Outdoor Vitals Altitude Sun Hoodie

The Altitude Sun Hoodie is a lightweight, quick-drying hoodie meant for warm/hot weather activities. It is quite fragile, however, and it snags easily. It lacks thumb holes. However, it is a decent sun hoodie, similar to other ultralight sun hoodies on the market.

This Altitude sun hoodie by Outdoor Vitals is meant for outdoor activities in warm weather. It does provide adequate sun protection. It wicks moisture quite well. And it dries quickly. I've worn it for some hikes on warmer days and have been happy with its performance overall. I typically wear a men's large in most situations, but I had to get an XL Altitude hoodie because they run small. Also, I wish the sleeves were a bit longer, but they work fine.

Men's XL - fits 6' - 185lbs.

The Altitude sun hoodie is not a rugged piece of gear meant for bushwhacking because it snags very easily. In fact, it will probably get snags during various backpacking trips because it will catch on velcro or other similar things that produce snags. My shirt had a snag in it even before I took it on trail. Somehow, in my house or closet, my hoodie now has a snag on the shoulder.  Again, this isn't a deal-breaker but if you are annoyed by pulls and snags, this might annoy you. This is the tradeoff for a super lightweight shirt: it's somewhat fragile. I knew going in that this type of hoodie will snag, so I'm not complaining—just noting it.

My Altitude hoodie did hold a little stink after a few days on trail. It wasn't bad, but it was there. Also, there are no thumbholes. Again, not a deal-breaker, but thumb holes would be nice.

By the way, the Altitude hoodie is very similar to other lightweight hoodies on the market, such as the Outdoor Research Echo Hoodie. However, the Outdoor Research hoodie is slightly lighter and has thumb holes, so I typically grab that one over this Altitude hoodie. But the Echo hoodie is similarly fragile—it's just the nature of this type of hoodie. 

Overall, the Outdoor Vitals Altitude sun hoodie is a good, ultra-light piece of clothing. It's not perfect, but it's good. It's not the first sun hoodie in my closet that I'll grab, but it is up there. 

Background

I'm a serious backpacker who has spent many days and nights on various trails, including the Ice Age Trail, the Superior Hiking Trail, the High Sierra Trail, and so on. I have been using all kinds of different hiking/outdoor gear for many years, so I have some gear wisdom as well.