Outdoor Research Sun Runner Cap

This the perfect hat for sun protection…great quality and price
Thanks

I don’t like most caps and hats. But I like messing around with sunscreen even less. Truly this is the first time in my life I found a cap or hat I actually like to wear around, and I wear this one more and more. It’s the one cap that works great for almost everything I do outdoors. I wear it on long runs. I take it on hikes and on weeklong backpacking trips. I wear it for yard work. It’s about the only cap I’ll take just to wear in public too (that’s a matter of personal preference and style). Some people criticized it because it’s smaller than a ball cap. Yes, it is. Depending on where you live, what activities you do and who you spend time around, you may have noticed lots of caps people wear these days don’t have quite as long a visor or stick way up on your head like a traditional ball cap. One said it looks goofy because it doesn’t look like a regular ball cap. Well, other people may think traditional ball caps look goofy in public unless you’re a fisherman or a farmer or a baseball player. It’s personal preference, and for me the style is one of the reasons I wear this cap instead of one of the hats and caps that sit in my closet or trunk and never get worn. The bill sticks out 2 & 3/4 inches from the cap so just compare this to other caps you like to decide whether you think the bill is too long or not.

I rarely wear the skirt to cover my neck (usually only if I’m out for a long day working in my yard), but it’s great to have in the trunk along with the cap for those rare days when I’m going to be in direct sun for a really long time. And it takes almost no extra space. Great design how it snaps on, so much better than those caps with skirts that fold up into the hat and make them hot and bulky.

I’d say most everything about this cap is near perfect for me, and certainly far better than anything else I’ve seen (and I’ve checked out at a LOT of caps in running and outdoor stores). It feels cool on my head even when I’m really hot from running on a bright sunny day in the heat of summer (that’s what it’s designed for after all) The visor is really rigid and won’t get bent out of shape easily like so many others. The rest of the hat is superlightweight, made of nylon fabric that doesn’t look all wrinkly if it’s crammed into a bag in my trunk. If you do serious outdoor activities like backpacking or climbing, you may already know nylon clothing tends to be stronger than polyester.

My only real complaint is they put the velcro on “backwards.” Most clothes with velcro put the part with the sharp plastic hooks on the “tab” you adjust, so that no matter how large or small your adjust it, only the soft fuzzy part of the velcro is exposed. This cap is the opposite and it makes no sense. Every time I throw it in the washer I have to adjust it smaller than my head, or else the exposed sharp hooks will tear and rip at the soft vented fabric on the sides (and probably other clothes in your load too). The breathable vent fabric on the two sides can snag easily (like so many other breathable wicking active fabrics) but will still be totally functional even if it gets a bit of a “fuzzy” look to it if you wash it with the velcro hooks exposed. Everything else about the cap is really solid, durable, and well-made.

I’ve been wearing this hat to protect my ears and the top of my head, where I part my hair, from the sun while I jog. Yes, it’s a little hotter than wearing a visor, but keeping my skin protected is worth it, even on days when it’s sunny and almost 90 degrees. I like that it protects the back of my neck, and when I tighten the chin strap it gives me some protection for the front of my neck, too. I would agree with another review I read somewhere, that it would be better if the drape was an inch or two longer, but that’s a minor complaint. Overall I’m really happy with this hat. I’ve worn it multiple times per week for the past month. It seems like it’s made from good quality materials, and it’s relatively cool while running, considering that it’s, you know, a big drapey hat. I also like that the part that goes around my head is both elastic and adjustable, with velcro. Between that and the chin strap it stays on even when it’s a little windy out!

I am married to a large-headed man, and have shared his fruitless search for a cap that both fits and protects from the sun. When I saw that a reviewer for this particular cap referenced the large-headed kid in “So I Married An Axe-Murderer”, as we so often do in our own home, I knew I had found a winner.

I gave this hat in size XL to Huge-Headed Hubby on Christmas, and he has worn it for walks on the beach several times since then. He is nearly giddy in his delight with this hat. “It fits! It actually fits! And look, it covers my neck! Oooh, it’s cool, too – I’m not hot!” (Along with being large, his head is a heat-producer along the lines of a portable room heater.)

For context, he wears hat size 7 5/8 or 7 3/4. He has found several hats that fit, but never this style, with this level of exceptional coverage. The adjustments in the back of the cap are nearly-miraculous. Today, he proclaimed the hat to be “infinitely large… we could BOTH wear it at the same time!” Hyperbole, to be sure, but when he finds a hat that fits perfectly when it’s not adjusted to the absolute largest option, he gets a little carried away.

As someone else mentioned, yes, it looks pretty dorky – but we take our sun protection seriously here in Hawai`i, and it’s certainly not the dorkiest thing we’ve seen on the beach.

One negative is that the brim is pretty short – but it’s stiff, which is necessary in the windy conditions we encounter on the beach, and which we no doubt will experience during runs.

I’m actually pretty jealous of his hat, and plan to put the smallest size of this hat on my own wishlist for my upcoming birthday.

UPDATE 5/6/13: Well, I put this hat on my own wishlist, and gently remind Hubby of the existence of said wishlist – and guess what I got for my birthday last week! I now own this hat in size Small, and I love it as much as Hubby loves his. This size would fit a variety of heads, too. I have a pea head, and usually have to adjust hats down to about the smallest they’ll go. For reference, my last pair of glasses was a child’s size. This hat fits me great, and it’s not even as small as it’ll go. I bet it would fit a child. It’s comfortable, has excellent sun protection, doesn’t flop around and smack me in the face when the wind blows, and it’s easy to doff and don. (Yeah, I just used those two words.) Oh, and with the two of us strolling down the beach in our matching sun hats – we make quite the striking couple, you betcha!

Justo lo que me hacía falta para andar bajo los rayos solares sin quemar mi piel, muy fresco, y liviano, cumple su objetivo para no quemarte el cuello ni las orejas..recomendable al 100