The two major features are the new "Starbuck" collar and the traditional button-secured cuffs.
Arc'teryx calls it a "combat collar," but I call the flat, integrated collar the Starbuck collar because it reminds me of the uniforms worn by the characters in the original, '70s version of "Battlestar Galactica." (Before anyone goes back and challenges me with screenshots, be advised — I said "reminds.")
The other obvious change are the cuffs. The original Talos had tapered cuffs with snaps to secure them. The LT has a pair of big Canadian-style buttons at the cuff that allow you to properly blouse the cuffs up and out of the way. There are also a pair of smaller buttons at the large cuff gusset that keeps thing under control when worn down.
[nggallery id=619]
The body of the solid, Wolf-colored shirt is no-melt, no-drip woven 60/40 nylon/cotton that feels like your favorite work shirt. The shoulders and top of the arms are beefed up a little more with added nylon to add abrasion resistance that can come from pack straps and weapon slings. more
The MultiCam version is made from a new proprietary no melt, no drip Cordura fabric. I have a sample T-shirt of made from the material and, brand new, it feels soft and buttery as an old cotton T-shirt that's been washed and worn for years.
Like most things Arc'teryx, the fit of the new tops is cut a little "euro." It should fit a little close to maximize mobility. Although I'm a solid medium, I can get away wearing the large (above) if I keep the sleeves rolled up. The large is a little long and baggy on me, but the fact that it's uniformly long and baggy means a smaller size should snug up nicely.
From the top down:
The collar: It works as intended. Nothing gets in the way when donning body armor. There's no collar flaps to get stuck under the armor carrier, no zippers to forget about and grind into the sternum. The lower cut of the collar allows more ventilation than a T-shirt-style opening, and resists stretching and sagging as a traditional circular collar might after putting your head through it many times.
This isn't big deal for lighter fabrics, but the heavyweight fabrics used in combat shirts don't stretch and rebound like lightly knit jersey cotton. That's why most combat shirts have to have a split front of some kind... that or some Lyrcra-ish opening that chokes you out and doesn't breath very well.
The Starbuck collar is a novel approach that overcomes those issues, but it does give up neck protection. I didn't notice debris getting down into the collar, but I did find my rifle sling edge riding directly on my neck got a little painful after a few hours of wear.
The front baffle on the sternum reinforces and holds the front of the shirt together. The stacked seams might have been a hot spot under armor, but I never noticed the flat seams there. In fact, I didn't find any of the seams rubbed anywhere on the garment when worn beneath armor.
Arms: The shoulder pockets are massive, though the zipper opens to about the width of a hand. The pockets will easily hold a small notebook, map pens, protractor and the like. The pockets go back quite far, making some smaller items that slip behind the bicep tough to grab. This might have been a product of the larger size I was wearing, though.
Standard 4"x4" Velcro pile fields give enough room for insignia or IFF tabs without being large enough to create a sweaty hot spot of non-breathable fabric. Though, if you're running anything in the shoulder pockets, the pocket's contents are going to get sweaty in the heat.
Under the arms, the soft, breathable fabric vented well but did soak through with sweat eventually. Even soaked with sweat, the thinner fabric was comfortable and dried pretty quickly.
[singlepic id=5165 w=125 h= float=left]The forearms: the new, rubbery Canadian-style buttons work well and blousing the cuffs feels great. You can leave them low to protect your forearms, or crank them all the way up for some relief from the heat. The material folds and creases, holding it's shape so there's no constant adjusting of the cuffs.
Body: The body fabric is supple with four seams at 10, 2, 4 and 8 o'clock. So, the seams don't fall under front or side armor plates. The hem is cut to run tucked-in with a slightly longer tail, but it can run outside the pants just as well.
Bottom Line: Wearing the Talos LT on the range, in the field and even around town for a few weeks gave me a good idea of the shirt's character. In the woods, the 50/50 Nyco never popped a stitch or gave in to the pull of holly or pricker bushes, tree bark or rocks. Scrambling over boulders and shimmying along rocklines was no issue. The Talos LT's cut and the sleeves range of motion never got in the way of long reaches and mantles. When it got warm, I just cuffed the sleeves once and rolled on. They stayed where I put them and laid pretty much flat without excessive bulging.
I strongly dislike synthetic fabrics. I don't like the feel against my skin and I hate the unavoidable clamminess you get when you sweat. The cotton-ish feel of the Talos fabrics never gave me that clammy feeling. They felt about like a regular cammie blouse, but far lighter with much better breathability.
The Talos LT will cost $179 for solid colors (Wolf and Croc) and $199 for MultiCam when they hit the shelves in Spring '13. If you're coming to SHOT, the new shirt will be on display along with the new Khard 30 and 45 packs. I'll have more on those later.
[And, yes. I know my holster is running though the loops backwards. It makes it a little easier to slide around on a stiff belt.]
