The Lightheart Gear Grid Fleece Hoodie is a luxurious grid fleece sweater with a front kangaroo pocket, a drawstring hood, extra thick wrists, and thumb loops that are great for hiking in cool weather or wearing in camp. It’s cut extra long in the torso, so it won’t ride up when wearing a hip belt, and it runs a bit large for easy layering. The size large reviewed here weighs 12.3 oz. The Lightheart Gear website is pretty sparse on details about this hoody, so I’ll try to fill in the gaps.

Grid Fleece

Grid fleece is a polyester fleece fabric characterized by its distinctive grid-like pattern. This pattern is created by varying the thickness and density of the fleece fibers, resulting in a fabric with excellent moisture-wicking properties and enhanced breathability. The grid structure also helps to trap air, providing insulation and warmth, while the density of the weave provides a moderate degree of wind protection.

Microgrid fleece

This differentiates grid fleece from hoodies made with Polartec Alpha Direct, another popular form of fleece, which is much lighter, thinner, lacks any wind resistance, and is far less durable. Polartec Alpha is good when you want maximum breathability in warmer or drier conditions because you’re perspiring a lot. If choosing between them, consider their role in your overall clothing system rather than viewing them as standalone garments.

Lightheart’s Inventory Model

Lightheart Gear makes grid fleece hoodies for men and women. They make them in a wide range of fixed color combinations rather than making custom one-off color combinations for each customer. This keeps their cost down and ensures constant availability, which is a real problem with smaller manufacturers who make a different garment for each customer. It also keeps the cost of Lightheart’s grid fleece hoodies quite reasonable, at just $99, which is a fantastic price for a garment that is likely to last decades. They literally make dozens of single and two color combinations, so you can probably find something you like.

Hoodie Construction

The drawstring hood is adjustable

Lightheart’s Hoodies are made with microgrid grid fleece which is more breathable than a regular grid fleece because it has more air channels to wick and vent perspiration. The design of their hoodies also emphasizes warmth and heat retention, with an adjustable drawstring hood and thick wrist gauntlets. The drawstring hood includes a cord lock, so you’ll never lose the cord inside the hood which is something I always add to hoodies that don’t come with one. The wrist gauntlets are made with two layers of fleece fabric and run well past your knuckles, providing extra warmth on those cold mornings when you’d otherwise want gloves.

The kanagroo pocket is another warmth enhancing feature although it’s too low to access when wearing a hip belt and best used when you’re standing around in camp. The hoodie is also quite long in the torso, which can be great because it won’t ride up when wearing a hip belt. Unfortunately, it does run longer than a lot of rain jackets and will soak up moisture if hiking in rain, which is not so good. That’s something to consider if you backpack in a wet climate. I prefer shorter jacket-length fleece hoodies for this reason.

There are two layers of fabric at the wrists to keep your hands warm.

Recommendation

If you’ve got the itch to wear a colorful grid fleece hoodie, Lightheart’s microgrid fleece hoodies are just the ticket. Warm and cozy, they’re ideal for wearing in camp or on cold and dry mornings when you want a breathable insulation layer that has a moderate degree of wind resistance. Reasonably priced and always in stock, they’re a versatile mid-layer garment for year-round hiking and backpacking.

Likes

• Always in stock
• Great color combinations
• Very warm
• Adjustable drawstring hood
• Double wrist cuffs for extra warmth

Dislikes

• Extra long torso rides below many rain jackets

Disclosure: Lightheart gear donated a hoodie for review.

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