Poncho Outdoors Ultra-Lite Shirt Review
Revisiting Poncho and looking at a newer iteration of the classic Fishing/Outdoors shirt - but again, with a lens for travel not fishing.
Poncho Outdoors Ultra-Lite Shirt Review Introduction
PONCHO - looks like they were never one to sit on a good thing and really set out to make - more good things. Crazy how that works, huh? Poncho Outdoors was actual one of the earliest reviews I published on my site back in 2019. Feels like ages ago but I have a fond place in both my website memories and my travel memories for the brand. Recently, I got to exploring their quite expanded product line and decided there were some new (to me) shirts I wanted to check out. For the very-early-days reviews of the Poncho Outdoors Shirt review and the Poncho Flannel Shirt review, click those.
This will be the first of two new reviews for Poncho that we’re doing, and we’ll be looking at their Ultra-lite lineup of shirts (which I think have better potential than the originals, more on that later). In a bit, I’ll get my review of the Denim shirt out, too. But the Ultra-Lite version of their shirt promises to bring a lot of the great features of that original shirt, with a few updates and cuts made to make it a lighter piece of your kit. Let’s see if it works or if they’ve cut too much and lost the magic.
This is my review of the Poncho Ultra-Lite shirt. My intention on this one was to review this as a travel piece (not as a fishing/outdoors shirt) on a trip that would have some varying climates but also a need to look like an adult. So it came with me on a trip to Peru through Lima, Cusco, and the Sacred Valley. That includes a few different kinds of weather and climate as well as a number of different “types” of places where you might want to look more presentable and not in your matching uni-color sweatsuit from Instagram (Here’s where I normally insert a “No shade, just not my thing” type of content but I really need to let people know how horrific those are. Please stop traveling in them. It looks ridiculous when adults do it and it’s sloppy. OK sorry I couldn’t hold back).
For the long-sleeve version, my main testing was on a camping-type trip. So long drive from the city, building and cooking fires, but also heading into town to walk around (specifically, Hudson, NY).
As always for full transparency - I asked if I could have a couple of their newer shirts to review and Poncho was kind enough to say yes. That said, this is not a sponsored OR paid article and Poncho Outdoors had no input into the content. I do use affiliate links to support the site, but this comes at no cost to you if you choose to use them. This article is 100% HUMAN written, as are all of my articles. Thank you for stopping by!
-Looking for smaller travel essentials? Check out my new Amazon Storefront for a curated list of items that can help you wander more, and wander smarter. Many of which I own and use on every trip. We’re talking charging cables, chargers, toiletries, and some EDC stuff thrown in, too. Check it out!-
Ultra-Lite Shirt Overview and Features
Outside La Mar in Lima.
OK let’s go over some of the features of the Poncho Ultra-lite shirt and what it’s meant for. Basically, Poncho took their original shirt and they trimmed down some features, made a few design changes as well (like the pocket) but kept all the things that made them famous like the cut of the shirt itself (one of the most important pieces for a shirt, travel or otherwise). So along with that simplified pocket update, they’ve also eliminated the vent in the back of the shirt as well as some magnets that did add to the “fun” factor of the original. I mean you’ve all probably heard it by now, but everyone likes magnets and generally speaking, I’m here for them due to their premium nature and the ease of use. But it makes sense to cut those out of an ultra-lite product.
Now with all that said - Poncho is still using all the same light and stretchy fabric they’ve used before. It’s still quick dry, it still moves with you, and it still offers UPF-50 which is important for outdoors and travel alike.
Lastly it does still have that clever sunglasses/screen cloth on the underside of the hem, as well as the hidden collar buttons to keep you looking in order.
I guess it’s not technically a feature, but I’ll list it here because you should be aware of just how many options they offer for shirt colors and designs. It’s like they walked into the show room of their fabric provider and said, “Yes.” I love that. Different strokes for different folks and it’s great to see you can get some solid colors or patterns. Choice is a good thing and I think Poncho is one of the best in the game when it comes to that kind of optionality. All of their shirts come in a huge array of choices.
They also offer Slim, Tall, and Regular. More on that in a bit but this is generally also great.
Here are the specs for the Ultra-lite materials from the site:
FABRIC:
93% Nylon
7% Spandex
Typical price starts at $79.95 USD which in this world of sky rocketing “travel clothing” prices - if you can find something you like it’s a very reasonable price point. The long sleeve shirt is the “Undertow”. My short sleeve shirt is the “Green Monster”. As they say you can take the kind out of New England…
The Fit of the Poncho Ultra-Lite Shirt
Here are some shots to go over the fit. I went with the Small in Slim cut. In my experience, as these are American targeted shirts, the Regular can be much too billowy for me. That said, it’s because I’m not a big guy. I’ll note - that the cut of the regular shirts is STILL light years better than standard outdoors shirts. That’s their thing so you can still trust that. But anyway, I had the Small in Slim.
What do I think? Mostly I was very happy. No pulling in my chest, short sleeves were solid for me (which can be a problem in some short sleeve button ups; good for sun coverage, not pythons-coverage however) and I was happy with how it fit around my mid section. Poncho is definitely looking to make a nicer cut so you can wear it out in places and look normal, but it’s not trying to make you look like the European with the skin tight baby blue shirt on. You’ve all seen him.
My only criticisms are that I think the length could be more proportional for a “Small” and I think the collars can get a little high on me (If you have a long neck, won’t be an issue I’d imagine). I think you’ll see the length right away. It’s not egregious, thankfully, but if I’m pointing out a flaw that was my biggest one.
For the long sleeve, I think the sleeves could be shorter on these smaller sizes.
