Very different! Basically powerstretch is a warm, very stretchy mid layer also usable as a base, while the Meco is a not especially stretch, not terribly warm base layer
Powerstretch a massive family but I think normally a little warmer than a microfleece.
I've had a meco top since October, which I bought mainly as a baselayer for my cycle commute mainly for the odour handling properties. It does seem to work, and the medium is a good and long in the back, so does work on a bike or elsewhere.
It isn't very warm, but that was an advantage for me.
I've not used it enough for a proper review, but so far it has been good, and I am using it about 10-hours a week fairly strenuous commuting plus the weekends.
Shewie, do you have a cotswolds near you? That's where I bought mine - my 20% discount made it more attractive there...
Thanks Jim, we've got a Cotswolds in Leeds but I wasn't planning to go into town anytime soon, I should make the effort.
Have you found the Meco to dry out quickly if it got wet/damp at all?
Basically at the minute I've got piles of thick Ullfrotte merino tops from my other hobbies, with Icebreaker & Smartwool stuff for backpacking. I can live with the minimal moisture in the thinner base layers but I want something to replace the Ullfrotte kind of mid layer stuff. I've got Primaloft and down smocks but I don't consider those for active wear, more for camp lounging.
I'm looking for something I can throw on over my Icebreaker base which will keep me a bit warmer and dry out if sweaty or rained on. Rab Powerstretch, Meco or the TML were ones that caught my eye, any others I should look at?
Normal microfleece or powerdry are also options. I find fleece sheds water better but powerdry dries faster and packs smaller. Powerdry stuff tends to be closer fitting, which I guess may be good or bad.
RABs powerstretch top isn't pricy mind so worth a look/thought. Subtly different from microfleece, but same sort of thing.
The AL pull ons (should be some) in Cotswolds worth a look too - even more air flow etc than microfleece and I'd suspect similar warmth. The fit/lack of stretch on those might be an issue but if you can try them for fit on obviously potentially less so
Shewie, my 165-Meco feels like a fairly close-fitting baselayer, so I wouldn't tend to put it over anything.
It dries pretty quickly
I still use an old KIMM 100-wt fleece as my main midlayer - I can't find the material on google but it was a polartec 100 with one side (the outer) smooth and the inner fleecy, with a deep zip neck. I can't see anything like it now. Its silver antimicrobial treatment must have died by 1997...
Well the basic construction is what they're still using in powerstretch, although that is of course often a little heavier (& warmer) than microfleece. Some of the heavier power dry stuff like Capeline4/Montanes Oryx must be rather close.
