Winter is here in full force. It's important to keep warm. You need a nice warm coat, some gloves, and of course you need to keep your head warm. I received the Buff Thermal Hoodie to run through it's paces, just in time for a cold spell here.
What Buff is this?
As I stated before Christmas in my holiday brand wish list, Buff USA is one of my personal favorite brands. I've tested both an original full buff as well as the half buff, both of which are on my goto gear list. This latest product I've tested is a great product for the winter, and is useful far beyond running and sporting activities. It combines a wool buff bottom around your neck with a toasty warm Polartec® Thermal Pro® hood. This makes for a fantastic product to keep you warm in cold temperatures and protect you from the wind.
How warm is it?
The simple answer is very warm. I've worn it on many occasions in the short time I've had it. I have a fantastically warm wool winter coat, that has no hood. In fact, if you're like me, many of your coats don't have hoods. That means to keep warm you need a hat, and then if it's windy or extra cold, a scarf. The Buff Thermal Hoodie is the perfect solution if you find yourself in this situation. The buff portion keeps your neck warm and protected from the wind. The hoodie is a very cozy warm. It's built with lots of room and some good draw strings to pull tight as needed. Face still a little chilled from the wind? There's an extra portion from the neck to pull up over your face. Lastly, at least in my case, it looks great with my coat, so hard to tell it's not just a hood on my coat. All of it looks great and works even better than great. What's better than great? Super great? It's super great.
It does seem like it'd be great for more winter activities, like skiing or snowboarding. In fact, it's designed with a large enough hood to fit over a helmet with that in mind. I could see it working very well in these situations, though I haven't had the opportunity to test it personally like this.
What about running in it?
Most of my wearing was more in a casual setting. I did want to see how it would work on a run, so took it out on a cold evening. It worked really quite well. It was definitely warm enough, though previous testing told me that anyway. I was able to pull it tight with the draw strings, which made it fit well running, but I felt like it cut off some of my field of vision. It was nice to not have something tight over my headphones and was super warm while still having moisture management properties. At the end of the day though, I just didn't really like it for a run. It just wasn't for me in this capacity. I prefer a hat and a buff (original or thermal) to cover my face. That's worked great for me, even in single digit temperatures so far.It does seem like it'd be great for more winter activities, like skiing or snowboarding. In fact, it's designed with a large enough hood to fit over a helmet with that in mind. I could see it working very well in these situations, though I haven't had the opportunity to test it personally like this.
The Takeaway
This is a fantastic winter product. While it wasn't my cup of warm tea when it came to running, it performed well. It is a fantastic anytime product to me and has a lot of potential for winter sports I didn't get an opportunity to try out with it. I may even get my first real snowfall here soon, and put it to the test then as well. I can definitely recommend this to those of use that live in the portions of the country with winter. If you have winter coats without hoods, I highly recommend purchasing one of these for yourself.
How do you keep your head warm? Do your coats have hoods?
#bibchat
As you may have guessed, this week's bibchat will again feature Buff USA. Stop by on Tuesday, January 19th at 9pm EST to join in the fun and be a Buff Ninja!. Interact with the Buff team, with other BibRavePros, and all the other like minded runners that participate each week. I do recommend bringing a snack, as discussions of food and donuts often somehow enter the conversation, and I usually end up hungry.
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