Outdoor Research Echo Hoodie Review: UPF 15 Sun Protection at 5.29 Ounces

This is my favorite sum in the whole review, because two good sources disagree and the arithmetic settles it.

UPF is a fraction. A UPF 15 fabric lets through 1/15 of the UV, which is 6.7%, so it blocks 93.3%. CleverHiker prints exactly that: 93.3% for the light colors. OutdoorGearLab says UPF 15 blocks "around 95%". That's the figure for UPF 20, where 1/20 is 5%. The dark colors are rated UPF 20, so OutdoorGearLab's number fits the dark shirt, not the light one.

Which color should you buy, then? Dark. It's the one free upgrade on the spec sheet: same shirt, same weight, UPF 20 instead of 15. That takes what gets through from 6.7% down to 5%, a quarter less. Easy call.

Now set it next to a UPF 50+ shirt. UPF 50 lets through 1/50, or 2%. The light Echo lets through 6.7%, a bit over three times as much. That's the whole argument, in one line.

Amazon shows 4.6 stars from 315 ratings as of October 15, 2026. That's the crowd number. CleverHiker's 4.3 out of 5 is one editor's score, so I count it apart from the crowd. That's 315 people against 1 editor. Different evidence.

The reviewers agree on the good parts. GearJunkie calls it the lightest, most breathable sun shirt in its test. OutdoorGearLab says it stays pleasant under a hot sun without pushing the sleeves up. Two details get singled out again and again: the thumbholes run horizontally, angled so the sleeve stays over the back of the hand, and the hood has a ponytail slot. GearJunkie's tester says the slot was his wife's favorite detail. I love a review where the best line is about hair.

Not everyone likes the thumbholes, though. CleverHiker, which scored the shirt 4.3 out of 5, found them to be small slits that don't pull the cuff as far over the hand as it wanted. Same thumbholes. Different hands. Different verdict.

The hood gets no argument. SectionHiker shows it wrapping around a brimmed hat, which covers the ears and neck. That's the part of a sun hoodie I'd pay for. A hat alone leaves your neck out. The hood fixes it. It's cut to go over the hat rather than under it, so if you already own a brimmed hat you like, you aren't choosing between the 2 kinds of shade, and that's a small design choice I really respect.

They split on odor. GearJunkie says it handled odor better than expected over several days. OutdoorGearLab says it does a decent job day to day and can't keep up with the serious sweat of long runs. SectionHiker notes the odor treatment isn't silver-based.

If sun protection comes first, GearJunkie names two UPF 50+ shirts: the Black Diamond Alpenglow Pro and the Mountain Hardwear Crater Lake. OutdoorGearLab tested the Crater Lake beside the Echo and scored its sun protection 9.0 out of 10, against the Echo's 4.0. The cost is a little air: 9.0 for breathability against the Echo's 9.5.

Do the subtraction. That's a 5-point gap in sun protection for half a point of breathability. For a desert or high-altitude trip, I'd take that trade every time.

For everything else, a hot humid trail, a paddle, a travel day, the Echo is the one reviewers keep reaching for. Pick a dark color and keep it off the brush.

One last detail. OutdoorGearLab says the sleeves can't quite match the coverage of shirts with more fabric past the thumbhole, so the backs of your hands get less shade. If that's your worry, it points to the Patagonia Tropic Comfort, which has extra loops for hand coverage. Otherwise, sunscreen on 2 hands. Cheap fix.