The Good
There is a lot to like about the Poncho Ultra-Lite shirt. There really is. The fabric is as comfortable as ever, and I wore it in a really humid Lima environment, too. We walked around for the whole day and it was great. Like I mentioned in my purpose description, I didn’t want to look like a slob walking around. A collared shirt looks good and this one was super comfortable so it’s the best of both worlds. It’s also casual enough to not look over dressed. So it finds a good balance. Kind of can change with how you pair it with pants and shoes. I don’t think anyone would think twice if you wore it casually with sneakers or dressed up a LITTLE for dinner with nice nicer shoes and jeans. I did, and even tucked it in for one meal. (We ate at Clon, which I’d call a “can’t miss” spot).
Continuing along those lines, I think this is the shirt you want if that last paragraph resonates. Eliminating the pocket functions and the back vent (which make sense for the outdoors or on the water) was genius. You get to keep all the benefits of the fabric and ease-of-care (i.e. easy to wash and dry) and look a bit more urban. I’m forever into tech fabrics and comfort while traveling, but I’m also forever trying to make sure I don’t look like the older Western Tourist that just came from Decathlon or Columbia after a baggy hiking gear shopping spree. Comfort is important, but for me, so is how I look (in terms of being presentable and walking among the locals). This shirt nailed that for me.
That said keeping the under hem cloth for sunnies or a screen, great move. That’s a clever piece of design from the team and as far as I could tell, they were the first to do that those years ago.
Variety. Huge variety. This is an undoubted positive for Poncho Outdoors. Just really great job with the options here. You can actually get as regular or preppy as you want for the most part. Casual preppy, not like, all out dressed up for the Prep School reunion - calm down guys. But striped, checkered shirts in an outdoor friendly tech fabric? Yeah, that's a great thing for walking around cities all day. And I did. Around Lima for lots of walking and cafe hopping. I also wore it to a dinner or two in the hotels when I didn’t want to look too casual. Though in Sacred Valley, people didn’t seem too fussed about that.
And let’s call out that pricing again. I think this shirt is an outstanding value vs some of the field out there and I’m glad to see it. You’ve got places like Rhone and Ministry of Supply charging well north of a hundred dollars for some of their fabrics. Now those aren’t the same STYLE of shirts to be fair. But I do find they’ve creeped a bit high over the years.
While I don’t think it has any special anti-odor treatments on it, I’d say it performed solidly for a tech fabric without that. I think it let me breathe enough where I wasn’t a sweaty pig, I used anti-perspirant (gasp) and it was a good combo. It’s not merino but I was happy to get a few wears out of it (before washing), especially if you’re just wearing it out at night.
The Bad
For me, the only real criticisms I have are around the fit, so I'll make a request here too.
But that said, they could probably get away with a little bit more of a low profile collar. I am SURE it’s part of a sunblocking design and I can dig that. But, for me it also occasionally would rub high up under my jaw, and I have a beard so the real estate up there is limited. To be clear - it was NOT a constant thing all day. I rock a camera and am moving that around a lot and that contributes to how often your collar moves, etc. So part of this is a “me” thing. But you get what I’m putin’ down here.
Second, I think the hem could definitely be shorter on the ultra-lite (or all their shirts). Again, I think it’s most likely longer to provide good sun protection while on the boat and that does in fact make great sense. But as you expand into more wear-scenarios (wearnarios? Yeah nah that doesn’t work, moving on) I think it’s an update worth considering. Longer shirts can show wrinkles near the hem, too. OR….
And here comes my request. Offer a version in “Short”. That would be great because in the long sleeve shirts, I find the sleeves to be a bit long. So I think a happy solution to all would be offering a “short”. They offer a Tall, so hey why not. So long as they keep the Slim version and offer Short, man I think that would be a great, well rounded lineup they’d have. It would also open up a nice chunk of the market to be repeat customers. You know the drill - dudes re-buy things forever so they don’t have to change, Haha. We all know this to be true!
Final Thoughts On My Poncho Outdoors Ultra-Lite Shirt Review
Aside from those two notes above, I think the Poncho Ultra-Lite shirt in short sleeves and a fantastic Travel-shirt. The material is outstanding and comfortable, you can get patterns that make it so you don’t look like an REI billboard, and that makes them perfectly fine for bars and restaurants - even slightly more elevated spots if you pair it right. Flexibility is key when traveling because it means you can pack less.
It’s also super easy to wash so you can sink-wash and let it dry in the room (though be careful in places like Lima, that place tried to refuse to let my merino dry!) or and this is a big one, this can be dried so it’s OK to use a hotel service to wash and dry. It won’t shrink on you and you can just tell them cold water and low heat. Simple.
I think Poncho really succeeded in trimming out the RIGHT features of the Original, and that helps make it even more appropriate for day to day. Biggest would be the functional pockets and the vent on the back. Perfect choices there. Well done, Poncho.
So what do I think of the Ultra-Lite as a travel shirt? I think it’s bang on. Fit, like a lot of things, is personal. So you need to give that part a shot for yourself. But I think the materials, patterns, cut/pattern even for a tech shirt - they really did a solid job for the casual-to-elevated-casual target. For most people I’d suggest the Slim, but it probably makes sense to order one of each and see which fits best, as they have easy returns, too.
I never call anything a must buy, but I’m very happy to label this one as a “Must consider” if you’re currently looking to get into this kind of thing.
As always with the indie brands, I’d suggest buying directly through their website for best service.
Wander more - and wander smarter everyone.
Like My Content? Feel Free To Buy Me A Coffee!
Head on over to our Travel Clothing Reviews page for more reviews like this or more travel friendly clothing like the Aviator First Class travel hoodie review or travel bags like the Osprey Daylite Carry On 35l review and Evergoods CTB20 Review.
Please be sure to subscribe below, and follow us on Instagram @alwayswanderofficial for photos from our wanderings, and updates for when we post new articles and reviews!