I can't figure this out. I've never been able to find a new Desperado hat, it seems to be the rarest cowboy hat in the game and when I do get one, it gets shredded every damn time. I've been attacked repeatedly by thugs in Freeside wearing Sheriff's Hats. Brand new Sheriff's Hats. What's up with that? I get in a massive firefight, the Desperado hat gets massacred while all the other types get through without a scratch. What the hell?
There's also the idiocy of not being able to use other cowboy hat types to fix cowboy hats in general, but that's another topic...

Get the Jury Rigger perk and you'll be able to fix your favored hat with literally ANY OTHER kind of hat or helmet. Or glasses, for that matter.

It probably just has low item HP.

Your best bet is the Crimson Caravan company, when you first go there, he usually has them for sell as permanent items when you first buy them.

I like the Desperado cowboy hat, but atm my character is wearing the the Rattan cowboy hat. Same problem in that degrade quick in combat.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Rawhide_cowboy_hat

I can't see wearing anything but the 1st Recon Beret. Great stats, looks cool and immune to damage.

Pretty much this right here. I gotta disagree on the looks though, a red beret is not as awesome as a cowboy hat. Especially since there are so many different types of cowboy hats available. I wish they all had some type of stat that can be useful in different situations.

Reasons to not wear the 1st Recon Beret:
1.) Overpowered for some builds. There is no other headgear that I know of that offers anything like this.
2.) Breaks world immersion. Why would the 1st Recon guys be all like "Yeah, looks good" if you wear their signature uniform item? If you go around in military communities and wear insignia/uniform that isn't yours, you're just asking for a beating. Maybe *after* you've become the NCR's favorite mercenary they'd overlook it, but...
3.) Boring. Why fixate on one hat when there's like 30 others to choose from.

Same here. I always have the beret on, unless I'm wearing the advanced rad suit, in which case it gets automatically taken off. I think.

A gentleman always takes his hat off when he is about to get down to things.

That way your hat will be protected.

Bah. Some things, maybe. But not the bloody lead-flying ones. No self-respecting Cowboy worthy of the title would dream of entering combat without his hat on as if daring his opponent to shoot it off his head.

I must be a gentleman, because I ALWAYS take off a hat if it isnt my bandana before a fight, I'm fearful of my hat getting hurt. Especially my tuxedo hat. :cryvaultboy:

I sometimes find Desperado hats on powder gangers, plus they are cheap to repair at any repair vendor

My current character is rolling with an old cowboy hat, reading spectacles, and a big brushy mustache.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a96/The_mango55/Games/JohnDaltonShotgun.jpg

BTW I freaking love the lever action shotgun, I really wish there was a 12 gauge version of it so I could use it more later in the game.

The beret does not look good with formal wear.

Bandana all the way...

But on the point of the thread, the desperado hat is definitely hard to get in the earlier stages of the game...then they become a bit more available.

I don't like the Desperado Hat :cryvaultboy: It does'nt look good with the cowboy suits...

I WISH WE HAD TRENCHCOATS :flamethrower:

There is a mod on the FONV Nexus (if you're on the PC) called 'Repairable Cowboy Hats' that is very simple, and it does two things with the cowboy hats. First, it makes the hats inter-repairable, since you could only repair the desperado hat with another desperado hat or a pre-war hat ... but you could repair every other hat with a desperado hat. And, it ups the hit points, since some of the hats were unbelievably fragile. It does not change any stats or add DT or change game balance or anything, just fixes some oversights.

With my first female character I'm embracing the search for all kinds of clothing and accessories. The Beret does look good with the Merc Charmer outfit. It has this bluish hue that really works well with the dark red of the beret. Try it.

Guilty of trading my Desperado hat for the Beret, but I the bonus was too helpful to ignore in the teen levels. I got the impression that "breaking" the hat doesn't impact the visual. I broke my Advanced Rad suit, yet as long as I didn't unequip it, it was good to go (rad resistance and all). On a side note, early in the game I found the Desperado hat on every other Powder ganger I killed. Go back to the Primm area and pluck off some gangers. And yes, we should be able to repair it with other hats, but that's what Jury Riggin is for.

There are tons of Desperado hats to be found on Powder Gangers. I had no trouble repairing my Desperado Hat to 100%. I do take it off just before combat though, and put on a helmet with some DT. With the Better Headshots mod it's suicidal not to..

They'll have to pry my 1st Recon red beret from my cold, dead hands. :rofl:

your forgot bright red....makes it easy to spot a sniper wearing it....and makes a target out of thier head....im sorry boon shouldnt have been standing out there making a target of himself when i was bored

I absolutely loved the desperado hat as soon as I found my first one. It's just too cool. That said, like many others, when actually roaming around and possibly going to be in combat, that little red beret is firmly glued to my head at all times. For one thing, whenever I take it off, Boone looks offended that I'm not wearing it (since he did give it to me as a gift for helping him/he thinks it's some kind of honor or something) and for another, no other "hat" I've found looks any better. Most hats look downright goofy, in fact.

Except the desperado hat, of course. But it doesn't do much in combat except get shot full of holes. Oh and the party hat is cool, because nothing says "I'm wasted" during a drunken whiskey and vodka binge like putting on a pointy, brightly colored paper hat.

Desperado hat can be repaired with prewar hat which can be found in shops sometimes. Also if you newer take it off than you do not have to care about condition. There is no disadvantage of wearing 0% hat. You just can not put it down (else you will not be allowed to put it back).