Bucket Hats Are More Protective Than Caps, Airier Than Sun Hoods
The best bucket hats for running and hiking stylishly protect your eyes, ears, and scalp from the sun, all while venting as much heat as possible while on the move. They offer better aeration and nearly as much protection as a cap plus sun hoodie, and better protection than just a cap. And of course there’s no better way to elevate your style and flair.
While you’re here, don’t miss our buyers guides to mesh running caps, z-poles, trail super shoes, and trail running shoes for hiking.
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Key Criteria To Look For
- Downturned 2.0-2.5” brim
- Sun protection top panel
- Breathable mesh side panels
- Adjustable crown cinching
- Light colors to reflect heat
Functional Pros & Cons
- Pro: Protects eyes, ears, scalp, upper neck
- Pro: Protects more areas than a cap
- Pro: Airier than cap and hood combo
- Con: Exposes lower neck and lower face
- Con: Flaps, flops, blows off in wind and sprinting
- Con: Brim bumps stuff, blocks upper peripherals
The Best Bucket Hats For Running & Hiking
Tier 1 – The best bucket hats. Meets key criteria without major flaws.
- Editor’s Choice, Running: Ciele GOBucket
- Editor’s Choice, Hiking: Outdoor Research Swift
- Top All-Around: Rabbit
- Top All-Around: Fractel B Series
- Top All-Around: Asics Performance
- Stiff Brim: rnnr
Tier 2 – Good bucket hats, but flawed in some way.
- Great but Long Brim: Headsweats Triathlon Performance
- Good but Long Brim: Ciele TRLBucket
- Good but Lacking Top Protection: HOKA Adventure 2.0
- Good but Only Fits Small Heads: Chillhang Rainbow Panel
- Packable but Floppy: Territory Run Co Long Haul
Tier 3 – Notable. Fails to meet key criteria, and/or majorly flawed
- No Sun Protection, Non-Adjustable, Runs Large, Bad Brim: Nike ACG Radical AirFlow APEX
- Not Breathable Enough, Non-Adjustable, Long Brim: Adidas Victory
- No Sun Protection, Floppy Brim AONIJIE Breathable Mesh
Comparison Table
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| Make/Model | Price ($) | Avg Brim Measure (in) | Brim Stiffness (0-3) | Side Breathability (0-3) | Top Protection (0-3) | Top Breathability (0-3) |
| Ciele GO | 75 | 2.00 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Outdoor Research Swift | 46 | 2.50 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Rabbit | 42 | 2.25 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Fractel B | 55 | 2.00 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Asics Performance | 60 | 2.00 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| rnnr | 45 | 2.50 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Headsweats Performance | 40 | 2.75 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Ciele TRL | 85 | 2.75 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| HOKA Adventure 2.0 | 44 | 2.50 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Territory RC Long Haul | 39 | 2.00 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Chillhang Rainbow Panel | 69 | 2.00 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Nike ACG | 65 | 2.25 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Adidas Victory | 36 | 2.75 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| AONIJIE Breathable Mesh | 33 | 2.25 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Tier 1 – The Best Bucket Hats
Meets key criteria, no major flaws
Ciele GOBucket
We believe Ciele GOBucket is the overall best bucket hat for running, thanks to its sleek 2.0″ brim, dialed-in fit, easy cinch adjuster, and overall high breathability. Its top and side panels are all made of the same thin, woven, breathable mesh fabric, which comes with pros and cons. The primary advantage is that the top is more breathable than most of its peers. The disadvantage is that it’s not UPF-rated, and thus safe to assume inadequate for extreme UV exposure. While the mesh is more breathable than average compared to other hats’ top panels, it is less breathable than average compared to some of the most open mesh side panels. All in all though, this is a superb bucket hat without major flaws, and we recommend it highly.
- Price: $75
- Brim Length: 2.0”
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: medium
- Top Breathability: medium
- Side Breathability: medium
- Pros: Best for running. Well-rounded performance throughout. Breathable top panel. No major flaws.
- Cons: Expensive. Top mesh not UPF-rated, not protective enough for extreme UV. Side panels could be more breathable.
