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review
£29.95
VERDICT:
Cool your arms effectively and keep the sun off
Well made
Effective cooling
A little pricey
Weight:
41g
Contact:
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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The Megmeister Ultrafris Pro Cool UPF 50+ Arm Sleeves work really well, keeping your arms cool during hot rides and your skin protected against UV rays.
Rather than protecting your arms from the cold, like normal arm warmers, the Ultrafris sleeves are for riding on hot days, with the focus being on keeping your arms cool and protecting them from sun damage. I can safely say they achieve the first, keeping my arms cool throughout the review period, although temperatures only rose to the mid-20s.
Megmeister claims that the more you sweat, the more cooling takes place, and I found that to be the case in the few days of genuine heat during the testing period. The sleeves are thin and slightly textured which helps to increase cooling, while allowing airflow through the material.
The other key element here is UV protection, which seems to work well, though it's not something I can test categorically. During a couple of rides I wore factor 50 on the back of my neck and face, and these alone on my arms, with nothing burning.
They come in three sizes, and I found the mediums stayed on my arms well without any excessive bunching or slipping, courtesy of silicone grippers around the top. The sleeves are simple to put on and take off, and fit easily into a small space in jersey pockets.
Their rrp of £29.95 is a little expensive, but their effectiveness compared with others I have used goes some way to justifying it. I tested Castelli's UPF50+ Light Arm Skins in 2018, and although good, they don't cool quite as well (I tested them against each other directly during this review). They're now £29.
The Cycology Logo Sun Sleeves are cheaper at £20, though, and James found them effective.
> How to protect your skin from the sun when cycling
While it will be good to test these up into the 30s, I was still impressed by them and will be using them when the temperatures rise. They definitely cool you down impressively and I am confident in the UPF 50+ claim. They're not cheap, but I found that they work better than at least one of their competitors, so go some way to justifying it.
Verdict
Cool your arms effectively and keep the sun off
road.cc test report
Make and model: Megmeister Ultrafris Pro Cool UPF 50+ Arm Sleeves
Size tested: Medium
Tell us what the product is for
Megmeister says, 'For riding on hot sunny days, the ultrafris pro's sweat activated cooling technology arm sleeve are essential for staying cool and 100% protected from the harmful UV rays.
'With elastic silicon grippers, the sleeves will stay in place, are easy to remove and pop into a jersey pocket when not needed.'
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Megmeister lists:
Sweat and wind activated cooling
UPF 50+ UV protection from harmful rays
Elastic silicon grippers
Breathable fabric
Flatlock seams
Nylon 79%, Polyurethane 21%
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
They are well made, with strategically placed silicone grippers and a well-chosen material that is both opaque and cooling.
Rate the product for performance:
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
8/10
Most sleeves I have tested in the past would not survive much, but these feel much more substantial and likely to survive a tumble.
Rate the product for fit:
8/10
The silicone grippers really helps to prevent slip and kept everything fitting well throughout the rides
Rate the product for sizing:
7/10
Rate the product for weight:
7/10
Rate the product for comfort:
8/10
Rate the product for value:
5/10
They are expensive, but operate at a level above similar priced competitors I have tried.
How easy is the product to care for? How did it respond to being washed?
Very easy – bunged in the washing machine at 30 degrees and line-dried without a problem.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Very well; it'll be useful to test these out in genuinely hot conditions, but up to the mid-20s I've been very impressed.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The construction – they don't feel like flimsy bits of fabric, they feel properly engineered.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Not a huge amount.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
The Cycology Logo Sun Sleeves come in at £20, while Castelli's UPF50+ Light Arm Skins, which I tested back in 2018, are now £29 but don't cool quite as well.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
A very well made pair of UV protective sleeves that keep the sun off without making you too sweaty.
About the tester
Age: 33
I usually ride: CAAD13 My best bike is: Cannondale Supersix Evo
I've been riding for: 10-20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed,
George is the host of the road.cc podcast and has been writing for road.cc since 2014. He has reviewed everything from a saddle with a shark fin through to a set of glasses with a HUD and everything in between.
Although, ironically, spending more time writing and talking about cycling than on the bike nowadays, he still manages to do a couple of decent rides every week on his ever changing number of bikes.
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