The season is upon us...or at least me up here in the Great North Woods.
There is much debate locally about which brand is best, which material is best, etc.
Some folks up here work outside all day.
Some of us are inside/outside at our jobs.
Some only have to brave the cold for the dash between home and car and then car and workplace.
Still, you need extra insulation when the wind chill can be a bone chilling -30 (that's -34.44 in Celsius) even if you are only outside for 5 or 10 minutes.
I personally prefer silk, as I have inside/outside work. I have 1 set in silk, and a couple in blends. No wool ones, although the older folk up here swear by wool long underwear. But many of them worked in the lumber industry and were outside all day in their working years.
So, those of you in the colder climes, what do you prefer? Any particular brand seem to last longer or keep you warmer? What material do you go for?
Most of the time. Unless it's super cold ( or cold and high wind ) I wear this for the under top
https://www.rothco.com/product/rothco-gen-iii-silk-weight-underwear-top
and some form of these as thermal bottoms
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Essentials-Flannel-Pajama-Buffalo/dp/B07BJKKD2T/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=flannel+pj+bottoms&qid=1636020734&sr=8-5
If it's super cold or I will be spending a lot of time out in cold and not doing something that adequately keeps me warm I wear this
https://www.amazon.com/Rothco-ECWCS-Bottom-Thermal-Underwear/dp/B091MM36XX/ref=sr_1_18?keywords=US+Military+Thermal+ECWCS&qid=1636021159&sr=8-18
But most of the time it's the first two and if I have to go do something outside I put on some insulated bib overhauls and a Carthart style jacket.
Yeah, it's that time of year here too.
Polyester. Loose fitting pajama bottoms with an elastic waistband and a fly, and snugger fitting long sleeve T-shirts. No particular brand, not dollar store but not expensive 'high-performance' or 'extreme cold' marketed stuff either, more like Hanes quality. These are my usual winter work (from home) clothes alone and the base layer before going out, whether it's to the grocery store or ice fishing. Never tried silk, but I prefer polyester over cotton or wool blends.
The south of England rarely gets cold enough to need long underwear, but I do have a set of anonymous polyester thermals for those few occasions that call for them.
I'm mostly posting here to encourage everyone else to contribute :)
Quote from: Crosscut on November 04, 2021, 05:52:02 AM
Yeah, it's that time of year here too.
Polyester. Loose fitting pajama bottoms with an elastic waistband and a fly, and snugger fitting long sleeve T-shirts. No particular brand, not dollar store but not expensive 'high-performance' or 'extreme cold' marketed stuff either, more like Hanes quality. These are my usual winter work (from home) clothes alone and the base layer before going out, whether it's to the grocery store or ice fishing. Never tried silk, but I prefer polyester over cotton or wool blends.
Ditto. Polypro is polypro, and I don't think price really matters all that much...I have a set from Costco that has held up for a while. I tried wool on a few ski trips. It was surprisingly comfortable, only slightly itchy, but I think poly stuff holds up longer and is less finicky to wash.
I used C9 (Target store brand) poly for years because I got a bunch cheap. Eventually it took on body oder so I've started replacement with Smart Wool. I buy off season. I like it. But I have not pushed it to exteams yet.
I dont have cold weather like you do, but I do have 2 sets of long underwear/johns. One is cotton/poly blend (haynes) and one is polypro type. I typically will wear the bottoms, more often than the tops, and the poly when I may be exposed to moisture (Fishing, etc). I do not like long sleeves, so it's VERY rare to see me in the haynes top. More often in cold weather, if I wear one, it's the black poly under with long arms, I can tolerate the texture more...
Never been cold enough that I had to put the pajama bottoms on under anything...
I'm in the minority by far but I had such a hard time finding a pair of long underwear bottoms that I could actually wear through a day without overheating at some point I've all but given up on them. When I was working outdoors and could be certain that I didn't have to go inside very much at all I could wear them, but since then my activity level is too up and down most of the time.
Nowadays I rely almost entirely on overpants; either trouser or bibs, in fleece or puffy insulation that I can quickly throw on when I need them and take off quickly when I don't. For bike commuting in the winter I often wore the big frumpy black fleece ECWCS bibs with full side zips, and would just hang them by the back door at work where I could throw them back on if I needed to go out for lunch or back home.
For real cold I have PCU level 7s with suspenders, and for backpacking I use ECWCS green liner pants (quilted like a woobie), but nothing ever goes under my everyday trousers now, even down into the teens.
I keep a nice pair of merino long johns and a pair of nomex ones around (ADS FREE nomex baselayers are cheap, comfy, tough, and FR) but they just sit in my closet for now.
