Helly Hansen Logo Cuff Beanie review: warm, cozy, and stays put in a gale

Helly Hansen Logo Cuff Beanie review: first impressions 

This chunky knit hiking hat comes in a classic style and is designed to deliver serious warmth on chilly adventures, whether you’re on a hike or tooling around the neighborhood. It offers plenty of room to cover your ears and even a high bun hairdo, is snug enough to stay on in the wind and comes in three different colors.

Coming in only one size, this hat might feel too snug for larger heads, and it’s too warm for high intensity adventures like trail running and cross country skiing. It’s not a super technical, lightweight or thin hat, but it’s good quality, will keep your noggin warm and looks pretty good.

Helly Hansen Logo Cuff Beanie review: in the field

I’ve been testing out this beanie for a couple of months in Switzerland and the hills of Scotland to see how it fares against a cold winter, and I’ve had plenty of challenging, frigid days to put it through its paces.

Here’s how it performed:

Sizing and fit 

This beanie comes in only one size, and it’s snug on my normal-sized head. I sense it could be too tight for those of you with a larger head, and comfort-wise, I’d like it to be slightly less tight. However, my favorite beanie has an annoying tendency to blow off on windy days, which we have a lot of in Scotland, so I really appreciate the stay-put fit of this hat and I tend to choose it when there’s a gale blowing. It’s quite long, so it easily covers my forehead and ears with loads of room for a high ponytail. 

Comfort and temperature regulation 

These are really pretty comfortable. The material is nice and silky with enough stretch to move with my swing, they have flat lock seams so no chafing on a 10 km run, and the stay-put grips means they don’t slide down and annoy me.

I was a bit afraid I’d be too chilly in these, but the material is quite sturdy so it does a good job of sheltering my arms from Scotland’s howling gales. I’ve seen ones which look more breathable and I think might be more practical in warmer weather, since nylon isn’t the most breathable fabric, but I found these to be perfect for running in 8°C (46°F) temps. They keep the chill and even a light rain off and dry quickly when wet. Of course, on a colder, bright day, they provide UV protection too.

Comfort and style

The knit of this hat is perfectly comfortable and non-itchy on my skin, so that’s a huge plus, but it being a bit tighter means I tend to want to push it up off my forehead. It’s quite a good looking urban-friendly hat, especially in the honeycomb color, but I must admit I prefer a slouchy style and this one sticks up quite a bit.  

Warmth and breathability

This isn’t a breathable hat meant for running, it’s designed to retain heat and it does that really well. That means it’s helped me stave off a headache when I’m hiking in really cold weather and walking around Verbier on -10C nights, but it’s too warm for running and cross country skiing.

Weight and packability

I wouldn’t call this hat heavy, but it’s a chunky affair and too bulky to easily shove in a pocket or wear under a helmet. 

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