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Craghoppers Aquadry Atoll
Tee
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Price:
£22.00
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Weight: 191 grammes (men's
L)
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Features: Aquadry
fabric incorporating Denier Gradient Technology and
anti-bacterial treatment, flat-locked seams, no seam on top
of shoulder.
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Good wicking technology
Tee-shirt format limiting in use
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On paper the technology used in Craghoppers Aquadry is pretty much
the same as Lowe's DryFlo, in fact you might think they come from the
same factory... Denier Gradient Tecnology again uses a polyester
material with thick yarns on the inside of the material and thinner
on the outside to mechanically move moisture outwards and to resist
long term laundering.
In fact we might even have seen lab stats suggesting that Aquadry
outperforms Dryflo in tests... However, we didn't particularly rate
the first Crags baselayers, the tee-shirt cut was weird, too tight on
the shoulders, long and thin on the body and with a finish that was
just a little rougher than Dryflo.
It wicked well enough, but somehow didn't quite feel 'right', The
more travel-orientated Atoll tee is an improvement, not least because
the cut is slightly looser and less restrictive - important here,
because there's not as much stretch in the fabric as some.
So it's more comfortable than its ancestors, but for active
mountain use it's limited by being a tee-shirt, so there's no neck or
forearm protection from the sun and the lack of a zip means venting
is impossible. If you want a wicking tee-shirt at a reasonable price
this is a good choice and it won't niff either, the anti-bacterial
treatment seems to work, but we'd rather have a zip-neck thanks.
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Verdict: Good fabric and decent
wicking performance but on balance we'd rather have a
long-sleeved zip-neck for all-round UK use, then again, the
Atoll is aimed at adventure travellers, so perhaps that's
unfair, though we'd still like a collar to shield the back
of the neck.
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Performance
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Value
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Pushed for time:
Good fabric with similar mechanical wicking to Lowe's
Dryflo and better fit than the first Crags baselayer tops.
The tee-shirt format is a bit limiting for all year use
though, we'd prefer to see the same fabric in some sort of
collared, long-sleeved zip-neck. Not bad if you want a
tee-shirt that wicks though.
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