Tuesday Trial: YMX Product Review and Giveaway!

What do you get when you have products to review but are injured and can't put them to the test? The worst product reviews ever! Yay!

Typically speaking my reviews for products are done after extensive testing but in my current injured state all the products I've received to review lately came ill timed thanks to late breaking developments with said injury. After great debate, I decided I didn't want to sit on these products forever waiting to heal, especially with a giveaway involved, so I decided to rigorously (and by rigorous I mean, not rigorous at all) "test" them during my recent 5k walk. Lame I know.

So without further ado please humor and forgive me for these truly lame "reviews." Your patience and humor will be rewarded with a giveaway, so make sure you gut it out to the end!

First up, Columbia sent me this Omni-Dry Peak Power Shell Jacket. It has an ultra-light laminate membrane that's over 50% air, making the jacket insanely breathable and lighter than other 3-layer shells like it. Because they sent it to me in June, I didn't really have much, if any chance to use it until just recently.

My thoughts: I've now worn it in everything from a chilly 50* to nasty rainy wind-gusting weather and it definitely performs; It's a solid rain jacket, uber light, and all around perfect Spring/Fall jacket but... but... it's SO LOUD! As in every single movement makes you sound like you're a cat in a paper bag!

So. Annoying.*

(I'm not the only one who felt this way)

I considered wearing this to keep warm race morning but it's so freaking loud I thought I might distract the other runners and mess with their mental game. While I am truly thankful for the opportunity to test this jacket, at $350 a pop, I would never personally pay to buy a jacket with such an obnoxious personality. Thanks, but try again on this one Columbia.

*Fear not feline-loving friends (Sun Runner), no actual cats were paper-bagged for the making of this post.

Moving on...

Even further back, in March, just before I ended up with this lovely injury, everybody's favorite compression performance apparel company, Zensah, offered me the chance to test out their newly re-sized arm sleeves after I left them a message on their FB wall wondering if they were ever going to get size XS arm sleeves. I was so stoked to get these and had planned on rocking them for the Martian Half Marathon in April, but alas y'all know how that played out and since then, I haven't had an opportunity or need to wear them.

My Thoughts: Since it was a bit chilly race morning I decided to double up my new sleeves with the bolero I'm about to review below. Obviously it's not much of a test drive, but I have to say that they do in fact fit SO MUCH BETTER!!! As in I no longer have to ghetto rig them with safety pins to keep them up where they need to be like I had to with my old pair of size S/M sleeves. I can't vouch for how they ultimately perform but just the mere fact that I don't need to roll them over to safety pin in place gives me confidence they will work well in action. Oh and they still feel just as soft and tantalizingly smooth as my old pair, which of course makes me want to wear them around just so I can pet myself. Anyway, check out the new fit:

Doing my best Vanna impression

Thank you Zensah for letting me try out the newly re-sized sleeves, they fit so much better and I can't wait to give them a proper test drive when I'm back at it!

And finally, time to get to the review that also features a giveaway!!!

So as if getting the previous two items ill timed didn't suck enough, the awesome people at YMX by Yellowman saw that I was getting my ride on all summer with Leela and sent me this awesome cycling jersey and this extra awesome bolero... which of course I received the day after my doctor told me I could no longer ride Leela. You do not even want to know how sad I was. I mean look at how awesome these two are AND they fit me, WELL! I had been having such a problem finding cycling jersey's small enough to fit me. Needless to say, I'm not getting much use of them these days with all my stationary biking .::snore::. so that's when I decided, eff it, I'm wearing them for my 5k walk!




My Thoughts: As you can see above, the cycling jersey ($98) has a flattering, snug fit, and is a nice long length with pockets in the back. The zipper is flush so when it's zipped up you can't even notice it's there and unzipped it goes down to mid boob range. The fabric is super comfortable and breathable as I learned when I started to break a small sweat walking in the sun. It's priced competitively as far as I can tell, as most jersey's I looked at online and in stores came in around the $80-$120 range. I think they'd make a killing if they lowered it to the $50-$75 range, being that my personal shopping habit is almost always driven more by price than print and I think most people's are too, BUT I will def make an exception now that I know their product fits me so well and the prints are so much fun.

The pockets in the back were perfect for storing my camera and gloves. LOL!

The bolero ($59), or shrug as I call it, is perfect to wear for a ride that is/gets chilly and/or a run because you can so easily put it on/take it off. I think it's a little over priced since most people would compare this to sleeves which usually come in around $30. That's not to say that it's not totally worth it as you can so easily wrap it around your waist whereas when I am wearing sleeves I never know what to do with them if I get too hot and end up tucking them in to the back of my shorts and then they drive me crazy flapping around, hitting my back and butt. In the end it's a personal preference whether to choose the sleeves vs. bolero, I think I'll have a hard time deciding one over the other because I really love them both. And with that being said, guess what time it is?

Y'think I could get away with wearing this bolero on a regular basis?!?!

~GIVEAWAY TIME~

I warned YMX that this review of their products would be especially lame and they responded with "Not all of our customers can be totally extreme all the time!" and encouraged me to post the review and giveaway for a Tribal Sea Run Tee (I imagine if a dude wins this they will pick an alternative men's product) to one of you for putting up with this extra lame review! (Just another reason why they are so awesome.) To enter for a chance to win;

1. Like them on Facebook and/or follow them on Twitter @WearYMX and let me know in a comment below.

That's it. But, if you'd like a bonus entry you can do any/all of these in separate comments:

• Let me know if you like the idea of sleeves or bolero better and why.
  
  
• Tell me a story about an item of clothing/gear that had an "obnoxious personality," like the cat in a bag sounding jacket I described above, that you could not stand.

The giveaway will be open until my next post at which time I'll announce the winner. Since I am no longer on a set schedule for posting this could be tomorrow or in a few days, either way get your entries in today!

**Contest open to U.S. residents only please. (Sorry! Their rules, not mine!)**

Disclaimer: Per FTC Guidelines: Columbia, Zensah, and YMX provided these items at no cost to me for my personal review and the (lame) reviews are entirely of my own opinion. YMX has also agreed to provide a Tribal Sea Run Tee to the winner of the giveaway at no cost to said winner or myself.

EDIT: This post has been closed for additional comments and the winner of the giveaway has been announced HERE.