Smartwool's Drop in Quality

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Fanatic #3965

posted: 10/29/2011 at 5:59 PM

Quote from Walt.RB on 10/29/2011 at 5:45 PM:

Ibex makes nice stuff, wears really well.

And their logo is pretty cool, if you're going to miss the SW icon.

Their baselayer stuff is pretty much the gold-standard among cyclists who ride year-round. I've never tried any of their stuff, mostly because it's really $$, even compared to Smartwool.

Kirsten

'07: 1324.5 | '08: 1561 | '09: 1810.9 run ~ 208.7 bike | '10: 1,000.3 run ~ 3513.5 bike | '11: 710.3 run ~ 4157.9 bike '12: 659.9 run ~ 3365.6 bike (100% benched by ortho last 4.5 weeks while in long-arm cast)

'13 Goals:

• DON'T BREAK ANYTHING!!!

• get within 5#s of 130#s (and stay there, gotdammit!)

• 1st olympic distance duathlon

• 1st Iceman Cometh mtn bike race

• Half Fanatic

• punch Type 1 in the junk

Ojo

Where's Waldo?

posted: 10/29/2011 at 7:18 PM

Quote from Walt.RB on 10/29/2011 at 5:45 PM:

Ibex makes nice stuff, wears really well.

Love Ibex! I am always cold so it is a great product for layering.

Sara

MM #2929

Walt.RB

posted: 10/29/2011 at 7:37 PM

Quote from zoom-zoom on 10/29/2011 at 5:59 PM:

Their baselayer stuff is pretty much the gold-standard among cyclists who ride year-round. I've never tried any of their stuff, mostly because it's really $$, even compared to Smartwool.

True story about Ibex: a friend of mine had a jacket of theirs, given to him as a gift. He wore it for work (he's a carpenter) and frayed the elbows and cuffs....this took about five years. Any-hoo. He called Ibex to see if they still made the jacket, since he wanted to buy a new one. The Ibex folks apparently didn't even let him finish his story, and insisted on sending him a new one, gratis. So he's on his second free Ibex jacket, the bastard.

I like running alone.

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Fanatic #3965

posted: 10/29/2011 at 7:51 PM

Hmmm...sounds like Ibex is definitely worth the price, then. I should see if I can find any stuff on closeout (girl who loathes paying full retail and is generally pretty adept at avoiding doing so).

Kirsten

'07: 1324.5 | '08: 1561 | '09: 1810.9 run ~ 208.7 bike | '10: 1,000.3 run ~ 3513.5 bike | '11: 710.3 run ~ 4157.9 bike '12: 659.9 run ~ 3365.6 bike (100% benched by ortho last 4.5 weeks while in long-arm cast)

'13 Goals:

• DON'T BREAK ANYTHING!!!

• get within 5#s of 130#s (and stay there, gotdammit!)

• 1st olympic distance duathlon

• 1st Iceman Cometh mtn bike race

• Half Fanatic

• punch Type 1 in the junk

knifey

posted: 10/29/2011 at 8:44 PM

I'll have to check out some of these other brands too. The Smartwool socks I bought in 2008 are still going strong, the ones I got for Christmas last year were shredded in weeks.

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Fanatic #3965

posted: 10/29/2011 at 10:03 PM

Quote from knifey on 10/29/2011 at 8:44 PM:

I'll have to check out some of these other brands too. The Smartwool socks I bought in 2008 are still going strong, the ones I got for Christmas last year were shredded in weeks.

Yep, my older pairs lasted for thousands of miles. Now I'm barely running and I'm wearing them out faster. Granted, I wear them on the bike, too, but that involves a lot less movement/friction inside my shoes, so they shouldn't be trashed as fast as they are.

Kirsten

'07: 1324.5 | '08: 1561 | '09: 1810.9 run ~ 208.7 bike | '10: 1,000.3 run ~ 3513.5 bike | '11: 710.3 run ~ 4157.9 bike '12: 659.9 run ~ 3365.6 bike (100% benched by ortho last 4.5 weeks while in long-arm cast)

'13 Goals:

• DON'T BREAK ANYTHING!!!

• get within 5#s of 130#s (and stay there, gotdammit!)

• 1st olympic distance duathlon

• 1st Iceman Cometh mtn bike race

• Half Fanatic

• punch Type 1 in the junk

knifey

posted: 10/30/2011 at 6:42 PM

Quote from zoom-zoom on 10/29/2011 at 10:03 PM:

Yep, my older pairs lasted for thousands of miles. Now I'm barely running and I'm wearing them out faster. Granted, I wear them on the bike, too, but that involves a lot less movement/friction inside my shoes, so they shouldn't be trashed as fast as they are.

Do you wear their running socks or cycling socks? My local running store only sells the cycling socks (they said they like them better since they are thinner)...and those are the ones I got in 2008 and are still good. I got both the cycling and running for Christmas...the cycling ones went super fast.

zoom-zoom

Fanatic #3965

posted: 10/30/2011 at 6:51 PM

Quote from knifey on 10/30/2011 at 6:42 PM:

Do you wear their running socks or cycling socks? My local running store only sells the cycling socks (they said they like them better since they are thinner)...and those are the ones I got in 2008 and are still good. I got both the cycling and running for Christmas...the cycling ones went super fast.

Interesting. My cycling socks are "ultra-light" weight like my running socks...but are most certainly heavier (at least the 1 pair I have is). And they don't cover my heel/achilles area as well, even though they look like they would in the package. So I pretty much wear the running PhD ultra-light micro height socks for any warm weather stuff. Once it gets cooler I switch to the "light" weight socks (mostly the taller ones...like anklet height).

Kirsten

'07: 1324.5 | '08: 1561 | '09: 1810.9 run ~ 208.7 bike | '10: 1,000.3 run ~ 3513.5 bike | '11: 710.3 run ~ 4157.9 bike '12: 659.9 run ~ 3365.6 bike (100% benched by ortho last 4.5 weeks while in long-arm cast)

'13 Goals:

• DON'T BREAK ANYTHING!!!

• get within 5#s of 130#s (and stay there, gotdammit!)

• 1st olympic distance duathlon

• 1st Iceman Cometh mtn bike race

• Half Fanatic

• punch Type 1 in the junk

Smartwool's Drop in Quality (Read 1331 times)

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