zyflex thermal shirt and pants
Long-term Report
September 26, 2006

Authored by

Andrew Priest
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
aushiker@yahoo.com.au

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Product Details and Specifications

• Tester's Details
  • Personal Biography
  • Testing Playground
  • Testing Environment
• Long-term Report

Andrew, the tester:

I am a 46 year old male, 180 cm (5' 11") in height, I weigh 111 kg (245 lb). I have been bushwalking in Western Australia for approximately five years. For the past four years I have been regularly walking and leading on and off-track pack carries with the Perth Bushwalkers Club. I have also got into geocaching. I consider myself as moving towards being a lightweight tent-carrying bushwalker with my pack base weight in the 8 to 12 kg (18 to 26 lb) range. I have completed my End to End of the Bibbulmun Track (2003), the Cape to Cape Track (Nov 2001), the Coastal Plains Walk Track (numerous times), the Larapinta Trail (July 2005) and Fitzgerald River National Park (April 2006).

I am a regular wearer of thermals on my bushwalks finding that I tend to feel the cold more when I am out in the bush.  The thermals I am familiar with have a different material mix than the Zyflex's being tested, with the thermals I wear being of a polypropylene material.

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Andrew's testing playground:

The bushwalking environment of the south-west of Western Australia allows for bushwalks and backpacking from coastal plains to forest. Elevation ranges from 0 to 585 metres (0 to 1,920 feet). Within this region, I walk in varying conditions from forestry roads, to sandy tracks to single-purpose walking trails, to rock hopping, to beach walking to completely off-track walking through open and dense country.

The testing environment:

During the summer period, daytime temperatures average 30° C (86° F), whereas from March through to December the daytime average temperatures range from 15° C to 26° C (59° F to 79° F). During the autumn, winter, and spring periods the normal weather pattern is fairly wet with frequent heavy rainstorms evident. It does not normally snow in Western Australia.

According to The Times Atlas of the World (Concise Edition - Revised 1997) our weather is described as being "Mediterranean - rainy climates with mild winters, coolest month (July) above 0° C (32° F), but below 18° C (64° F); warmest month (February) above 10° C (50° F)." The atlas depicts the coastal area north of Los Angeles as having the same climate.

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Product Details:

The 2006 Zyflex Thermal Shirt and Pants where manufactured by Zyflex.  Zyflex describe the Thermal Shirt as a mid or base layer designed to provide warmth for any winter activity, whereas the Thermal Pants are a base layer "designed to provide maximum insulation during the winter months."

Specifications:

Thermal Shirt (Size XXL):

• Manufacturer's weight: 198 g (7 oz). Size not stated.
• My weight: 266 g (9.4 oz)

Thermal Pants (Size XL):

• Manufacturer's weight: 187 g (6.6 oz). Size not stated.
• My weight: 195 g (6.8 oz)

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The Long-term Report should be read in-conjunction with my Initial Report which provides more details on the Zyflex Thermal Shirt and Pants and my Field Report which reports on the first two months of testing.

Due to aborted bushwalking trips in August and September 2006 it was not possible to continue testing the Zyflex Thermal Shirt and Pants as originally planned. Therefore I can not add any test data to what I have already reported in my Field Report.

The following is a summary of my Field testing findings.

I concluded in my Field report that the shirt and pants as effective as other thermals I have worn. I find I am sleeping no hotter than I have with other thermals and the Sierra Designs Osage bag nor am I sleeping colder. Similarly my around camp wear is pretty much the same as previous layering combinations.

In respect of comfort, I have no complaints. The material does not irritate me and it is not scratchy. The pants in particular fit well and are comfortable. The shirt is a touch tight but this is more my problem than the shirt.

After every trip I have washed the thermals in my front loading washing machine as per the instructions and hung them out to dry on the clothes line.  There does not appear to be any adverse effect from the washing nor for that matter does it feel like the material has softened.  The white pants, which I thought my quickly discolour, seem to be handling the dirt of camp okay with the dirt easily washing out. In other words the thermals recover from use quite well indeed. One thing I have noticed is that the pants appear to take longer to dry than the shirt. Not a big issue but something I have noted.

Summarising my experience with the thermals:  Things I like:

• Both the pants and the shirt work effectively at keeping me warm;
• Both the pants and the shirt are comfortable to wear, i.e., no scratching or irritation;
• The pants and the shirt have handle washing well with camp dirt coming out of the white pants in particular very well;
• No signs of wear;
• The fly. Great on early morning zipper runs.

Things I dislike:

• Shirt is a touch tight. Would like a looser cut.

My thanks to Zyflex and BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to participate in this test.