaged daily from -25F/-14C to 0F/32C. I have come to the conclusion that I am most happy to be testing this product at this time!

While wearing this balaclava, I have noted some things I don't particularly care for. One is the fact that even without glasses, I feel the balaclava would be a whole lot better if they included the anti-fog attachment with the hat. Any exertion that causes you to sweat, at least in my case, causes the face opening to stretch and distort allowing air to enter around the opening. I believe this would be alleviated with the use of the anti-fog attachment. As a glasses wearer, I have found the hat to be annoying. I can't wear it over my nose without my glasses fogging up. I end up wearing it below my nose and having to breathe through my mouth.

I have worn the balaclava during hunting season which runs the first 2 weeks of December. Although my glasses fogged up and I had to wear it under my nose, it kept my face and neck very warm. I hiked vigorously during this time in snow up to my knees and while I sweated, it did not cause my chest to hurt which is usually the case when breathing in the cold. So long as I was able to breathe through the mouth, the heat exchanger did the job.

The balaclava has been washed twice now in the regular laundry. However, I have not dried it in the dryer yet. The balaclava has kept its shape after the washings, although reinstallation of the heat exchanger continues to be a royal pain in the backside. I have noticed something about the heat exchanger. It's "flexible". By this I mean that the frame holding the white and clear sheets moves from side to side. This allows you to pull and push vigorously on the exchanger when installing it in the hat without fear of breaking the exchanger. However, this also tends to cause it to be very difficult to get back into the slot in which it is housed as it is a very snug fit.

As you can see in the above picture, the exchanger has what look like little plastic sheets that run vertical and are separated by what appears to be clear "dots" for lack of a better word that allow the air to flow between the sheets.

Reviews > Clothing > Hats > Psolar Balaclava > Jodi Cornelius > Field Report