It’s relatively new but starting to be sold at chain stores like Dicks. They have a two lines. One for cold temps and another for very cold temps. I don’t see anything in their promo material about retaining heat when wet.
Under Armour
All the athletes wear it. It claims to keep you warm and dry in the cold and cool and dry in the heat. I wear it coaching football and like it. It is light weight and does what I want it to do. I have been wearing the tights under my pants during early morning paddles. I also wear the top as it doesn’t let the wind through very much. I personally like it. Water doesn’t soak up in it like cotton. I have the heaviest weight for both my tights and top.
Greg
Under Armor
This stuff is the exact same idea as the stuff every single outdoor clothing manufacturer (and even a few retail stores with store brands) have been selling for YEARS. Under Armor is just one brand of many, and happens to be the brand most people hear about because football players wear it (Under Armor brought practical layering and wicking technology to athletics).
One difference between under armor and some of the other brands is that under armor tends to fit much tighter to the body, which does help keep your muscles warm as it offers a bit of compression. Most other outdoor retailer wicking baselayers have a looser fit, which emphasizes moisture transport without as much concern about keeping warm (after all, you put on additional layers for insulation). Football players don’t have the luxury of being able to put a light wicking base layer underneath a polartec windpro fleece in addition to all of their other gear.
Under Armor might work for you, or it might not. Examine what you hope to gain from it, and whether clothing you currently have already fills that niche. If what you already own has shortcomings, maybe Under Armor might fill them.
Good synthetic outdoor wear
– Last Updated: Oct-27-06 11:57 PM EST –
Its similar to polypro and other synthetics. One difference is that they have some thicker garments in their line, such as sweatshirts and pants.
Like any synthetic, it will dry quickly and and keep some insulating properties when wet.
I've had an UA under shirt for about 2 years and it works well. My daughter has used UA for a while when playing soccer in cold weather.
I recently purchased a thicker, pullover hooded UA sweatshirt. I wouldn't buy another one. An equal thickness of polar fleece would be warmer. That and the material pills after a few washings.
So my feeling is that its great for under layers but not as good for outerwear.
Yeah…
I have some. Occaisonally wear it for paddling but mostly for other activities. The underarm seams are rolled and not flattened like paddling specific rash guards. These can be irritating after some serious paddling.
sing
stores
There are a few stores called Marshall’s and TJMaxx that will sometimes have Under Armor long sleeve shirts and other Under Armor stuff for about 30% of normal prices… I’ve gotten some nice UA long sleeve shirts for paddling for about 15-20 bucks.
I wear it …
in the winter for hunting. Has worked a lot better than some of my other “long johns” especially with moisture wicking. Pretty pricey though.
Good stuff
I wear the tights in the winter for camping and paddling. the shirts are nice two. i go with the loose gear line they are costly ($30 for long sleeve) but worth the money to me. the long compresion shorts are nice for wormer weather paddling to.
Cycling
So far I’ve been impressed with the wicking properties and it’s shape retainability (caps I’ve had in past tended to lose their shape)
I bought both the lite weight and the heavier…Haven’t used the latter yet. At $18. it wasn’t a bad deal.
If you paddle hard under goretex or
similar breathable waterproof, then you may prefer NON-wicking underwear with low water affinity, like pure polypropylene. You can get it at Wal-Mart or similar places.
All of the wicking fabrics relay on the same principle. The base fabric is chosen because it soaks up little water (often polyester) and it is coated with a polymer that has high water affinity. If there is a gradient of both temperature and moisture near the surface of your body, then water moves off your skin, over the coated fabric, and evaporates into dryer, cooler air.
But inevitably, a goretex or similar semi-breathable garment is going to raise both the water vapor density and the temperature around your body. So if you are wearing a “wicking” undergarment, there is much less wicking going on, and that undergarment may start to feel soggy. That’s how it works with all of my Patagonia, REI, and other wicking undergarments.
But polypropylene has no affinity for water, and does not soak up water, so an undergarment made with it may feel dryer than a “wicking” undergarment in a goretex-enclosed environment. I have an old Early Winters polypropylene top that feels dryer against the skin under such conditions.
Thanks Everybody. You gave me
a lot of info and saved me a lot of money, too.
The local Dicks wanted $50-60 for the same items.
I just saved the cost of signing up for Paddling Perks.