Outdoor Research Swift Bucket
My love of the Outdoor Research Swift bucket hat, and curiosity to see if anything could beat it, is actually what inspired this buyers guide! Swift is one of a select few bucket hats with a UPF-rated top, and maximum breathability side panels. The way in which the mesh covers the entire head lifts the top fabric off of your scalp, encouraging air flow. Choose between two sizes S/M and L/XL, and dial in a secure fit with shock cord cinching. The 2.5″ brim is at the long end of the sweet spot range, offering a little more protection than average, in exchange for a bit more flopping. It might be a bit better for hikers than runners, but great either way. The biggest drawback is that it does not adequately protect the top front of your forehead, that area is only covered by open mesh at the edges of hair line. Also worth noting that OR refreshes colorways in spring, so you will find fewer options in fall.
- Price: $46
- Brim Length: 2.5”
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: high
- Top Breathability: low
- Side Breathability: high
- Pros: UPF 40 rating. Hyper breathable side panels. Fair price. Mesh underneath top panel encourages airflow. Longer-than-avg brim gives more protection.
- Cons: Only available in black at time of publication. Longer-than-avg brim has more flopping potential. Exposes top front of forehead.
Rabbit Bucket Hat
Rabbit offers a dialed-in running bucket hat with the same breathable mesh used throughout each of the four top, side, and back panels. Compared to something like OR Swift, that means improved top breathability at the cost of worse side breathability. Its 2.25″ brim is a bit softer and heavier than average, which has the potential to increase flopping and create a more wavy shape. We also note the simple-yet-effective crown cinch, and lower-than-average price point. Rabbit’s is one of the most well-rounded, simple, and effective buckets in this buyers guide.
- Price: $42
- Brim Length: 2.25”
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: medium
- Top Breathability: medium
- Side Breathability: medium
- Pros: Simple and effective. Great price. Top is highly breathable.
- Cons: Slightly softer and heavier-than-avg brim increases flopping potential. Top mesh not UPF-rated, not protective enough for extreme sun. Side panels could be more breathable.
Fractel B Series
Aussie brand Fractel sells an array of exceptionally well-designed bucket hats for running in different textile combos, many of which are UPF-rated. This is a blessing and a curse. You might find the color you like, only to discover its in a less breathable fabric. You might choose the most breathable option, but then it doesn’t have fun colors. Some come with chin straps, some don’t. The version we tested featured side panels with large perforations, and a standard micro-perforated top. Close to perfect, but yours might be entirely different. All options are pretty good, but choose wisely and you’ll score one of the best all-around bucket hats for running and hiking.
- Price: $55
- Brim Length: 2.0”
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: medium
- Top Breathability: medium
- Side Breathability: medium
- Pros: Great for running. UPF rated panels. No major flaws or issues.
- Cons: Use of mixed textiles across colorways creates inconsistent performance. Description unclear what is UPF 30 or 50 or unrated.
Asics Performance Running Bucket
The Asics Performance running bucket is well-rounded bucket hat, most notable for its unique back-of-hat cinching mechanism. This consists of a zig-zagging cinchable shock cord, reminiscent of shoe laces. The advantage is that it increases comfort and security of the fit by dispersing cord pressure, rather than concentrating it all on the crown. The disadvantage is that it creates a slightly vertical squeeze on the sloping upper backside of your head, encouraging an already shallow depth bucket to gradually inch upward. It requires somewhat frequent micro adjustments to pull it back down. The top mesh is fairly solid; a near-perfect blend of protection and breathability. The side mesh is okay, but definitely could be opened up with larger perforation for better venting. The chin strap is removable, and we recommend removing it.
- Price: $60
- Brim Length: 2.0”
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: high
- Top Breathability: low
- Side Breathability: medium
- Pros: Unique cinching mechanism does not pressure crown. Great top panel. Fun colors. Removable chins strap.
- Cons: Shallow depth, runs small. Gradually lifts itself slightly off of your head, requiring adjustment. Side panels should be more breathable.
rnnr Bucket Hats
The rnnr bucket is both highly divisive and extremely effective. What sets it apart from its peers is the large, aggressively downturned, ultra stiff and structural brim. It won’t flap or flop ever, and maintains its shape no matter what. The drawback is that you can feel the stiffness against your head; it’s also harder to pack, more likely to bump into your shoulders as you look up, and slightly more likely to blow off in wind. The net effect isn’t necessarily better or worse than a normal brim, it’s just different. We expect most people would not prefer rnnr’s bucket, but some percent of you will love it. Setting the brim aside, it actually has the best mesh textile combo in the entire buyers guide, including a breathable UPF-40 rated mesh, and large, hyper-ventilated open mesh side panels. Rounding this out are a classic shock cord cinch and affordable price point.
