This is a review of Rohan’s Equator shirt, a long-sleeved shirt for men that is designed for hot and humid conditions. I recently tested it on a very warm long-distance walk around Norfolk, and found it performed brilliantly.
Reasons for buying the Equator shirt
I like to wear a long-sleeve shirt when hiking in summer because it keeps the sun off, saving me from having to use sun cream. On wild camping trips when carrying all my gear all day, sun-cream is heavy.
The second advantage of shirts in the summer is that they can be unbuttoned or opened up for cooling when needed.
I regularly wear Rohan’s shirts as I find they fit and last well. I used the Expedition LS Shirt on a very hot walk around the Isle of Wight coast path. The Expedition shirt performed well in the 30 degree heat, but I found it smelt fairly quickly and needed washing every day. This was a problem because I mostly wild camp and cannot easily wash the shirt every day.
I looked at other base-layer options, like merino wool, which would control odour well. But although I find merino is good in colder weather, it is too warm for me in summer and doesn’t dry particularly quickly.
So I went back to Rohan’s shirt range and came across the Equator shirt. I bought one when I found a discontinued colour in their sale.
Test conditions
I used the Equator shirt as my only base-layer during a light-weight wild camping trip hiking around Norfolk in very hot and sunny weather. I spent a week wearing the shirt continuously, even sleeping in it. It wasn’t washed at all during the walk. Then on my 1100 mile walk from Dover to Cape Wrath.
Review
The Rohan Equator shirt is for hot and humid conditions and uses Silvadur in the fabric to control odour. This is essential on long distance wild camping trips.
Silvadur is Rohan’s anti odour silver technology that uses the natural antimicrobial properties of silver, which inhibits the growth of bacteria reducing mould and odour.
It has very high sun protection with UPF 40+. This means I don’t need to worry about getting sun burnt when hiking all day. I didn’t use sun-cream and the shirt protected me well.
The Equator shirt feels thin but tough and weighs 184g (size M). This makes it one of the lighter-weight shirts on the market. Being thin polyamide and polyester it will wear well and dry very quickly.
It is very comfortable with smooth seams, offset on the shoulders so they don’t rub under rucksack shoulder straps. It also has poppers instead of buttons, which worked really well. Poppers are much more comfortable under a hip belt and if you end up sleeping in the shirt (like I did). It also has two zipped chest pockets that are a useful size, big enough for a mobile phone, passport or wallet.
The cuffs also have two poppers each so they can be close fitting or open for added airflow.
The collar is firm so it can be folded up around the neck for extra sun or wind protection when needed.
Rohan give a lot of thought to the design of their clothes, so this shirt has useful little extras like a piece of microfibre fabric under the hem for cleaning glasses. It also has dryloops under the hem to hang the shirt on a line without pegs.
Conclusion
The Rohan Equator shirt is ideal for long distance hiking and wild camping in the hottest weather. It’s comfortable and stops me burning in the full sun, so I don’t have to carry heavy sun cream. It also dries extremely quickly and controls odour well.
It’s the best summer hiking shirt I’ve ever worn and it’ll be going on my next hot-weather, long-distance hiking trip.
Link to buy the Rohan Equaror shirt
Further reading:
Rohan GR Explorer hiking trousers review
My 1100 mile Dover to Cape Wrath walk using Rohan clothing
Wildwalkinguk is a blog run by myself in spare time, and I pay for its running costs myself. I do have some Amazon affiliate links and adverts on the site. If you click on these adverts or links and buy what you need (it doesn’t have to be the item I’ve linked to), the company will pay a small commission to us. This money goes towards the costs of hosting the blog. I would be extremely grateful if you could consider using our links when you next need to buy something from our advertisers. Alternatively, you can buy me a coffee here. Thank you so much for your support. Mark.
interesting and informative review, thanks Mark. If I get the chance of a walk somewhere warm next year I think I will buy one.
Cheers
Hi Neil
Thanks for your message, it makes the effort worthwhile.
If you wish to, you could come back to my site and click on the Rohan advert to buy one, and we’ll get a small commission payment to help with the site costs.
thanks again
Mark
Yes will do Mark, that sounds reasonable
I have three Equator shirts, an older one with buttons and two with poppers. The older one has worn so thin in places where my backpack has rubbed that the fabric has disintegrated and is now patched with iron-on patches. I’m a bit disappointed. I have so much Rohan clothing, probably too much.