Ergodyne Chill-Its 6665 Evaporative Cooling Vest - Lime, Large

Maybe the problem is my expectations, but having never bought cooling gear before I expected a bit more. What I received was a vest that says it has polyester and cotton in it in the materials tag on the vest. There's no mention of PVA anywhere, and I realize now that the "activated polymer inside" doesn't actually specify what type of plastic they talk about in this vest.So, essentially, this is a cotton T-shirt wrapped in a layer of plastic on the outside.The expectation was that it would soak in water to its core and leave the surface at most clammy. This thing is soaking wet on the outside even after you wring it dry after immersion, and the water flows down and when the top is dry-ish, the hem is dripping. So, I can only assume this isn't in any way a "high-tech" vest with PVA that soaks up a lot of water and slowly releases it to get the cooling effect.. It's a bog standard cotton-polyester vest that you can soak in water.I bought a Chill-its hat alongside this. That clearly states it does have PVA in the sweatband. And the sweatband in the hat is clearly different to the vest - it's cold and somewhat clammy feeling without feeling wet. That is what I expected from the vest, but this vest appears to have none of this more unusual material in it, making it lower tech and I suppose mildly better than just wearing a wet T-shirt. Disappointing. It will cool you down, I'm sure, but at the cost of also soaking through your clothing most likely Caveat Emptor.

Can't really, as a present for my daughter and won't come into full use until next summer.