I am searching for the perfect hat. Something I can wear all the time, year round, both for work and play. It must be a brimmed hat, to protect my ears and neck from the sun and it needs to be wearable in the Southern Arizona summer.
Right now I’m looking at two contenders very seriously. The Real Deal Brazil Tarp and the Dorfman-Pacific All-season Crushable. Two very different hats and I can’t decide which to try.
This will be an outdoors hat for camping, hiking, hunting, whatever – but I’ll likely also wear it on a daily basis just doing my usual.
Those hats you picked will burn you to the ground. I have done two serious backpacking trips and on both have worn a Columbia Bora Bora Booney. It is light, very breathable, dries quickly and has SPF 50. This past weekend at my rifle course I started out in a normal digital camo booney, but had to switch quickly to the Bora Bora because it was too hot for the non-ventilated booney.
I’ve had both solid (with and with out vent holes) and mesh hats on trips before and really, outside of a noticeable difference in the amount of sweat (most likely due to it evaporating quicker in a mesh hat) I’ve never really felt any difference as far as heat or comfort goes.
I’ve never tried a wool/felt other than in really cold weather but I hear that a light felt is supposed to insulate FROM the heat as well as from the cold. I can get that particular hat for $25 locally, and at that price I am willing to test – but something keeps drawing me back to the tarp hat.
From all accounts I can find the tarp hat does just fine in the heat. It’s slightly more expensive and not available locally but again it is something I’d be willing to spend the money on to test.
As for your suggestion on the Columbia hat – I’ll have to make a stop at REI or Sportsman’s and see if either of them have it so I can see if they offer another hat of similar build material but with a stiff brim – for whatever reason, I don’t like floppy hats!