For tops I have a wide array of baselayers; the nomex ones I mentioned earlier are great, I have a few merino ones for everyday wear, patagonia expedition weight (very thin grid fleece) are phenomenal in the cold as are their Capilene Air waffle knit stuff. Army surplus level 2 shirts (the thicker grid fleece) also make great next-to-skin layers in the cold, but many people will only wear them as midlayers.
Quote from: RonnyRonin on November 06, 2021, 07:04:34 PM
I'm in the minority by far but I had such a hard time finding a pair of long underwear bottoms that I could actually wear through a day without overheating at some point I've all but given up on them. When I was working outdoors and could be certain that I didn't have to go inside very much at all I could wear them, but since then my activity level is too up and down most of the time.
Nowadays I rely almost entirely on overpants; either trouser or bibs, in fleece or puffy insulation that I can quickly throw on when I need them and take off quickly when I don't. For bike commuting in the winter I often wore the big frumpy black fleece ECWCS bibs with full side zips, and would just hang them by the back door at work where I could throw them back on if I needed to go out for lunch or back home.
For real cold I have PCU level 7s with suspenders, and for backpacking I use ECWCS green liner pants (quilted like a woobie), but nothing ever goes under my everyday trousers now, even down into the teens.
I keep a nice pair of merino long johns and a pair of nomex ones around (ADS FREE nomex baselayers are cheap, comfy, tough, and FR) but they just sit in my closet for now.
For tops I have a wide array of baselayers; the nomex ones I mentioned earlier are great, I have a few merino ones for everyday wear, patagonia expedition weight (very thin grid fleece) are phenomenal in the cold as are their Capilene Air waffle knit stuff. Army surplus level 2 shirts (the thicker grid fleece) also make great next-to-skin layers in the cold, but many people will only wear them as midlayers.
I worked with a guy who was like that. Never could wear long underwear. He even wore uninsulated bib overalls no matter how cold it was. Even when it was near zero and he was out all night in the field with a difficult calf birth . Said they were too warm.
Quote from: RonnyRonin on November 06, 2021, 07:04:34 PM
I'm in the minority by far but I had such a hard time finding a pair of long underwear bottoms that I could actually wear through a day without overheating at some point I've all but given up on them. When I was working outdoors and could be certain that I didn't have to go inside very much at all I could wear them, but since then my activity level is too up and down most of the time.
Nowadays I rely almost entirely on overpants; either trouser or bibs, in fleece or puffy insulation that I can quickly throw on when I need them and take off quickly when I don't. For bike commuting in the winter I often wore the big frumpy black fleece ECWCS bibs with full side zips, and would just hang them by the back door at work where I could throw them back on if I needed to go out for lunch or back home.
For real cold I have PCU level 7s with suspenders, and for backpacking I use ECWCS green liner pants (quilted like a woobie), but nothing ever goes under my everyday trousers now, even down into the teens.
I keep a nice pair of merino long johns and a pair of nomex ones around (ADS FREE nomex baselayers are cheap, comfy, tough, and FR) but they just sit in my closet for now.
For tops I have a wide array of baselayers; the nomex ones I mentioned earlier are great, I have a few merino ones for everyday wear, patagonia expedition weight (very thin grid fleece) are phenomenal in the cold as are their Capilene Air waffle knit stuff. Army surplus level 2 shirts (the thicker grid fleece) also make great next-to-skin layers in the cold, but many people will only wear them as midlayers.
I wish i would have bought a set of those fleece pants. Back when i could find a 2xl.
Quote from: RonnyRonin on November 06, 2021, 07:04:34 PM
I'm in the minority by far but I had such a hard time finding a pair of long underwear bottoms that I could actually wear through a day without overheating at some point I've all but given up on them. When I was working outdoors and could be certain that I didn't have to go inside very much at all I could wear them, but since then my activity level is too up and down most of the time.
I've had similar problems, especially when snowshoeing.
I've found when having to work outside during one of my areas rare truly cold snaps a pair of fleece lined jeans are great.
When snowshoeing I started wearing a thin poly baselayer under hiking pants with legs that could be removed. I could take the legs off the pants when pushing hard in areas sheltered from the wind. When I got back out into windy areas or I wasn't moving as much, I could put the legs back on.
I found when physically active in the cold, wind was far more of an issue for me than temperature.
QuoteI found when physically active in the cold, wind was far more of an issue for me than temperature.
Wind is always the issue. Physically active or not . I'll take 10 degree no wind over 25 degree 35 mph wind. And if the wind is over 40 and the temp is under 40 , I really don't want to be outside for more than a few minutes