Alright, my Voormi High-E Hoodie arrived multiple days ahead of schedule.
6', 170#, athletic build, Medium fits perfect out of the box, I am hopeful it does not shrink at all, or I may need a Large.
Not going to lie, the construction is so wildly different from what I had expected that I was actually baffled at first. They don't really do a great job at describing the construction on their site in my opinion. The sweatshirt material itself is a wool nylon blend in a grid fleece pattern, with what I would call spongy poly jersey panels across the front of the piece, as well as through the shoulders and hood. The kangaroo pocket is wool nylon fleece on the inner panel adjacent to the exterior of the piece, while the inner panel adjacent to your skin/base layer is the mesh material. These panels are not at all noticeable in practice and do not take away from the piece despite my initial "WTF" reaction upon opening the box.
The thickness of the wool itself is similar to say the Duckworth Powder hoody, but much less fragile and much tighter weave externally. I'd call them similar in warmth from a few quick tests last night and this morning, with the High-E cutting wind and breathing substantially better.
I wore the High-E yesterday from the time I got home until bed. I am notoriously cold when still, and notoriously hot when active. Walking the dogs, filling the deer feeder, etc. last night in ~40º F weather, with ~10 MPH constant wind and light rain, I was comfortable with just the High-E and a Filson Ultralight vest, which is much less insulation than I would typically wear this time of year as someone in the usually cold camp.
This morning, I did a high intensity (no rest) workout in the open-air barn, it was 37º F on the mercury, with a prevailing 5 MPH wind in my face. I typically wear a First Lite Furnace for my workouts, today I wore the High-E. 45 minute EOMOM, pull-ups and dips, followed by 10 minutes of jump rope. I had the High-E unzipped all the way by the end, but did not need to take it or my hat off, which I typically would have to do around midpoint in my workout. I was starting to feel hot midway through, but then the High-E worked its magic and kept me at a happy medium for the rest of the session. Transitioning into the 68º house, I did not need to take it off which I would normally do immediately with the Furnace. I am impressed with how this thing breathes in high intensity situations, although I do not equate that to a real-world high intensity hiking test. The internal pocket on the right breast works great, I put my XL iPhone in there while jumping rope, didn't bounce or annoy me in the slightest.
I plan to do some forestry work this weekend here in the PNW and will put the High-E through more paces.
So far, so good, although again the construction is not at all what I was expecting. I do wish it had pit-zips, although I did not need them working out, but it seems like a no-brainer feature for virtually any outdoors piece these days. The zippers on my unit do not operate smoothly enough to utilize one handed, maybe they'll break in over time. Interestingly, this is one of those rare hoods that does not seem to negatively impact ones ability to hear ambient sounds in the environment, more testing required on that. A neck gaiter works great with the scuba hood, no issues with gaiter over the nose, on the chin, or simply around the neck.
I imagine paired with a light puffy and/or hardshell, a guy really would not need much else in tandem with the High-E Hoodie for most September-October conditions.
I'd like to pick up the earlier mentioned Ridge Merino Convict Canyon Hoodie, which appears to really just be a lighter wool grid equivalent to the High-E, a Beringia Wool Air hoody, and an Atlantic Rancher Ranger Sweater (Form's recommendation) to really do a wool basis mid-layer shootout.
Will update down the road with further High-E thoughts as I put it through the paces around the homestead and back 40.
