Icebreaker Merino Blend 75 Cool-Lite Featherlight Review: Superlight, Breathable, and Not Exactly Subtle
The Icebreaker Merino Blend 75 Cool-Lite Featherlight is a superlight merino-blend shirt built for hot runs, sweaty miles, and runners who want better odor control than a standard synthetic tee. It breathes incredibly well, dries fast, and handles heat better than most wool shirts I’ve worn, but the sheer fabric makes it a lot less convincing once the run ends.
KETL Lost Boys Merino Shirt Review: A Casual Shirt That Holds Up Outside
The KETL Lost Boys Merino Shirt is a casual-looking merino top that quietly does a lot right. After using the short-sleeve and long-sleeve versions for mountain biking, hiking, trail running, and travel, it stood out for odor control, sweat handling, and being easy to re-wear without looking like full-time trail gear.
Duckworth Vapor Tee Review: A Practical Merino Tee for Hiking, Camping, and Travel
The Duckworth Vapor Tee is a durable, American-made merino blend shirt built for hiking, camping, travel, and repeat wear. It handles odor well, packs easily, and feels tougher than a lot of lightweight merino tees, but the wooly texture keeps it from being the softest shirt in the drawer.
Patagonia Capilene Cool Merino Blend Shirt Review: A Trail Shirt That Works Best on Cleaner Days
A Patagonia Capilene Cool Merino Blend Shirt review after warm Reno/Tahoe hikes, casual wear, and pack use. Light, breathable, odor-friendly, and best on cleaner trail days.
Ridge Merino Journey T-Shirt Review: A Soft Merino Tee Built for Backpacking and Travel
The Ridge Merino Journey T-Shirt is a soft, easy-wearing merino tee that worked best for backpacking, travel, and cool Sierra mornings. It is comfortable under a pack, handles repeated wear well, and has enough structure to feel more useful than a fragile wool tee. Just don’t expect it to be the shirt you grab for hot, high-output efforts.
Smartwool Merino Sun Hoodie Review: Built for Long Sun and Multi-Day Wear
The Smartwool Merino Sun Hoodie blends merino comfort with added nylon durability, making it a strong pick for hiking, camping, travel, and long sunny days where repeat wear matters. It is not the lightest hot-weather layer, but for mild mountain temps and multi-day use, it earns its spot.
Icebreaker 150 MerinoFine Ace Long Sleeve Hoodie UPF Review: Soft Merino for High Mountain Sun
The Icebreaker 150 MerinoFine Ace Long Sleeve Hoodie UPF is a soft 100% merino sun hoodie built for mountain days where the sun is strong but the heat is not crushing. After testing it around Reno, Tahoe, and the Sierra Nevada, it stood out for comfort, odor control, and all-day wearability, especially for camping, travel, and exposed high-country hikes.
Ridge Merino Solstice Lightweight Merino Hoodie Review: The Hiking Sun Hoodie That Doesn’t Look Like Trail Gear
The Ridge Merino Solstice Lightweight Merino Hoodie blends merino comfort, sun coverage, odor resistance, and casual styling into a hiking-focused layer that works well beyond the trail. It is a little heavier than some sun hoodies, but it earns its place on multi-day trips.
Outdoor Vitals Tern Merino Hoodie Review: Light, Packable, and Surprisingly Good in Warm Weather
The Outdoor Vitals Tern Merino Hoodie surprised me in the best way. It is light enough for warm hikes, useful enough for travel, and still gives you the odor resistance and comfort that make merino worth wearing.
KETL Lost Boys Merino Sun Hoodie Review: Built for Cool Starts, Strong Sun, and Long Days Outside
Tested on trail runs, mountain bike rides, hikes, and lazy laundry cycles, the KETL Lost Boys Merino Sun Hoodie is a useful layer when synthetic sun hoodies are too light.
Black Diamond Distance Wind Shell Review: Lightweight Protection
Tiny, packable, and surprisingly protective, the Black Diamond Distance Wind Shell feels best on windy hikes, scrambles, and alpine approaches. This review covers where it shines, where it runs hot, and why it makes more sense for mountain days than hard runs or rides.
HOKA Skyflow Jacket Review: A Runner’s Breezy-Morning Layer
The HOKA Skyflow Jacket shines as a breathable layer for brisk morning runs and cool starts, but its light protection makes it a much tougher sell for harsh wind, rough weather, or bigger mountain days.
Janji Zephyrunner Review: A Wind Shell Built to Move
The Janji Zephyrunner is one of the better running wind shells I’ve used. It blocks enough wind to matter, breathes well once the pace picks up, stays impressively quiet on the run, and packs down small enough to disappear into a vest. The tradeoff is weather resistance, as it wets through sooner than some other jackets in this category.
Patagonia Houdini Jacket Review: Tiny Pack Size, Big Wind Protection
The Patagonia Houdini Jacket is light, tiny when packed, and excellent at cutting wind, but it is not the do-it-all windbreaker its reputation might suggest. After hiking, backpacking, and running in it around Reno-Tahoe, I came away with a much more specific take on where it shines and where it starts to show its limits.
KETL Breakwind Jacket Review: A Wind Layer That Nails the Balance
Some wind jackets feel great until you actually start moving. The KETL Breakwind stands out for balancing wind protection, breathability, and everyday usability better than most.
Janji Multi Short Review: Clever Storage
The Janji Multi Short stands out with clever bounce-free storage, airy fabric, and a dialed fit for warm-weather runs. But while the storage system is genuinely impressive, the brief liner makes this a more selective recommendation for runners prone to chafing.
Brooks Journey Shorts Review: The Everyday Workhorse Trainer
The Brooks Journey Shorts are a practical, storage-focused running short built for daily training, short trail runs, and newer runners who want to carry a phone, keys, and gels without needing a belt or vest.
Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts Long-Term Review: Lightweight and Breathable
The Patagonia Strider Pro Shorts shine in hot weather with lightweight fabric, strong comfort, and a smart low-bulk design. But limited phone storage, pocket bounce under heavier loads, and a brief-style liner keep them from being a perfect fit for every runner.
KETL Blackwood Trail Running Shorts Review: 100+ Miles Long-Term Test
After 100+ miles in the KETL Blackwood Trail Run Shorts, I’ve stopped thinking about them, which is pretty much the highest compliment I can give a pair of running shorts
KETL Vent Lightweight Active Pants: Our Favorite do-it-all Summer Pants
In this review, we’ll go look at the KETL Vent Lightweight pants and comb through the features with a fine tooth brush and why it should be on your radar for those long and hot days outside.