Hardcore Luxury® -- Always 100% USA

Boonie Reveiws

February, 2014

Howdy, Alex!

After Dad and I left your booth yesterday, I had the boonie on, and it stayed on for the rest of the time we spent in the show, and for the two-hour drive home, and then for a lot of the evening afterward. It is comfortable and not the least bit itchy, and that's me with my bald, shaved head!

I was wearing it this afternoon while cutting hemlock browse for the deer. It was misting out, and ice, water, and snow were dumping on my head while I was pruning. The hat did a great job of keeping the wet stuff off of my face and glasses, so Test Number One was a success. Next will be hiking or cross-country skiing with it, and I'm sure it will do just fine.

Thanks, and I'll be keeping an eye on what you guys are up to.

-Ben Irvin

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Howdy, Alex!

Since my last e-mail to you, I've had the chance to get out more with the boonie hat I bought from you guys.

Two of the days were shorter hikes: temps in the mid-to-lower 20's [Fahrenheit] and I was hiking up short, steep ridges. Trudging was more like it, what with the hard, crusty ice over the snow, so I was stomping my way up the trail, moving slowly but working. The hat kept me very comfortable. At the pace I was going, I didn't expect to overheat, but I stayed "just right." Even as the sweat began, the hat never itched. When I got to the top of the ridge, the wind was picking up. My ears started to get a little cold, even with the hat pulled over them, but not bad. I kept moving and stayed comfortable.

I also spent a few hours the other day running (literally) some drills with my AR-15. Temps were in the low 20's [Fahrenheit] again, and I was doing some run-and-gun stuff. I was wearing heavy, warm clothing and the boonie, so the short, hard sprints were taking some effort. Again, the sweat started to roll, but the hat stayed nice, warm, and comfortable. Didn't even feel wet. I ended up in the snow quite a bit, and when I couldn't engage a target because of a snow pile or something, I'd roll into another firing position, kind of "tactical break-dancing" I guess, so I was covered in snow. The boonie brim did a great job of keeping the sun's glare off of the ocular lens of my ACOG. The brim also has the nice characteristic of being soft enough to fold up or collapse when I had my head on the ground, as in the roll-over-prone position. It didn't bunch up or get bothersome. Just sort of "disappeared" when the side of my head was on the ground.

All of that stuff was great, but yesterday was the real test, providing the very conditions I had bought the hat for. It was snowing like crazy, and I went cross-country skiing. I did 9 miles and had to break trail for half of it. On top of that, I was skiing hard, so I was working up a sweat. I got soaked. It pretty much snowed the entire time, so I was getting covered. The hat's brim did a fantastic job of keeping the snow off of my glasses. That's a big thing for me. With a regular knit cap, when I'm skiing in heavy snowfall, my glasses get covered in water drops and then start to fog up quickly. The boonie kept them nice and clean. On top of that, I was sweating like crazy and only a little bit was getting past the hat and into my eyes. Very nice. Even though I was getting wet from the inside and out (melting snow and sweat), even though I was feeling more than just damp, I was staying warm. I started cooling off quickly if I stopped too long. I was beat and my energy levels were low, but the hat kept my head pretty dry and comfortable. My glasses did end up fogging up pretty badly after a while. I was pushing very hard, and I was probably steaming up a storm.

I am really pleased with the hat. It's doing everything I was hoping it would do, and it has solved some outdoor "wardrobe problems" for me. I'll be keeping an eye on your stuff for future developments. After thinking things through for the past few days while skiing, I'm very interested in what your mid-to-light weight products might end up being. The way I dress for hiking and skiing is usually in multiple lighter layers. That way, when something has to come off, it can go into the pack with no problem. Pack-ability is pretty critical for my outdoor garments, at least with the way I do things.

Thanks so much for a great product!

Take care out there.

-Ben Irvin

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July 2014, from Brian Carter of Hudsonville, Michigan

They are awesome hats and thank you Ralph! Started out in the morning and the temp. was in the 40's. By the time the picture was taken the temp. was In the 80's with high humidity. So, the best quality was: "no sweaty head!" It was just as comfortable before [dawn] as it was then.

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