Rain hats???

[Rufus]

If I am looking for pure outdoor activity items (not that I do that often), I either go to our local Mountain Equipment Coop or Sail stores. Both stock a great selection of outstanding product at excellent prices. And the MEC guarantee is the same as LLBean -- return it any time if you are not satisfied with the product.

Two of my favourite stores. MEC and Sail are within a few minutes drive of me and I spend much time just browsing at both of them. There is a downside, however, and that's that Costco is in between them and not far up the road is Lee Valley Tools, a most unfortunate coincidence for my bank account. On the way home I can swing by the British store as well. Cruel and unusual punishment!

[jww]

...Two of my favourite stores. MEC and Sail are within a few minutes drive of me and I spend much time just browsing at both of them. There is a downside, however, and that's that Costco is in between them and not far up the road is Lee Valley Tools, a most unfortunate coincidence for my bank account. On the way home I can swing by the British store as well. Cruel and unusual punishment!

Costco doesn't get near as much money from us as it used to. We get some of our food from there where it makes sense. I still love the ice cream in waffles cones though.

Being in Ottawa, Lee Valley is just up the Queen's Way from us ...... only about a 25 minute drive. I am glad they don't have a proper full retail store. I never fail to find something useful there from kitchen gadgets (the spurtle is simply the best), to their high-end tools, I love that place. They stock a cotton sack of Lincoln Logs that has long been on my list for my granddaughter, which I have been holding off until she is three --- this Christmas it gets ordered for sure.

Back to rain hats, I have to admit, I have been thinking about getting another spring/summer hat that will fend off rain well and still look good with either jeans and a wind breaker or a suit. I'd like something with a bit of a brim so as to protect my hearing aids from getting wet when it's raining and my ears when the sun is shining. The Tilley TC5N is nice, but not sure I like the plaid colour treatment. The LT5B is another option as well -- that comes in a more conservative selection of colours.

[Kyle76]

Wish I had a Lee Valley close by.

[jww]

Wish I had a Lee Valley close by.

It's only a click away --- http://www.leevalley.com. Besides their stores are not retail -- they are showrooms with some selected product in view only, and then a monster order desk system.

[JayTrek]

Nothing beats a Barbour jacket but I don't depend on headgear to do anything but keep rain out of my eyes.

This is the purpose of a rain hat for me. These days I find I am wearing my glasses more. When I do...and it rains...I need something to keep my glasses dry.

[ShadowsDad]

Precisely why I like the wide brim Tilleys. I wear mine at all times when I'm not sleeping (eyeglasses, not Tilleys). Water droplets on my glasses are the pits.

Trust me on this, you definitely want a wide brim hat even if it isn't a Tilley.

[Rufus]

The LL Bean Gore-Tex Crusher Hat as a 2.5 inch wide brim.

[jww]

Where the crusher hat may become less of a high performer could be in driving rain -- any kind of wind with a Tilley, and all you need to do is tilt your head down a bit and the wind and rain stay off your glasses and face and hearing aids just to add to Brian's list. This is especially true for my T4 which has a wider brim. Oh -- and don't underestimate the value of a good chin strap - which Tilley has developed to a fine art with the most simple, yet effective system I have ever come across. With it fully engaged, I have sailed around Narraganset Bay on a very windy day without a worry at all. I would say the crusher hat won't perform as well as the Tilley, but it is nearly half the price which is also a consideration. The brim looks a tad floppy to me, which may not pose a problem for you. The Tilleys are so well made --- you would be hard pressed to find as good a performing hat anywhere else --- it's that simple. Not to say the crusher won't be a good hat -- I just think the Tilley for the additional money is the better choice. ymmv as may your available budget .....

[JayTrek]

This hat has my attention...

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas- ... l+Products

[Rufus]

I don't find that oil skin breathes very well if at all. As my head gets very hot I find I need a hat that breathes well. I have an original Tilley hat, which I bought ~25 years ago. It's cotton canvas and has a foam insert in the crown so that it floats. As Wendell has pointed out, the chin strap is brilliantly simple, yet highly effective. The only problem I have with this hat is that it becomes heavy in a soaking rain. My LL Bean Gore-Tex Crusher Hat is quite light and breathes very well; the brim is not floppy nor is it rigid. The only issue I have with it is that it doesn't have a chin strap, but that's an easy fix.

Seeing we're on the topic of Tilley hats, where's Richard/rustyblade these days? He's a real Tilley hat aficionado...not .
Also, I think we should re-name Wendell, Alex in recognition of his Tilley hat collection

[Sam]

I really like my Tilley. I wear mine for beach wear, cutting the yard, and love how I can toss it in the washer (but with a whitish hat, the yellowing of sweat tends to stay around where the brim meats the hat, but Spray n Wash helps. Next time Ill get like the mushroom color).

