Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Need a new hat-don't know if what I want exists

Hey y'all, I need a new hat. Here's the qualities:
1. waterproof/water resistant/water tolerant (in order of preference). This knocks your traditional panamas right out.
2. I like the panama/fedora style. What I wear most of the time is a Henschel hat style that I cannot for the life of me find on their website, which is (truth be told) probably closer to a cowboy hat. Unfortunately, their sizing is INCREDIBLY variable--3 out of 6 I have don't really fit.
3. I need it to be lightweight (read: comfortable to wear in the summer heat/humidity.)
4. I'd prefer to spend less than $100. $150 is my hard limit.

Any recommendations? I probably won't buy this one within the hour of posting this time...

May not meet your exact style but I bought one of these in khaki color and love it:
http://www.tilley.com/The-T4MO-Organic-AIRFLO-Hat.aspx

Tilley makes some nice hats but I don't know if the style or material you are looking for is available.

The hat breathes pretty well but there are probably others that breathe even better.

I have a Tilley as well. My wife won't be seen with me wearing it though - unless we are hiking or something. Tilley is popular with the Birding crowd.

Hi Ken,

I had several Tilley hats over the years. Very tough and durable (one survived being run over by a Toronto streetcar) but they were always too hot in the summer (I understand they make more lightweight Tilleys now).
Anyway, when I lost the last one, I switched to OR (Outdoor Research). Wide brim and very lightweight material; seems to breathe much better than the old Tilleys). Very pleased with the OR.

Alan

To Alan's point, my Tilley is an Airflow - but it can still be a little warm in the summer. Of course, once you start sweating, it cools down a bit.

I opted for the cotton airflo Tilley which claims to breathe better then other materials.

I was looking at this one.

Ohh! Nylamtium!

I'm hoping I'll be able to shoot spikes out of the top of my head.

I think that is pretty much the same hat I got except I ordered the cotton one. They are meant to be a loose fitting hat so buy a size larger than you would buy a baseball cap.

I bought mine on amazon and saved about 10 bucks over the tilley website.

They are guarunteed not to wear out for life, and if you lose it they will replace it for half price.

When you wash them be sure and only use cold water and wash by hand, and stretch the hat real good over your knee before and after it dries.

That is the exact hat that I have. There are instructions on the site as to how you measure for size. I followed them to the letter kinda and came in between 2 sizes and thought I should go with the larger size.... - being the anal creature that I am, I e-mailed and they confirmed go with the larger. They have a neat strap system that allows you to strap from the front or back if needed. It works as stated - I have made use of it on several occasions while out birding. You can also dress it up with hatbands if you like.

I went into the future and snapped this pick of you with your new hat, can't believe you cut off the pony tail dude!

Yeah, the first tilley I ordered was just a tad tight so I sent it back and ordered one size larger.

Here ya go. Its not quite a panama hat, but it is water proof.

This one seems to be what you are looking for though.

Ooh. A Tilley looks like a better choice for my intended (immediate) use, but I really like the look of that last one.

But the first one screams, "Get off my Lawn!". That has to be a value add.

I thought it would be a good idea to get a hat to keep the sun off my head and remembered this old thread.

Was looking at either a Tilley or a few Outdooor Research models on Amazon, when Joyce encouraged me to stop into an EMS store to see if they had any at all. They had all of them, in the colors I was looking at and the right sizes.... at 30% off.

I'm now officially a Tilley Guy, though I've never been a hat-wearer in my life!

Can I call you Bawanna?

I've been wearing my Tilley a lot this summer. I like it, although it's still relatively warm to be wearing a hat in my shed in 90°+ weather...

Adrian, you can call me Tilley Guy.

Tilley Guy it is. Unless you post in the Woodworking forum. Then you are "Toolie Guy".

I think I dated a girl named Tilly Tooly once.....

I've worn a Tilley Hat for years to keep the sun off of my beak - virtually indestructible. I chose the Aussie style that has a smaller brim so that it doesn't look as obtrusive as he regular one.

For the winter to keep the rain off, I have an Aussie leather hat, also with a smaller brim...

Tom

Take a look at what Orvis is carrying (they do have Tilley). The prices are a higher than you will see elsewhere and the shipping can be expensive( I live close to a retail store so I can get free shipping if I order there).

The benefit is that you can return the hat at anytime for any reason so if you change your mind you can try again.

Another caveat to mail order is sizing.I wear outdoor research right now. I have their summer bucket hat and summer lightweight baseball cap that I love.

When it comes to outerwear, my advycle (brilliant. Charles!), is to do whatever Chris tells you to do. He is the King of Hearts Hats! Whenever he stops by my house, I never know what he'll be sporting on his pate, but I will always admire it, both for it's taste and it's abnormality.

I like Barbour (English) and Filson (more rugged American) hats and clothing, but my next hat is coming from Australia.

http://www.akubra.com.au/products_country.html

I have a Tilley but it's the hemp TH5 version. I liked the darker color and style better than the traditional. Essentially, after a lifetime of losing all manner of hats to the ocean, I decided that a floating hat was a worthy investment. So far I love it.

I've been wearing my Tilley hat for a few years now and it is still good as new. It has been submerged in saltwater on numerous occasions,coated in red Oklahoma dirt, and sweated through many times. It cleans up nicely and is good as new each time. I will agree it is hot in summer days, but not bad once you sweat through it... Of course then you have a big sweat spot on the front/forehead area. I think I may order the all mesh Tilley and see how that works. If not much better I may look into the brand Alan recommended at he start of this thread.

Also, hello to anyone I haven't talked to in a while!

My Tilley has the large & unremovable sweat mark on the front as well. 'Character' I call it, ha!

My winter leather Aussie hat is a 'Kakadu Traders' brand that has also developed a lot of character over the past decade or so...

TAM

Thanks for the Kakadu lead.
It has some hats and pants that are worth looking at for field work.