My heat tech tops arrived last week, and I've had a chance to try them out. Here is a slew of photos of the tops by themselves. (I have some photos of them in outfits that I'll post in my week-of-outfits post.)
http://s605.photobucket.com/al.....ng%20trip/
Password: november
I have been wanting some thin layering tops for a while, so I went crazy with this order. I got turtlenecks in off white and dark gray, and scoop necks in wine, blue 65 (the same color Julie got), red 16, and gray. The order took a week to arrive, pretty fast considering it was shipped from Japan. I also noticed that the order is billed in yen, so it's good to use a credit card that doesn't have a high foreign-exchange fee. The colors matched the website pretty well, except for the red 16 which is more orange than it appeared online.
Based on the measurement charts online, I fall between a small and medium. I found it useful that there are detailed garment measurements online, including things like the bicep circumference and shoulder width. I compared to some clothes I already have, and decided to go with the small size since the material is stretchy and I want the tops to be snug for layering. In the photos you can see that they are snug, but since I plan to wear them under other tops I'm fine with that.
I'd say that these tops are pretty similar to lightweight long underwear tops in fabric and warmth. They are definitely thin - I agree with Julie that they feel like thick opaque tights; they also reminded me of leotard material...a fine knit, opaque and stretchy. The fabric is very soft and feels great against my skin - I really like that. I wore this top a couple days this week, and it is definitely much warmer than similar cotton tops. It's not magical, of course, it's not like wearing a sweater or a coat. But it definitely takes the chill out of my cool office. I also didn't find the top too hot when I moved into a warmer room. I could push the sleeves up and cool off easily.
The space-age packaging claims that the fabric recovers its shape well, which seems like a nice idea, although I haven't really tested it yet. I always hate it when my cotton long-sleeved tshirts or sweaters get stretched out around the wrist because I pushed them up above my elbow. If these tops avoid that I'll be happy.
Overall, so far so good! I think I'll wear these a lot this fall & winter.