Under Armour T-shirts

[Loner]

Are they any good? I'm looking at the Under Armour loose gear heatgear. I also need help on sizing. What sizes are you running and do they conceal a pistol well?

[taliv]

they're getting pretty dang popular in High Power competition.

[2-BPM]

underarmor makes me sweat more, but it drys quick. the loose gear is more comfortable, but you don't get to look like the body builder wearing it in the catalog. i.e. the tight shirts are bad for morale!:D the cold weather stuff is GTG. Most units won't let you wear it outside the wire any more, since it likes to stick to flesh when it melts (IEDs, burning vehicle, etc.) this confuses me since pretty much everything on you is nylon, and will stick as it melts.

[KevinB]

UA stuff pills much worse than the 5.11 gear that came out later - I much prefer the 5.11 stuff I wear it running.
I do not wear it on missions (I live "outside the wire") due to the flash/flame issues. All my under stuff for that is flash resistant, and nomex outside - if my gear starts to burn I can jesitison it - I may get burned by radiant heat - but not have melted plastic stuck into my flesh.

I find the material (UA or 5.11) snags easier than other materials - so it may make for an awkward draw.

[RD62]

I wear Underarmor on duty, well, under my armor. :D My dept issued it. I'd like to put my duty boot in the crack of whoever's a$$ decided that all black poly uniforms and gear in a black patrol car in SC in August was a good idea. It does look but, but lacks a little in the execution if you know what I mean. My Underarmor has pilled as KevinB pointed out, but has otherwise held up pretty good. It is the tight fitting one, and does help you cool better, but nothing helps much when wearing armor. I could see how it would snag on a draw and therefore I don't think I would wear it as a cover garment, but have also never tried. Although I don't think my form fitting shirts would leave much to ponder about what I was concealing... love handles and a pistola.


-RD62

[shakyjake64]

the thing i don't like about UA tight fitting shirts is that the seams on the sides and under your arms rub and cause hot/sore spots under your arms and where a duty belt sits on your hips....plus i seam to overheat in them..i think because instead of the sweat eaporating from your body it's evaporating from the shirt and not cooling your body...the loose gear is much better! I want to try 5.11 with the mesh under the arms and the flat seams.

[NCPatrolAR]

I wear UA style shirts all the time, on and off duty. While I wear the tight fit shorts, I have never encountered an issue with it hampering my draw stroke or creating over-heating issues. Whe it comes to actual brands, I've used UnderArmor, 5.11, and the cheap generic shirts from Wal-Mart. I know mainly use the Wal-Mart shirts. :)

[Joseywales]

I wish I could just change my whole wardrobe to 5.11 and under armour. They look good and feel great.

[S-1]

I like the Nike "Dry-Fit" shirts better than Under Armour. They're cheaper and they last longer.

[Don Robison]

My UA stuff is almost all gone. I liked it when it came out since it was about all that was available at the time. I prefer the Nike Dri Fit as S-1 said. It doesn't pill like UA, it also breathes better IMO.

[lockNload]

What's this "pilling" you speak of? I have UA heatgear, coldgear, and loosegear and love the first two. I didn't feel like the loosegear gave me any benefit while the coldgear is comfortable and really keeps me warm and the heatgear makes me feel so much lighter and drier. I may have to try this Nike Dry Fit, even though I love the UA image and logo :D

[KevinB]

When the material rubs against another - it wears down and seperates - and some of the material rolls up into tons of tiny balls, and eventually wears right thru.

Our nomex does it as well - just not nearly as badly.
I can take a pic after lunch.

Edit -- I took a few pics both of the nomex and a 5.11 shirt I have here for PT, none of the pics came out with any sort of usefull resolution sorry.

[lockNload]

So this only happens when it's worn as a base layer then? Most the time I just wear my UA working out so I haven't experienced any issues really. It would be nice if they added an odor resistant blend for extended field wear. I guess I've had the shirt bunch up a little under my arms while rucking but didn't experience any rubbing or hot spots.

[Honulea]

I use the UA "Tech", Russell (sports authority) and Nordic Trac (sears) under my body armor and gear in Hawaii. All in short sleeve and loose fit. The Russell and NT are comparable in terms of drying ability and they do tend to pill at rubbing points. The UA "Tech" looks like cotton, has not pilled at all and does not fade as the others did. The UA "Tech" has same or better wicking capacity as the others and is also constructed in the jersey? style where the sleeves flow to the neck seamlessly and the sleeve seams are on the front and back as such:

http://www.underarmour.com/productdetail.cfm?pf_id=1000382&site_id=1&dept_id=1&coll_id=1102

I really like these as they last much longer (going on 1.5 years) than the Russell or NT and the fit is awesome. YMMV.

Creighton

[sparrow]

I swapped out all my UA stuff for the 5.11 three pack T shirts. I wear them daily under a uniform shirt and exterior body armour; they fit well, breath well, wear well, stay tucked are cheap and don't look like "Hero" gear when worn with regular clothing.

[mcpdcrash]

In the winter I wear the UA mock turtlenecks (loose fit) under my vest and really like them. They feel like cotton but are actually some kind of synthetic material. I tried a couple UA t-shirts for summer wear while on duty and they were okay, but not any better than the $10.00 synthetic Champion shirts I bought at Target. All my summer uniform undershirts are the cheap Champions these days.