I am a beginner to intermediate backpacker. I have gone camping on occasion over the past 10 years. I have started going on backcountry trips over the past 2 years. I am also a photographer and I try to have my hobbies go well together. My total weight (everything but the clothes I'm wearing) for a weekend fluctuates between 25-40 lbs (11 - 18 kg) depending on season, how serious I happen to be about photography, cooking on that trip and who I am with. Since I've already given up on ultralight, I give myself the luxury of a tent, sleeping pad, cooking stuff and an alcohol stove.

Product Description

Manufacturer: Psolar Inc.
Website: http://www.psolar.com/
Product: Psolar.BX Balaclava
MSRP: $40.00
Year of Manufacturer: 2003
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.

The Psolar.BX Balaclava is made up of fleece with an opening for the eyes and nose and a heat exchanger near the mouth. The heat exchanger is removable, and is made of of a plastic housing with a number of plastic sheets which run parallel to the direction that breathing would go.

Test Conditions

Testing was done both in town and on the trail. In town testing was done while running. Temperatures ranged from 10 to 25 F and winds ranging from 5 to 10 mph. Trail testing was done in tempuratures ranging from 15 to 20 F and winds ranging from 5 to 20 mph.

Testing

My concerns for the balaclava are warmth, comfort, and performance when wet. In addition I am interested in how the balaclava worked in combination with other gear, in particular with sunglasses.

The balaclava feels good when on, actually, I barely notice it. The elastic makes for a snug fit, but not too tight. Also the fleece does not make a noise when worn with a hood or hat. I also found that I could adjust it if it were too warm. Initially I would start with only my eyes exposed. As I get warmer I could adjust the opening to expose my nose, or have the opening stretch over my chin so that my mouth and chin are exposed. At one point I pulled the opening over my head so that be balaclava was only around my neck like a gaiter. However, this feels somewhat strange since the head exchanger is sitting right at my neck when I do this.

One problem was when wearing sunglasses. When the balaclava is worn in a way that covers the nose, my sunglasses fog up. In addition, my sunglasses would occasionally fog up when my nose was uncovered. The only way to prevent fogging was to have the opening expose my mouth as well. While this worked, it seems to defeat the purpose of having the heat exchanger since it is not being used. Also, in cold weather it seems to present me with a choice of either being cold (which defeats the purpose of the balaclava) or not wearing sunglasses.

The unique characteristic of the balaclava is the heat exchanger. In theory, the panels inside the heat exchanger will get warm as I exhale and will warm up the air that is inhaled. I find this to be true. When it is very cold, this makes a big difference. When running I am usually taking in a lot of air through my mouth. When it is very cold, this stings the throat. When using the heat exchanger, I find that this is no longer an issue. When hiking, there is a also a significant difference between breathing through the heat exchanger compared to breathing the outside air directly. However, I have to remember to breath with my mouth open for this to work. Breathing through my nose alone when the balaclava is over my nose feels labored. And having my nose exposed is cold. The other advantage of the heat exchanger is moisture. With other balaclavas the area around my mouth quickly becomes soaked with the air from my breathing. This was not an issue, probably because my breath can escape through the exchanger.

My final concern when testing the balaclava was performance when wet. In testing, it gets wet due to sweat and also through exposure to rain and snow. While it does get wet (meaning that if I took off the balaclava and wrung it out there would be a significant amount of water) I neither noticed it was wet nor did I get cold from the moisture in the balaclava. The fleece fabric does a good job of retaining warmth when wet.

Read more reviews of Psolar gear
Read more gear reviews by Louis Luangkesorn

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