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Reviews > Clothing > Shirts > Ibex Shak Jersey > Michael Lissner > Long Term ReportLong Term Report of Contents of Report: 1. Tester Biographical Information 2. Backpacking Background 3. Product Information 4. Product Description 5. Conditions of Long Term Testing 6. Results of Long Term Testing Probably the biggest problem I have found with it is - somewhat surprisingly - water. I've worn it in a cold rain a couple of times. The first time, I was just hiking around, so I was able to take some risks with the water that I would not have taken if I were out backpacking. I let the rain come down on my shoulders for a little while to see how the jersey would handle it, and I'm sad to say that in short order the rain penetrated the jersey, soaked it through, and was instantly cold and clammy. In short, I was not impressed. The marketing blurb from Ibex's website says that "Dense knit breathable Merino sheds water, snow and wind". I have NOT found this to be true. I've noticed that winds go right through it, and that rain saturates it in minutes, leaving it very cold. What's worse, I've also noticed that it wicks rain. For instance, one of the times that I wore it in the rain, I put my Marmot Precip jacket over the top of it, and after about thirty minutes of wet hiking, I noticed that the cuffs had been slightly exposed, and that they had wicked water upwards several inches under the waterproof jacket - not cool, especially when you're trying to stay warm in the rain. The other problem this causes, in addition to being cold is something that I mentioned in my Field Report. This jersey does not dry very quickly at all, and cannot be thrown in a dryer to speed things up. Once it gets wet, it shall remain wet until the cold weather has passed. Of the four times that I have washed this jersey at my house, never has it dried overnight, even during warm weather. On average, it has taken about a day and a half to dry out completely after going through the spin cycle. At longest, it took three days to dry completely while hanging in my house. In regards to wind, I've also noticed a problem here. Even though it does have a fairly dense knit, wind can definitely penetrate this jersey without too much trouble. I haven't been out in too many strong winds with this jersey, but the light winds that I have been in were able to get through the jersey at my skin. This, however is also a good thing, because one of the things that I like best about this jersey is the very fact that it adjusts to heat output very nicely, which is to say that if I put it on in the morning while leaving camp, I can usually wear it almost until noon before I start heating up too much. By pushing up the sleeves (that stay up all day) and unzipping the zipper, this jersey adjusts marvelously to varying temperatures. In fact, I've never worn anything that adjusts so well, and I believe it is because of the ability of my body heat to get out of the jersey while hiking. On the subject of the sleeves staying up, that's one other thing that I ought to mention. Every time that I've washed this jersey it has shrunk a little bit, only to stretch out again the first time that I wore it afterwards. Not a big deal, but something to note. I also noted that the sleeves of this jersey never lost their stretch, which was very nice. They comfortably go up over my forearms and stay there for as long as I want them to. I should note here that the reason I have washed this jersey three of the four times was not because it got smelly, but rather because it got muddy while mountain biking. In fact, this is another of the properties that I like best about this garment. It simply does not get smelly. I've worn it a lot, and often while running, or under a smelly synthetic shirt and it just remains odorless. I washed it once towards the middle of the test series just for good measure, again not because it was smelly. There are two other things I should mention about this jersey. The first is that it is the only piece of gear that I own that I can wear in good faith to informal parties. It's a stylish garment, and surprisingly enough, I like looking good while out on the trail. The slightly tight fit is great, even though the neck is a bit loose, and the clean design is quite nice. The second thing that I should mention is something that I need to revisit from the earlier reports. I noted in the Initial Report that some of the cuffs had unraveled a little bit, and even included a picture of the threads. Since that time, I've kept my eye on this, and noticed it get progressively worse. I have several times noticed inches of thread hanging off one of the seams, with the worst offender being a section of one of the cuffs that has come undone to some extent. It seems that the seams on this garment are not holding up. I've noticed that they come undone, but I've also noticed that they get caught on the hooks of hook and loop tape far too easily. My gloves have hooks on the back of them to make them stick to the shells they go inside of, and these hooks have consistently caught on the wool. In addition to this, it seems that the seam around the bottom of the jersey has gotten rather frayed all across the front, I'm guessing as a result of being under the hipbelt. 7. Conclusions Thanks to Ibex and BGT for this test series. Read more reviews of Ibex gear Read more gear reviews by Michael Lissner Reviews > Clothing > Shirts > Ibex Shak Jersey > Michael Lissner > Long Term Report | |||