[drmoss_ca]

I really like my Tilley. I wear mine for beach wear, cutting the yard, and love how I can toss it in the washer (but with a whitish hat, the yellowing of sweat tends to stay around where the brim meats the hat, but Spray n Wash helps. Next time Ill get like the mushroom color).

There is no 'next time' with Tilley hats; they last forever!

Chris

[ThePossum]

After hearing Wendell aka "Alex" trumpet the praises of Tilley hats I bought a Tilley winter hat 3 yrs ago. That darn hat is so tough yet very good looking. It also keeps my head nice and warm, in fact I have broken out in a bit of a sweat in single digit temps here in PA while doing my sidewalk snow shoveling.

Loved the Winter Hat so much that I bought a T4 cotton hat for the summer. Needed a broad brim because of some skin cancer risk and needed to keep the sun off my face. Darn thing works just great and when it get wet I just let it dry out and use the old knee inside the hat to reshape it.

Would not buy any other hat for eveyday use. Well, I do wear my baseball cap when I go to Pittsburgh Pirate games each summer. Been doing that for 56 consecutive years. But I do have a Pirates pin that I fasten to my Tilley hats.

[ShadowsDad]

For gardening and such I wear a military "booney hat", but mine has worn out and I'm currently looking at replacements. Just google wide brim booney hats to see what I'm looking at on ebay. I don't want to take my Tilleys into the garden, that just doesn't seem right for some reason.

One potential prospect says it's mil spec, and even has garnish loops , the others clearly aren't mil spec but have other attractions. Columbia makes one with built in bug repellant... cool! One has a neck protector. I might buy a bunch of hats to try.

[jww]

Ah c'mon Brian -- embrace the Tilley for the garden.

I notice their site has been dog slow recently. Wonder what that's all about.

[Squire]

My Barbour jacket is at least 20 years old and will outlast me. I have friends whose jackets are even older. Of course, living in the Deep South it's definitely a seasonal garment, still, no complaints.

[ShadowsDad]

Ah c'mon Brian -- embrace the Tilley for the garden.

I notice their site has been dog slow recently. Wonder what that's all about.

I just can't do it Wendell. I value my Tilleys too much to sweat heavily in them and handle them with dirty hands. My Tilleys are the best, most practical hats I've ever had for eyeglass wear. With the double strap I bet I could wear them in a hurricane and not lose them, but of course the wide brim wouldn't work in the high winds so I wouldn't wear them in a hurricane to begin with. I have no doubt that if I bought a Tilley to use in the garden that it would work fine.

[Rufus]

Ah c'mon Brian -- embrace the Tilley for the garden.

I notice their site has been dog slow recently. Wonder what that's all about.

I just can't do it Wendell. I value my Tilleys too much to sweat heavily in them and handle them with dirty hands. My Tilleys are the best, most practical hats I've ever had for eyeglass wear. With the double strap I bet I could wear them in a hurricane and not lose them, but of course the wide brim wouldn't work in the high winds so I wouldn't wear them in a hurricane to begin with. I have no doubt that if I bought a Tilley to use in the garden that it would work fine.

That's called Canadian-made!

[ShadowsDad]

FWIW, the options that I'm looking at for a garden hat are significantly less expensive than Tilley. I have no doubt that they are made inside of where child labor laws are nonexistent. Today cheap labor (and prices) basically mean that unless one wears rose colored glasses (and it's about to get much worse). Whoops, one exception, one mil spec wide brim booney hat claims to be made in the USA, so it's probably a sweat shop. Sorry, but that's my take unless they have robots making the things. USA labor isn't cheap. We can support jobs here or jobs for China or Bangladesh; it's that simple. But the garden hat has little value (sweat, dirty hands), so I'll support the children in Bangladesh who don't have the support of their leaders and might be supporting their family (otherwise they starve). I hope the "manufacturer" isn't charging $20 for a $1 hat; the rest going to the shipper and the "manufacturer". But today one simply doesn't know. So what do we do? Starve the 3rd world? It's not the ordinary people I have problems with and never had even when I was opposing the "Russians" during the cold war. Most folks just want to get on with their lives, raise their children, and get along. It's the leaders who make the problems. In all those years nothing has changed.

But I'm treading on the political and so I must desist.

[jww]

The way I see it is that the Tilleys are guaranteed for life so why not go hard on them?

But I do understand the sentiment you express Brian.