- Price: $45
- Brim Length: 2.5”
- Brim Stiffness: high
- Top Sun Protection: high
- Top Breathability: medium
- Side Breathability: high
- Pros: Stiff brim never flaps or flops. Best-in-class top and side mesh combo. Good price. UPF-rated top.
- Cons: Stiff brim can be felt, is harder to pack, more likely to bump, more likely to blow off.
Tier 2 – Good Bucket Hats
These are overall good, but might not meet key criteria or have flaws.
Headsweats Triathlon Performance Bucket
Apart from its extra long and somewhat floppy brim, Headsweats Triathlon Performance would have been a tier 1 bucket hat. Unfortunately, the 2.75″ brim is both softer, and half an inch longer than average, which leads to very poor performance in wind and while running fast. The end result is closer to a traditional sun hat than a bucket, which does mean increased sun protection. Other than that, we note the superbly well-ventilated side panels and below average price point, which still makes for a tempting offer. We just prefer sportier brims for improved athletic performance.
- Price: $40
- Brim Length: 2.75”
- Brim Stiffness: low
- Top Sun Protection: high
- Top Breathability: low
- Side Breathability: high
- Pros: Great side panels. Extra long brim increases protection. Great price.
- Cons: Long brim is too soft and floppy.
Ciele TRLBucket
The #1 thing to know about Ciele TRLBucket is that it’s a good sun hat pretending to be a bucket. What makes a bucket hat a bucket hat is the signature short (average length 2.25″) brim with a downturned angle. TRLBucket, on the other hand, has a relatively flat angle, 3″ front/rear brim, narrowing to 2.5″ at the sides. Technicalities aside, the cool thing about this brim is that the sides snaps closed against the body, cowboy hat style – yeehaw! The top and side panels all consist of the same translucent and highly breathable mesh; great for breathability and mediocre for sun protection. We wouldn’t recommend this for extreme UV, fine hair, or balding gentlemen, but probably okay for most.
- Price: $85
- Brim Length: 3.0″ front, 2.5″ sides
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: low
- Top Breathability: high
- Side Breathability: high
- Pros: Highly breathable top and sides. Sides fold up cowboy-hat style. Great looking. Wide brim shades more of face and neck.
- Cons: Very expensive. Mediocre sun protection at top and back sides of bucket. Top nob is a pressure point.
Chillhang Rainbow Panel Bucket Hat
Chillhang Rainbow Panel caught our attention with its perfect UPF-rated top fabric and breathable mesh side panels. However, things go downhill from there. Their one-size-fits all is equivalent to most other brands’ size small. The unique two part chin strap yields a good fit, but cannot be removed. And lastly, why is it so expensive?
- Price: $69
- Brim Length: 2.0”
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: high
- Top Breathability: low
- Side Breathability: high
- Pros: Unique chin strap. Correct alignment of UPF-40-rated sun protection top with breathable mesh sides.
- Cons: Non-removable chin strap. One size fits all is actually a US size small. Expensive.
HOKA Adventure Hat 2.0
HOKA Adventure Hat 2.0 has a lot potential, but fails to meet the key criteria of protecting your head from the sun. While the top mesh is extremely breathable and well-ventilated, it’s practically see through, and anyone without a full head of thick dark hair will burn through it. But perhaps the silliest design element is the placement of extra fabric over the side panel to create “ice pockets.” While this might work for 5-10 minutes of cooling, the double layer fabric ultimately decreases breathability and increases heat build up in the exact area where they could have gotten away with open mesh. The 2.5″ brim is longer than average, providing extra neck and face protection, but this comes at the price of degraded wind and sport performance. We do really like the cinching mechanism, which relies on a non-stretch nylon webbing band with reflective trim. Compared to a shock cord, this disperses pressure better.
- Price: $44
- Brim Length: 2.5”
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: low
- Top Breathability: high
- Side Breathability: medium
- Pros: Highly breathable mesh fabric. longer-than-average brim gives extra protection. Nice crown adjuster decreases creates less pinching pressure than a shock cord. Good price.
