Introduction:
The SmartWool Microweight Tee is, well, a T-shirt. In the case of the "nickel microstripes"-coloured one, a grey T-shirt, which upon closer inspection reveals itself to have a kind of horizontal pinstripe pattern of different shades of grey. It's quite fashionable, really. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing the manufacturer does not provide a picture of the Tee in this colour on its website. You can find a (somewhat) more detailed description of it in my Initial Report.

Test Experience:
I have worn the T for several all-day excursions (of walking with a backpack on), generally of low to medium exertion. This included one long hike of about 22 km (14 mi), which was meant to be the first of a planned three-day outing, which I had to cut short due to a hernia. Temperatures ranged from cool to rather warm (18 to 28 C/65 to 85 F), with high humidity on the warmer days (including the shortened long hike). I've also worn the T nonstop for a spot of jogging, bicycle riding and for three days and nights of hot, muggy weather while recovering from surgery (of the above-mentioned hernia) in a hospital. I also just took it on a hike to a nearby pool for a spot of swimming. For the latter endeavours, temps have been above 30 C (about 90 F), with high humidity. I've spent a night in it in my hammock, with nighttime temps bottoming out at about 11 C (52 F).

Comfort (Heat/Sweat):
I have found the SmartWool T to seem, at first, like a standard cotton T-shirt. The feel is not much different, nor is the weight. It also does not seem to promote sweating the way I generally think of wool clothing. It also takes up the sweat, removing it from the body, much like a cotton T-shirt does. That, however, is where the similarity ends. A wet cotton T-shirt, in my experience, sticks to my body with a clammy feel, and produces enormous wind chill once a breeze hits it. I have found the latter effect particularly pronounced when stopping for a rest break and taking off my pack - as the scenic spots I like to pick for such rest stops tend to be somewhat exposed, the breeze on my back, sweaty from the pack and newly exposed, often seems downright chilling. I have felt this effect much reduced with the SmartWool T. The breeze in question seemed no more than pleasantly cooling, and the clammy feeling simply failed to arise, although I had gotten the T sweaty indeed. I have also noted that the SmartWool T, when wet, darkens significantly less than a grey cotton T-shirt does.
I have been (and am) most impressed by this feature. The T doesn't at all look like some new-fangled hiking equipment - it looks like a grey T-shirt (and a nice one at that). Its performance, however, is head and shoulders above that of a cotton T. And while I've been told that the dictum "hiking in storms doesn't kill, hiking in cotton kills" is a fallacy (according to Jerry Goller, it's hiking with your head up your behind that kills), this T-shirt certainly improved my chances of a comfortable hike, even in varying conditions.

Odour - or lack thereof:
There has been no perceptible odour to report on during the Field Report phase. This was already a promising find when I unpacked my things after the last outing, a day after my return, and picked up the T which I had dropped into a heap while I went to the hospital to be checked out. It had lain there for a day after I had worn it for two nights and a day of seriously sweaty backpacking. I would have expected a cotton T to smell strongly, of the SmartWool I expected at least some negative odour - not so. Possibly more encouraging was my experience in the hospital. I wore that same T for three days and two nights, during which the temperatures were so high that I was sweating, just a little, all the time. This included the nights, where I tended to pull off even the single sheet I was covered with. I left the T on to prevent excessive cooling by the breezes that would sometimes come up at night and enter through the welcomingly wide open windows. After those three days, after I had finally found it in me to hobble to the shower to get myself thoroughly clean, I found that I - still - did not have a fresh T-shirt to change into. Yet, putting this one on again did not feel yucky. It still did not smell the way stale sweat tends to smell. I liked that a lot.
Incidentally, I can also tell that while the T wrinkled some, it also did not look like a T-shirt that's been slept in for more than a night.

Durability:
I was shocked, briefly, to find what looked like a loose thread, not of a seam, but of the material of which the T itself is made. Upon closer inspection, however, I found the cause to be less worrying: It appears that the T is constructed of pieces of SmartWool cloth, which are cut from a larger piece. The edges where the pieces have been cut tend to unravel. In the finished product, the seams are sewn so that such unraveling is prevented. In my case, one thread of maybe 5 cm (2 in), which may well have begun to unravel before the T was sewn together, was sticking out of a seam. Pulling - very gently at first, then only a little stronger - proved to my satisfaction that though the thread may have stuck out, it wasn't part of a thread in the process of unravelling. Rather, the seam in question seemed to hold the T together the way it was designed. This was about a month ago, and after cutting off that thread I have seen no follow-up. The T still looks like new, with no perceptible fraying or discoloration after several turns in the washing machine (though not yet in the dryer).

Drying:
It dries well, by the way - faster than a cotton T-shirt, and I have found it unproblematic to wear directly out of the washing machine (1200 rpm spinning cycle). It only felt marginally wet, warmed up right away (to comfortably warm, not muggy) and stopped feeling wet against my skin after what couldn't have been more than a minute. A few minutes later, the T was actually dry. I have had a similar experience when air-drying it on my body. While the T got absolutely soaked when submerged (no surprise there), I found it easy to wring most of the water out of it quickly. It then still felt wet, which had a nice cooling effect while I wore it (hot day). However, it did not feel nearly as clammy as a wet cotton T-shirt does and quickly stopped feeling cold (warm when wet), though I could still note a bit of cooling effect (presumably through evaporation). Excellent!

Warmth:
While I have had little reason to want for warmth, the one time it did happen was at night in my hammock. I had tried sleeping with just a little fleece blanket, which had seemed reasonable during the day as temperatures topped 30 C (85 F). At night, however, it got decidedly cooler (down to 11 C - 52 F) and I began to feel chilly around four in the morning. Where I had wrapped the thin blanket around my body, I was only a little cool where my skin was also protected by clothing (in the case of my upper body, by the SmartWool T), but cold where it was not. This caused me to abort my attempt at sleeping and hike out. I'm not sure what this signifies - I guess the T does provide some insulation, but obviously not on the arms!

PROs/CONs:
PRO: Wicks well, warm when wet, not wet for long, looks good.
CON: Nothing yet. I won't be seen hiking in anything else (on my upper body) for a while.

Personal Biographical Information:
Name: André Corterier
Gender: M
Age: 33
Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Chest: 100 cm (40 in)
Weight: 80 kg (175 lb)
Email: andreDOTcorterierATfreenetDOTde
Home: Bonn, Germany

Backpacking Background:
I began backpacking in my late teens using Europe’s "InterRail"-System – weight hardly mattered, as we were on trains a lot. I recently rediscovered backpacking and have started out slowly – single-day 15 mile (24 km) jaunts by myself or even shorter hikes in the company of my little daughter. I am getting started on longer hikes, as a lightweight packer and hammock-camper. I’ve begun upgrading my old gear and am now shooting for a dry FSO weight (everything carried From the Skin Out except food, fuel and water) of about 10 kg (22 lb) for three-season camping. Not quite there yet.

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