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Buff Hood

When I first saw the Buff Hood I thought it was a pretty cool idea, then as I thought about I changed my mind to “Why would you buy a softshell jacket without a hood if you wanted a hood?”. I’ve got one in to test over winter and now having tried it on a couple of times I can see the possibilities.

It’s more complex than it looks. There’s the hood part which is a sturdy-ish variety of Gore Windstopper with a soft inner face and it’s adjustable with drawcord loops and cordlocks at the chin. The neck is regular Buff skin, just doubled back on itself and inside the hood is a shortened regular Buff which you can slip up over your nose and ears.
All this kinda replicates what I have in winter anyway, so it should work fine on the coldest of days. I was worried about not being able to expose my neck for quick cooling, but then I don’t actually do that on snowy Munro tops anyway. When the temperature gets back up down at lower levels I’ll just pull this off and stow it.

The fit is quite neat which is good, if it was baggy it would be a real pain. The hood part pulls on and off your head easy and the inner Buff work independantly just fine.
Taking it out this winter will be the proof of the pudding. I like pudding.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 at 10:56 and is filed under Kit Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Comments

DavidG says:

October 19, 2011 at 19:21

So- a high tech windstopper balaclava?

I had a low tech windstopper balaclava. Sold without ever seeing active service.
PTC* says:

October 19, 2011 at 21:34

I mind I got a fancy adjustable neck gaiter in a few years back, used it all winter quite happily, haven’t seen it since and haven’t missed it.
mattc says:

October 19, 2011 at 23:22

I can see why, from a business strategy point-of-view, Buff might feel the need to expand and diversify their product range, but for about the last 10 winters I’ve scarcely found any need for more than a couple of bog-standard Buffs and my jacket hood :)

Even the stalwart Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap has scarcely had an airing.

Occasionally a Neofleece Masque proves better than a Buff for the face, but it has to be seriously extreme for that.
PTC* says:

October 20, 2011 at 00:03

Aye, I’m a standard Buff die hard too, it’s all you really need. Perfect for head, face, under a helmet, under a hood or scaring your child at bedtime.
It’s also the easiest way to indulge my colour fetish.
DavidG says:

October 20, 2011 at 11:59

I’ve got 33% of a buff for a year round headband/earwarmer

Ye olde Moutain Hardwear microfleece dome beenie if it is colder…

…which sits neatly under a paramo hood if it is really cold

And a merino neck gater very occasionally leaves the house if it going to be truly Baltic (although a full buff would do the job just as well).

And my mate still prefers to use a [splutter] scarf!!
PTC* says:

October 21, 2011 at 12:27

Used to head to the hills years back with a bloke who took a scarf. He could wrap has hands in the ends for a heat boost which made me quite envious.

I wonder if anyone does a proper techno scarf. Away to look…
DavidG says:

October 21, 2011 at 13:43

Not sure if this qualifies as technical, but it is suitably pricey.

http://www.patagonia.com/eu/enGB/product/better-sweater-fleece-scarf?p=28650-0-665

It would be quite difficult to warm your hands with it though
PTC* says:

October 21, 2011 at 13:51

Aye, I’ll stick to my H&M wooly one.