Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer Hoody Review

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When it comes to winter apparel, top and bottom baselayers are often the workhorses that are taken for granted, but get little credit.  And while their usually not keeping out the wind, snow, and rain, baselayers are often hard at work keeping your body dry, warm but not too warm, and comfortable.  The Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer Hoody is a workhorse of a different breed.  The main reason is because it’s a blend of 80% merino wool and 20% Patagonia capeline, which is a synthetic material made by Patagonia.

Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer Hoody Performance

As mentioned above, baselayers are meant to be the workhorse for your body when it comes to winter activities such as skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, etc.  When using a pure synthetic material, you often get the stink that goes along with it after a dozen or so uses.  With 100% merino wool, you lose some of the resiliency of the material and  it can get stretched in funky ways and shrink down to the size of a teddy bear’s t-shirt.  With a blend of 80% merino wool and 20% capeline, the Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer Hoody is the perfect combination for people wanting to use this baselayer for active pursuits.

For my testing, I wore this baselayer for fall hikes, early season snow filled hikes, and skiing at Breckenridge resort.  While getting my heart rate pumping while hiking up steep ascents and pushing my limits skiing down the slopes, my body temperature would often heat up which resulted in me sweating.  While the Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer hoody didn’t prevent me from sweating, it did a nice job at transferring the moisture away from my body to help keep me dry. Another way in which this baselayer helped me regulate my body temperature is the half zip feature.  I am a huge fan of both half and quarter zip shirts because they allow me to vent more effectively and I think they just look a little better than no zippered shirts.

Chlorine Free Washing

While reading about the details of the Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer Hoody, I found the description of chlorine free washing to be very interesting.  According to Patagonia, a lot of the merino wool products on the market are washed with chlorine which removes the itchiness of wool, but is harmful to the environment.  Yes, Patagonia once again goes the extra mile to do the right thing, which is a big reason many outdoor lovers like to wear Patagonia, because the brand aligns with our ideals.

Features worth Noting

The Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer Hoody has a few features worth noting.  Most notable is the hood on this baselayer.  Unlike many other hooded shirts and baselayers, this baselayer hoody reaches up over your mouth and nose  for those blustery cold winter days.  The hood is form fitting, but isn’t super thick, so it fits nicely under a ski or climbing helmet to help provide a little more protection.  Thumb-holes in a shirt aren’t anything new these days, but the way Patagonia has constructed the thumb-holes in the Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer Hoody is a great mix of fashion and function.  Instead of cutting holes in the cuffs of the shirt, they sewed in small elastic straps on the inside of the sleeve.  This allows you to keep the sleeve down on your hands in colder weather, but when you’re not using the thumb loops, they hide beneath the cuff providing a clean look.

Final Thoughts

The Patagonia Merino 3 Midweight Baselayer Hoody is the workhorse you want in a baselayer and then some.  With this superb blend of merino wool and capeline, this baselayer hoody performs like a rock star and is worth every penny.  For more information, please visit www.patagonia.com.