Maxgear Ionergized Compression short sleeve top

You know the full SP on compression gear by now, right? It’s designed to increase the flow of blood to your muscles and so improve your speed and power, and to help disperse waste products like lactic acid. Yes, it sounds far-fetched but this is a world where Noel Edmonds still makes a living on TV so who knows what’s really possible?

What’s different here, according to the manufacturer, is that “Max Ionergized compression clothing delivers ionised energy to the body through a negatively charged magnetic field held within the polyester based main fabric”.

Crikey!

The benefits of this, it’s said, include maintaining overall good health, relief from aches and pains, regulation of body temperature, improved focus and attention, and helping to alleviate feelings of anxiety, stress and depression.

Sorry, we’re just not going for that. Compression clothing? Probably. Noel Edmonds? Meh. Ions? Nah. Maybe we'll be proved wrong, in which case we'll apologise and take it all back, but for now we're maintaining a healthy scepticism.

This is actually a really good base layer, though. The polyamide/elastane fabric is extremely comfortable. Flat-stitched with raglan shoulders and mesh panels along the sides, it feels great on – lightly squeezing rather than restrictive, as long as you get the right size.

We put it on, went out and cranked it up, and came home to find the black dye had run into the Assos jersey we were wearing over the top. Should have put it through the washing machine first – it might have said that on the labels. Anyway, the dye came out okay and we guess it does demonstrate that this top effectively shifts sweat away from your body. It has an anti-microbial application too, helping to keep nasty niffs at bay.

Verdict

Effective wicking base layer, although we're sceptical about the benefits of a compression top for cycling and don't buy into the ion technology