maxxkatt
Forum Supporter
Ok, telling you something you don’t already know. Summer brings the mid to high 90’s to Georgia. I have lived in Ohio and New Jersey and know it can get very hot up north in the summer.
This year I decided to try some cooling clothes to wear on my hunts. First I investigate a hat with a battery or solar power fan to cool my head. The reviews said the solar fan did not work in the shade. Well I hunt Civil War relics and often are in the trees so the solar hat was out and battery hat, since did not want to be buying batteries.
So I found an evaporative hat and vest for a total of $42. Here is what I ordered.
Ergodyne Chill-Its 6665 Evaporative Cooling Vest - Gray, Large - $27.00 on Amazon
Arctic Hat - As Seen On TV Evaporative Cooling Hat $14.95
The hat works almost as advertised. Not sure about the 20 degree drop but easily 10 – maybe 15 degree cooler. Definitely made my head feel cooler. All you do is pour some water in the inside of the hat, let it soak in and shake out the excess.
Both items got pretty good reviews. The vest works by taking it and soaking it in ice water for 2-3 minutes. Take it out, roll it up tight to squeeze excess water and blot with bath towel so it is damp.
It does gain weight with the water, but after you have it on after a few minutes you forget about the extra weight.
I put on the hat and vest both watered down and went out in the 92 degree heat, feels like 96 degree heat to do some test in my test garden and then hunted my property for about an hour. Both the hat and vest pretty much work as advertised. With the hat, I still sweated around the bottom rim of the hat, but I think a nice bandana around below the hat rim would solve that problem.
The vest does get the top of your jeans damp down to the middle of the pockets. But out hunting in the heat, it feels good. You should be wearing a tee shirt. They say a wicking tee shirt is better than a cotton one to wear under the vest. I used a cotton one and it was fine. Of course the tee shirt gets damp. Probably a good idea to take a dry tee shirt for the ride home.
I feel both items were worth the money. The hat by the way has cooling vents on the side and a very wide brim to shade your face and ears.
One downside, but I found a workaround. You cannot easily use headphones unless maybe you buy a real large hat. My workaround was to put the headphones on from the back of my neck and use the hat strap under them and when tightened them it held them in place. Not super comfortable, but it works. I almost always hunt with headphones.
This year I decided to try some cooling clothes to wear on my hunts. First I investigate a hat with a battery or solar power fan to cool my head. The reviews said the solar fan did not work in the shade. Well I hunt Civil War relics and often are in the trees so the solar hat was out and battery hat, since did not want to be buying batteries.
So I found an evaporative hat and vest for a total of $42. Here is what I ordered.
Ergodyne Chill-Its 6665 Evaporative Cooling Vest - Gray, Large - $27.00 on Amazon
Arctic Hat - As Seen On TV Evaporative Cooling Hat $14.95
The hat works almost as advertised. Not sure about the 20 degree drop but easily 10 – maybe 15 degree cooler. Definitely made my head feel cooler. All you do is pour some water in the inside of the hat, let it soak in and shake out the excess.
Both items got pretty good reviews. The vest works by taking it and soaking it in ice water for 2-3 minutes. Take it out, roll it up tight to squeeze excess water and blot with bath towel so it is damp.
It does gain weight with the water, but after you have it on after a few minutes you forget about the extra weight.
I put on the hat and vest both watered down and went out in the 92 degree heat, feels like 96 degree heat to do some test in my test garden and then hunted my property for about an hour. Both the hat and vest pretty much work as advertised. With the hat, I still sweated around the bottom rim of the hat, but I think a nice bandana around below the hat rim would solve that problem.
The vest does get the top of your jeans damp down to the middle of the pockets. But out hunting in the heat, it feels good. You should be wearing a tee shirt. They say a wicking tee shirt is better than a cotton one to wear under the vest. I used a cotton one and it was fine. Of course the tee shirt gets damp. Probably a good idea to take a dry tee shirt for the ride home.
I feel both items were worth the money. The hat by the way has cooling vents on the side and a very wide brim to shade your face and ears.
One downside, but I found a workaround. You cannot easily use headphones unless maybe you buy a real large hat. My workaround was to put the headphones on from the back of my neck and use the hat strap under them and when tightened them it held them in place. Not super comfortable, but it works. I almost always hunt with headphones.
