Arguably the best baselayer we've ever used and you don't even have to wash it - well you do, but not as often cos silver fibres stop the stink...
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Berghaus X-Static Top
Tested
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Price:
£40.00
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Weight: 180 grammes (men's
large)
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Features:
Lightweight Polartec Power Dry fabric with X-Static silver
fibres knitted into the fabric, long sleeves, collar, neck
zip.
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Great wicking no pong.
Deeper neck zip would be nice.
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The Concept Part of the new Extrem Light range, the X-Static
Top uses a very light Polartec Powerdry fabric which incorporates
silver fibres in the knit. The silver is supposed to kill bad odours
along with the micro-thingies that are responsible for them, so you
should be able to use it on multi-day trips without smelling like the
back end of a donkey and alienating your partner. The silver is also
reckoned to aid heat transmission.
Polardry itself uses a differential knit to mechanically wick
moisture away from the body. Because it's not a treatment, washing
doesn't affect the wicking properties, which is handy, but then you
won't need to wash it much...
Features Design is our fave long-sleeved, zip-neck with
collar. We like that because you can always roll the sleeves up, the
collar gives some sun protection and adds comfort and the zip-neck
aids cooling - 'nuff said really. If you were fussy you might prefer
a deeper zip.
In
Action We've been using the X-Static top for around six months
now and it has rapidly become our baselayer of choice and arguably
the best we've ever used. The thin, stretchy, slightly-brushed
material is comfortable against the skin, but more importantly,
wicking performance is excellent. Appreciably better, in fact, than
thicker grades of Powerdry that we've used, probably because the
moisture simply has less distance to travel. The thinness also means
that it dries out very quickly if it does get damp. A boon for
washing on the hoof too.
It also works very well even in hot weather and in the gym, again
something we put down mainly to the thin fabric, though Berghaus says
that the silver threads also aid heat transfer.
So it's comfortable, light, cool and high wicking, but what about
the anti-pong? In our experience the answer is a resounding yes, it
works. We wore the thing over and over again without washing for
walking, running, mountain biking, at the gym and more and there's
never been a significant odour build up, which is extraordinary. Even
screwing it up and leaving it in a corners of the bathroom for a few
days had no effect.
What's more, because the silver threads are permanent, the effect
lasts as long as the garment. Very, very nice.
The best baselayer we've used. Wicking performance and speed of
drying are both superb and the thin, stretchy, slightly brushed
fabric feels comfortable against the skin in both cool and warm
conditions. The thinness of the material seems to improve performance
over thicker grades of Powerdry. And it's light too.
The anti-stink performance is the cherry on the cake and means you
can wear it on multi-day trips without upsetting your partner / mates
/ passing donkeys etc. One proviso, we've heard that some people
churn out particularly bad smells that even Xstatic can't deal with,
but in our experience, it works brilliantly. Bad news for washing
machine makers...
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Performance
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Value
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Pushed for time:
Top baselayer, comfortable, high wicking, light and quick
drying. Works fantastically indoors and out, cold or warm
and the silver fibres incorporated in the knit kill smells
well dead. Great stuf and arguably the best baselayer we've
ever used full stop.
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