|
| Home | Guest - Not logged in | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
» Register
» Login
Gear Reviews
Documents
Tools
» Contact
|
Reviews > Clothing > Shirts > Ibex Scout Half-Zip Shirt > Coy Starnes > Field ReportIBEX Men’s Scout 1/2 Zip
Shirt
Field Report January 16, 2006  IBEX Scout 1/2 Zip Shirt
Tester Bio I live in North East Alabama. I enjoy hunting, fishing, canoeing, and most other outdoor activities but backpacking is my favorite pastime. I enjoy hiking with friends and family or solo. I hike throughout the year and actually hike the least in the hot humid months of summer. My style is slow and steady and my gear is light. However I will sacrifice weight for comfort and durability. A typical 3-season load for me is around 20 lb (9 kg) not counting food or water. I usually sleep in a hammock and cook with an alcohol stove. My backpacking trips are usually 2, 3 or 4 days in length. Product Information
Product Description The Scout 1/2 Zip shirt is more of a sweater or pullover jacket than a shirt to me. Describing a sweater is fairly simple but this one has some nice features. The merino wool is an excellent material for a sweater for several reasons but warm when wet and low stink factor are two of the most important. It also has a half-zip zipper in the front for ventilation on those warmer days and a generously sized zippered pocket on the left chest side. From the website "A midlayer with a versatile, double knit wool fabric. Flat knit on the inside, lofty boucle knit on the outside, it offers maximum temperature regulation. Clean design suits technical or everyday wear." They go on to mention it is perfect as a midlayer or outerwear for hiking/backpacking, snowshoeing, skiing and everyday wear. Testing Locations and Conditions My testing has been in Northeast Alabama and Southern Tennessee. Early on, the weather was mostly hot and dry for fall, with several hikes on days above 80 F (27 C). More recently it has been unseasonably cold for December. I was on an overnight hike recently when the low was around 17 F (-8 C). Several of my day hikes were also in cold weather but not quite that cold. I have hiked on-trail mostly but have gotten into some situations where I was scrubbing on trees and or brush. Field Test Results The Scout has become one of my favorite garments for both outdoor activities and as casual wear. During most of my testing I wore the shirt as my base layer and in fact only layer. I am extremely pleased with the comfort of the 100% wool next to my skin which was one of my primary concerns going in. Also, as I wore the Scout I tried to make notes as to how the shirt felt at varying temperatures and wind speeds. The following observations are from my prospective only. Being from a fairly mild climate but with a lot of humidity I don't really expect my experiences to match all users in all climates. Cold Weather Performance The Scout seemed to be a very warm shirt when worn as my top layer. I was fine in the shirt down to about 40 F (4 C) as long as the wind was fairly calm and I was moderately active. I could stand even cooler temperatures when hiking with a pack and in fact sweated a little in the shirt once when hiking at around 25 F (-4 C). I did have on a very light silk weight synthetic top under the Scout and when I stopped to take a break or take a few pictures I did become chilled. Later on the hike back out, it was 17 F (-8 C) and I had on the same synthetic top, the Scout, a wool sweater, and a light rain jacket over everything. After about 30 minutes of hiking I had to remove the rain jacket to keep from overheating. The Scout really shined when worn at temperatures between 40 and 60 F (4 and 16 C). It was a tad cool for sitting around at the cooler end of this spectrum but great for hiking or just walking around in the yard. However, when it was windy I found I needed to wear a light windbreaker over the Scout. I also noted that when I did sweat from high exertion, the Scout still felt warm. In other words, the claim of "wool is warm when wet" seems justified. Warm Weather Performance As I suspected, the Scout was not the ideal shirt to wear when the temperatures went over 70 F (21 C). The zippered front was helpful but the sleeves were just to tight to roll up over my forearms. On the positive side, the shirt felt good even when I was sweating in it. It also dried out very fast when I took it off which I did several times. The only problem occurred a few times when I was out without a pack to hang it on and instead had to tie the shirt around my waist. The sleeves are a long enough to cover my wrist but a little short for tying in a secure knot around my waist. My arms may be muscular but my belly is...well, let's just say I don’t have six-pack abs. I managed reasonably well by tying it in half of a square knot. Durability The shirt has withstood many minor abrasions while out in the woods. I have also worn the shirt a lot as a casual shirt and as a result it has been through the washing machine many times. I haven't torn the shirt and it is still holding its shape well. Ease of Care My only complaint on caring for the shirt is that I needed to wash it several times when I did not have other wool items to wash. I did not want to chance washing it in regular detergent so several times I resorted to washing a small load and using Woolite. I always laid the shirt out flat to dry and if it was nice enough outside this was on my deck. On a warm, sunny and windy day it would dry out in as few as 2 hours. When it was raining I would lay it on the ironing board where it usually dried in about 6 hours. I never had to wash it while in the field which is just as well because I would only give it a stream bath and forgo the detergent. Other Observations One of the claims of wool is that it does not stink as bad as synthetics after sweating in it. I have to agree because there were several times when I wore the Scout for several days before washing it. I won't say that it always smelled like a rose but the smell was not that objectionable and absolutely better than some synthetics I put through similar conditions. In general I like for the sleeves in this type garment to be fairly loose in the arm but tight and stretchy in the wrist section. With the Scout, I noted that the sleeves were tighter up on my forearm and bicep but looser at the wrist than I like. Also, the arm in general and the wrist area in particular is not very stretchy. As I mentioned previously, this was aggravating when I wanted to pull up my sleeves. Future Testing I will continue to use the Scout as my primary hiking shirt, mostly as my base layer but layering it with other garments as need. I will continue to monitor its performance in different conditions, especially the cold and damp winter conditions that have recently arrived. I will continue to watch for any wear issues or see if it continues to hold its shape after more washing. So far it is doing an excellent job in all these areas. Stay tuned for the final verdict in my Long Term Report. Read more reviews of Ibex gear Read more gear reviews by Coy Ray Starnes Reviews > Clothing > Shirts > Ibex Scout Half-Zip Shirt > Coy Starnes > Field Report | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||