Having just taken delivery of a load of Line Break compression and thermoregulatory clothing (many thanks to Linebreak for the sponsorship), I thought given that the sun was shining and it was getting a bit warmer that it was the perfect opportunity to try it out.  I have a range of tops and bottoms, but today I opted for their Vee Tee, a cut off sleeve, vest type top.  At 6 ft 1 inch and 85kg I fit a large quite nicely (although with one or two lumby bits as the photo shows, but then I am 46) and as there was still a coastal chill I wore a Helly long sleeve technical top over it.  Pack weight was 10 kg using the Inov-8 Racepro 30.  The tide was nice and low so I started of with around 4 miles on soft sand and pebbles along the beach.  The first thing I noticed was that the top did not need to be tucked in to stop it riding up - in fact as the pack moved it on my back it almost felt like it was sliding across my skin; very comfortable.  As I started to sweat I got no sense of being "soaked" as the technical material whicked away the moisture and when I stopped I could feel the cooling effect even when I was sitting indoors.  So in terms of the thermal regulation qualities, this garment seems to be excellent for the UK climate.

The next question was how would the product perform as a compression garment with stress being applied to the upper body through load carrying.  The 10kg weight of the pack on my shoulders had started to pull at around the 6 miles mark and I got that feeling I always get; it starts as a slight ache at the base of the neck and then radiates across the top of the shoulders, slowly but surely.  A quick flex of the neck and shoulders tends to alleviate it for a while and it was not enough to really bother about over such a short distance.  I was not used to the pack as that was being trialled as well for Inov-8.  I had already come up with one or 2 issues with the straps that seemed to be quite wide for my frame - this I was finding irritating and it resulted in the feeling that pressure was being applied in a disjointed manner across the shoulders.  It was difficult to quantify the performance of the compression top on its first outing, but it certainly seemed to "ease the load"

After 8.5 miles I was back - 1 hour 25 mins mainly across rough ground, beach and pebbles apart from around 2 miles on roads.  I kept the top on afterwards to see if it aids recovery, but hard to tell, especially when the staff where I work were telling me to go and take a shower!

First impressions - from a comfort and thermal regulation point of view, this stuff seems to be the business.  I still have to try out the shorts, long sleeved shirts and tights and then next month I look forward to some serious testing in the Sinai.