As a person who runs extremely hot, I have spent six years looking for the perfect short-sleeved, lightweight running top. I鈥檝e tested dozens during that time, over ten of them this year alone, and recently picked my five favorites, putting them in a head-to-head test over听the past four months.
The Test
I logged a minimum of 60 running miles in each of these shirts. While many of those miles were completed during stroller jogs with my daughter, I wore all of these tops for听the following challenges: a 90-minute run听that gained more than 1,200 feet of vertical elevation, a run听that took place in 90-plus-degree temperatures, and one on a day when weather was in the seventies.
I slept in every shirt for at least one night to take notes on comfort.
I weighed all of the shirts individually on my kitchen scale. I soaked each of them completely in a kiddie pool for 30 seconds, let them drip for 30 seconds, and weighed them again. After that听I hung them up on my backyard clothesline and weighed them every ten minutes for an hour to see how quickly they dried.
Columbia Men鈥檚 Titan Ultra II ($55)
Weight: 3.6 ounces
Moisture Movement: 5/5
Athletic Capability: 5/5
Comfort: 5/5
I hesitate to give perfect scores in my tests, but it鈥檚 a fair assessment in this case. The was my favorite, in large part because it was by far the lightest of the lineup. It weighs听a full ounce less than its closest competitor, which I could have guessed without the aid of my scale. It was softer against听my skin than any other shirt here and delivered remarkable comfort and performance through every run. It breathed the most efficiently, thanks to its wicking polyester body material, and its ample mesh panels down the back and under the armpits cooled me down significantly on runs when temperatures hovered in听the high eighties听(and higher). It also shed moisture the quickest in my backyard test, losing nearly听25 percent of its water weight in the first ten minutes. It was so fantastic on the hottest runs听that during a particularly brutal week in August, I noted, 鈥淒on鈥檛 want to run in anything else!鈥 The antimicrobial treatment Columbia used worked well enough for me to go four sweaty late-summer runs between washes, and the silken lightness made this a winner in the comfort category. With its听paneling and color, this shirt looks听extremely sporty鈥擨 wouldn鈥檛 dress it up with jeans鈥攂ut this wasn鈥檛 a style test. For the purpose of keeping me comfortable on trails, this was a clear winner.
Tracksmith Strata听($88)
Weight: 4.6 ounces
Moisture Movement:听4.5/5
Athletic Capability:听4.5/5
Comfort:听4.5/5
In spite of being a full ounce heavier than the Columbia shirt, the felt exceptionally light when I put it on. It also breathed almost听as well as the Titan Ultra II, a result of听the thousands of pinprick-size听holes covering the entire top. While those听holes were plenty wide to let听me听appreciate a ten-mile-per-hour breeze on a hot evening run, and see-through when held up to a light, they weren鈥檛 so wide that you could see my skin beneath it. This shirt kept me cool on the hottest run of the test (it was 99 degrees when I started and only cooled down to 96), and I was so enthused when I finished that I put an exclamation point at the end of each sentence of my notes. It also took second place in my backyard drying test: it was nearly bone-dry at the end of the hour.
Saxx听Crew Neck Aerator听($45)
Weight: 5.2 ounces
Moisture Movement: 4/5
Athletic Capability: 4.5/5
Comfort: 4/5
tied for third place with the two shirts below. I agonized over this three-way tie; while they scored the same (12.5 out of 15), each has different merits. The Aerator offered the best fit of the bunch: it felt tailored, but was still听loose enough to keep me from feeling constricted while running. It鈥檚 not as light and airy as the Columbia, but with its polyester and nearly as many pores as the Strata, it听breathed well. The flatlock seams made it as comfortable in bed as any of the other tops. All that said,听it didn鈥檛 manage moisture as well as the first two shirts in this review: my nipples chafed on runs that lasted more than two hours.
Lululemon Metal Vent Tech 2.0 ($78)
Weight: 4.6 ounces
Moisture Movement: 4/5
Athletic Capability: 4.5/5
Comfort: 4/5
If there were a style component to this test, the would have won it. It was the only shirt that I wore regularly with jeans, thanks to its matte exterior and slim fit. I received no less than three unsolicited compliments from my wife on it over my four months of testing. On top of looking dashing, it also moved like a champ, due to the brilliant construction of polyester, elastane, and nylon. In addition to wearing听it for runs, this听was my favorite top to don for garage kettlebell swings.听It wasn鈥檛 as light and didn鈥檛 move moisture as efficiently as the top two picks, so it wasn鈥檛 the best听for a sweaty runner like myself, but I鈥檇 still call it听a fantastic all-around workout shirt.
OR Next to None听($39)
Weight: 5.3 ounces
Moisture Movement: 3.5/5
Athletic Capability: 4.5/5
Comfort: 4.5/5
The fact that the听 is tied for third place on this list and still guaranteed to be a staple in my already overcrowded T-shirt drawer is a testament to how good all five of these tops are. While it was a little heavy compared to the others and wasn鈥檛 constructed听from fancy see-through fabric, I fell in love with the simplicity of this polyester-spandex garment. The seams听aren鈥檛听flatlocked but they are听smartly positioned to avoid chafing. Minus the moisture the听shirt听retained听during runs, it was so comfortable I forgot I was wearing it. And it was great to sleep in. I wore it for four straight days during the wildfire-induced chaos happening in my town of Ashland, Oregon, and barely noticed that I hadn鈥檛 changed, which speaks volumes.