Cool Wings - product review

[OakLeaf]

I got the Medium arm coolers over a week ago, but it's been so chilly I hadn't had an opportunity to wear them. It's starting to warm up again, and I finally put them on on last night's ride, even though it was only about 79 degrees, just because I was dying to try them.

Then I wore them again on today's noonday run, right around 80 degrees and bright sunshine.

Functionally, they definitely keep my arms cool. I'm guessing the weave creates air flow, because they feel cool as soon as I put them on, even in the house. And although they were soaked with sweat by the end of my cool-down, they definitely seemed to soak through less quickly than anything else I was wearing - and I'm not sure, but I think as long as I was moving more quickly, they didn't soak through.

I'm not sure how much they actually do to keep my whole body cooler though, just because of the small amount of real estate they cover. It's hard to compare heart rates because we really haven't had much warm weather lately. Has anybody tried the base layer?

Fit-wise, the arm coolers fit a little oddly, but adequately. The fabric is not very stretchy. The odd part is that the gripper at the top is larger than the sleeve part. So they're snug around my biceps, snug around my forearms, but the gripper part flops around loose. Maybe I just need to re-develop my triceps? It wasn't an issue at all on the bike; and after I pulled them far enough up on my arms that my biceps secured them, it wasn't an issue running either; it's just kind of a strange fit. They didn't fall down. I'm still a little concerned that the grippers might chafe on a long run, but they were fine on my short run today.