What's It For?
Helly Hansen says the Converter T is designed to keep you cool and dry in warm and hot weather conditions and describes it as 'your on-body air conditioning system'.
The Techy Bits
Traditionally Helly Hansen has used Polypropylene, a hydrophobic material - it doesn't absorb water - for its Lifa baselayer fabrics, but the Converter uses a mix of that and 60 per-cent polyester, which actively wicks moisture away from the skin.
We're not actually sure which way the fabrics are arranged, we think the Polypropylene is on the inside with the polyester on the face fabric to wick and spread the moisture produced by strenuous activity.
How It Performed
If you think we're being a bit blase about the fabric details, that because we honestly couldn't tell the difference between the Converter T with its polypro / polyester mix and a decent polyester baselayer.
The main thing is that it's light years better than a cotton tee shirt, seems to move moisture outwards away from the skin just fine looks good and is comfortable to wear. One point we would make is that although HH describe the T as a hot weather garment, it's actually reasonably thick, which means it's slightly warmer than we'd like and doesn't wick quite as fast as thinner fabrics.
Details are mostly good with flat-locked seams and seamless tops to the shoulders and it's great if you do want a tee-shirt style though there's a lot to be said for protective collar and longer, roll-up sleeves when the going is really hot.
The women's version comes in a 'you'll love it or hate it' floral print and without the contrasting sleeves of the men's.
Verdict
Capable, decent value baselayer top that performs like polyester and doesn't pong. It's a little thicker than we'd like for a hot conditions baselayer though - in really scorching weather, we'd like a thinner, cooler fabric. On moderately warm days though, it works very well.
Buy if... you want an attractively-styled, reasonably-priced, tee-shirt style late spring through early summer baselayer top.
