Mountain Hardwear Beta Power 1/4 Zip Review
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With all the razzle dazzle in gear these days, it’s nice to find a product that is simple yet while designed. New to the Mountain Hardwear running line this season is the Beta Power 1/4 Zip which is a mid layer long sleeve shirt designed for colder weather running. This shirt isn’t packed with a lot of features, but its good design makes up for you might think you want.
The Beta Power 1/4 zip is a mid layer that is made with a buttery soft moisture wicking fabric that is extremely soft next to skin. This fabric started to get popular with more running focused brands a few years ago and Mountain Hardwear decided to use this up and coming fabric in a little beefier of a shirt.
Mid layer shirts are one of my favorite winter running pieces, especially when they are well designed. To elaborate on design, I feel that fit is most important. I personally like a shirt that is semi fitted so it’s not super snug, but isn’t loose and baggy. This allows your body to move freely without any restrictions. I tested out a size medium and it fit great. I am 6’0 and 175lbs.
The ideal temperatures for the Mountain Hardwear Beta Power 1/4 Zip are between 15-40 degrees Fahrenheit. Typically, you are wearing a short sleeve shirt under a shirt like this and when you start to get moving and your body heats up, you generally get a healthy body temperature. I’ve taken this shirt out on a number of runs and was very comfortable in the temperature ranges mentioned.
While I talk about how the shirt performs for running, the Beta Power 1/4 zip is multifunctional. It also works great for cold weather hiking, walking, skiing, snowboarding, etc.
There are two basic features that I feel are worth mentioning in this shirt. First is the front 1/4 zip. Having a zip is the front of the shirt is great for temperature regulation. While running up a 12,000 peak in winter like weather, I was exerting a lot of energy and heat, so leaving this unzipped helped me from overheating. On the way back down when I was exerting less energy, I zipped up the shirt to help stay warm. Second is the zippered pocket on the back of the shirt. While this little pocket comes in handy for small layers such as hats, gloves, phones, etc, it’s not sown into the shirt which makes it flap around sometimes while running. My suggestions to the designers is to sow in the bottom of this pocket to the rest of the shirt to prevent it from moving while the shirt moves.
Overall, I have been generally happy with the performance of the Mountain Hardwear Beta Power 1/4 Zip and very happy of the look and feel of this shirt.
For more info on the Beta Power 1/4 Zip and other Mountain Hardwear products, visit www.mountainhardwear.com or www.amazon.com/mountainhardwear.
MSRP $90
