Terramar Sports Thermolator Beanie

Let’s be honest, I’m a Canadian and we call it a toque. That said, even though they call it a beanie, this hat is a nifty, lightweight, packable “beanie” to keep your noggin cool in cold weather and under your helmet.

Let’s look at the features and then talk performance:

Features:

• Fabric: 86% Micro Polyester, 14% Spandex, 180 gram fabric
• Flat seam construction
• Brushed Soft for warmth
• 360 stretch
• Thermo-regulation
• Odor Control
• Moves Moisture
• Midweight
• color: black
• sizes: one-size-fits all
• $14.99

Testing:

I’m a Terramar Tribe member and I requested this beanie for hiking the John Muir Trail last summer. I took it not only on that trip, but on many more in the fall and winter seasons, where it braved cold nights, cold mornings, cold afternoon snowshoeing trips and any other cold or cool parts of the day I could find.

Performance:

Like most of the Terramar line, it’s design to be a base layer. As a beanie that means it’s mean to act as a liner layer. You can wear it solo on cool evenings or morning, or when you’ll be active in winter and need some protection from the cold, but where a full on hat would be overkill. As such, it does a great job.

Because it is low-profile and has flat seams, it can be worn under a helmet comfortably. It has the added benefits of being very light and packable. So packable that I lost it for a day on the John Muir Trail and thought I had left it behind. I blame my lack of organization for that.

Polyester and spandex make it decent for wicking moisture and drying out if you do get it wet. Their odor protection kept away the reasonable levels of stink that comes with a few days of hiking.

The one-size-fits-all model isn’t going to please every head (you know who you are), but I’ve passed it between myself and my 5-year-old and it does the job. Having a small-medium and a medium-large size would give a slightly better performance fit.

Conclusion:

The Thermolator Beanie by Terramar Sports is a no-frills, functional, packable, warm (but not too warm) base layer beanie (I mean toque) that keeps odor levels reasonable, dries quickly and is great for the cool evenings and cold mornings or under-helmet warmth in the winter months.

Check it out on amazon, or in your local gear store.

What do you use to keep your head warm in the cool mornings? We’d love to hear.

Note: I received this beanie free of charge from Terramar Sports. All opinions are the same as I’d give to friends and family.