Artilect  Flatiron 185 Quarter-Zip Base Layer Top - Men's

Quite a warm base layer and now the best top base layer I own. I have 3 or 4 others—REI brand and another. The fabric feels nice to the touch, comfortable, soft, lightweight, and breathable material. The fabric is supposed to be naturally odor resistant. This product uses Nuyran engineered merino wool which is supposed to increase the performance and qualities of the product in various ways. The zipper is robust and instills confidence in the quality of the track and zipper when using. The top of the zipper track has a small piece of fabric that goes over part of the zipper when zipped helping hold it down in place. This will be my go to when I am on the slopes as my main top layer. This base layer could be used for skiing/boarding, hiking, and general warmth for other activities or daily needs in cold weather. Mine pictured is the black color in size small. I could have bought a medium and fit in it as well. Assuming you match my build (listed below)—If you want a snug and fitted feel to your base layer go with a small. If you want a bit looser feel on your body go with the medium. I prefer my base layers to be on the snugger and fitted side. I'm curious to see how this holds up after repeated wash cycles and hoping that it lasts awhile. Instructions say to wash inside out, on wool or delicate settings with wool or mild detergent. No bleach and line dry in shade with no machine drying. Iron on wool/warm setting. The packaging of the product was also interesting. In the sense that the company encourages you to recycle the packaging and reuse it around the house for storing items (specifically mine said to use the box it came in for loose power cables). The company is born out of Boulder, CO, but the product made in Vietnam. My details: Male, Mid to late 30s, 165lbs, athletic build, 5'10", intermediate to expert snowboarder, primary use of this product is for snowboarding and hiking around Colorado.

Frankly, I simply needed a new heavier merino baselayer and ended up with this one. It certainly seems well made, I like the thumbhole construction, it fits me well, but doesn't immediately strike me as better than any other name brand baselayer with the same fabric weight. Normally I wouldn't think too hard about this but the Artilect box is covered with claims about how their proprietary merino fabric is more eco friendly, better performing, and most importantly *more durable* than other brands. (BTW, it comes in a sturdy cardboard box and an insistence that you reuse it for environmental reasons, which I find a bit rich, why use such heavy packaging at all?) Is this shirt more durable than those other merino baselayers? Will it not have holes forming in it after a single season of use? I don't know, I haven't had mine very long. I wore it while both active and sedentary with various other layers in cold wet weather in Minnesota. Mayyyybe it dries faster than other merino shirts, but nothing revolutionary. Same with the venting ability of the perforated underarm fabric - nice touch, but not a strong selling point. Verdict: if it's in your budget, this is a great shirt. Could you get any other 185 weight merino shirt and be happy? Yes. But will this shirt outlast them all? Maybe...

Have used as a base layer on a couple of low 50’s hikes. At 6’1” and 175 lbs, the medium has a very snug but comfortable fit. Stayed comfortably warm with only a light pullover as outer layer. Would definitely recommend as one of the softest base layers I own.

I received these products for free from the REI Trailblazers sampling program in exchange for my honest review. So, I received this product at the perfect time because I was planning to have a full moon bonfire up in the mountains with some friends, the following weekend. The temperatures in the mid to upper 20's. First thing that really stood out when I opened the box is the quality of the material. Very soft fabric. I also noticed that along the full length of the sides, as well as the full length of the arm bottoms, the fabric changes into a breathable section. It is very subtle to see but it has some holes that are visible at the right angle. So, with the weather in the 20's, I wore a tee-shirt with this Artilect Base Layer only, to see how warm it would keep me. I was pretty impressed with how it fit. I am a large and it fit to size. I spent about 4 hours that night from about 8pm to 12am and had no issues with the temperature. Very comfortable and did a good job with maintaining my body temperature, even with the breathable fabric on the sides and arms. I was pretty impressed. Another thing that I like about this base layer, that my other brands do not have, is the longer zipper in the front. I like the fact that I can zip it down farther. What this is good for is when you put these base layers on over tee shirts, the tee shirt sleeves can get rolled up on your arms, and this is uncomfortable. With base layers with the shorter zippers, or no zippers at all, it is difficult to reach in and fix this. With this top, the zipper comes down far enough that I was able to reach in and pull them down without issue. And it also serves to cool off if you start to exert yourself, as I was at one point splitting firewood. Just zip down and let out some of the excess body heat. I like it. So, I have also wore this top to work, and is my go to now. I am ordering a couple more. One thing that I found with the zipper, is that when I had it zipped up all the way to my neck, it pressed a little too much on my Adams apple for my liking. I don't normally wear these zip-ups fully zipped, so not a big issue for me. Even with this small issue, I give it a 5 star for the quality of the material, the perfect fit to size, and the comfort level.