- Cons: Inadequate sun protection. Longer-than-average brim is sub par for wind and athletics. Double fabric layer on sides squanders breathability.
Territory Run Co. Long Haul Bucket
The best thing we can say about Territory Run Co. Long Haul is that it’s the most packable bucket hat in this buyers guide. The entirely unstructured brim can be folded or scrunched into a running vest pocket easily, and it weighs next to nothing. But that is also its cardinal sin. The unstructured brim, comprised of one layer of the print fabric and one layer of mesh, is extremely floppy and prone to blowing flat against your face or forehead depending on wind angle or speed. Beyond that, the micro-perforated fabric has okay breathability and decent sun protection. The one-size-fits-all crown can be cinched down via shock cord. And it’s very affordable!
- Price: $39
- Brim Length: 2.0”
- Brim Stiffness: none
- Top Sun Protection: medium
- Top Breathability: medium-low
- Side Breathability: medium-low
- Pros: Most packable. Lightest weight. Good price.
- Cons: Unstructured brim is frustratingly floppy, performs very poorly in wind. Side panels should be more breathable.
Tier 3 – Notable Bucket Hats, Not Recommended
These are prominent on the marketplace and must be addressed
Nike ACG Radical AirFlow APEX Dri-FIT Bucket Hat
Behold the attention grabbing Nike ACG Radical Airflow APEX Dri-Fit, a concept bucket hat optimized for breathability… and nothing else. Seriously, did the innovators at Swoosh HQ forget that the point of a sun hat is to protect against UV? Unless you have a full head of very thick dark hair (and even still), prepare for scalp burns. On top of that, it has the second floppiest brim we tested, and with such an aggressive downturn that it blocks the top half of your field of view. Did we mention it runs large and there’s no size adjustment?
- Price: $65
- Brim Length: 2.25”
- Brim Stiffness: low
- Top Sun Protection: none
- Top Breathability: high
- Side Breathability: high
- Pros: Most breathable bucket hat available.
- Cons: Offers virtually zero UV protection. Soft floppy brim. Aggressive downturn blocks significant portions of field of view. Runs extremely large – size down. No size adjustment cinch. Expensive.
Adidas Victory Bucket
Adidas Victory is another popular bucket hat that needs to be addressed, but we don’t recommend it. Unlike Nike Radical Airflow, Adidas is overly protective and inadequately breathable for athletic use. And no, the dinky the micro perforations do not make up for it. The extra long brim tells the same story – extra sun protection in exchange for degraded sport performance. The mesh interior layer and removable chin strap are a nice touch, but the daisy chains are a silly flourish. And the fact that it cannot be cinched tight around the crown is inexcusable.
- Price: $36
- Brim Length: 2.75″
- Brim Stiffness: medium
- Top Sun Protection: high
- Top Breathability: low
- Side Breathability: low
- Pros: Extra protection from long brim
- Cons: Brim is too long, too floppy for athletic use. Side panels should be more breathable. Unnecessary daisy chain adds pointless material. Size isn’t adjustable.
AONIJIE Breathable Mesh Bucket
AONIJIE Breathable Mesh bucket hats kept coming up in our product research, but proved to be another let down. While it exhibits best-in-class breathability on par with Nike, the sun protection level is basically zero. This hat can only be worn by people with a full head of thick, dark hair, and even still you might burn. Its brim is relatively soft and somewhat floppy, not ideal for wind or sprinting. The one size fits all is tight and shallow on large heads, okay for medium, and optimal for small heads.
- Price: $33
- Brim Length: 2.25
- Brim Stiffness: low
- Top Sun Protection: low
- Top Breathability: high
- Side Breathability: high
- Pros: Maximum breathability. Very affordable price.
- Cons: Provides virtually zero sun protection. Floppy brim is bad for wind and sprinting. One size only, runs small. Floppy brim.
Conclusion: Best Bucket Hats For Running & Hiking
Thanks for reading our buyers guide to the best bucket hats for running and hiking, where we hope found your next piece of adventure headwear. Buckets offer more sun protection than a standalone cap, and better aeration than a cap plus sun hoodie. Their greatest weakness is wind, so check the weather forecast before choosing to wear one. When shopping, look for UPF-rated top fabric, open mesh side panels, light colors, crown cinching, and a 2.0-2.5″ brim. Happy trails!
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