Best Convertable Hiking Pants?
Columbia Men's Silver Ridge Utility Convertible Pants - Backpacking Light
Convertible Hiking Pants Review
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Hi, y'all! I recently tore a bunch of small holes in my go-to Ascend convertible pants from Bass Pro Shop, and I guess its time for something a bit more technical.
During the day, I always unzip them into shorts, but I like the option of putting them on for around camp, and when its colder than 30 degrees. During the summer, I will probably use my MHW Elkommando kilt, but if I'm going with people who are put off by it, I would go to the pants. I guess rugged is good, but not too much weight is nice, ideally quick drying. I know some people go with shorts and wind pants, but I don't think its for me, being that there are times when cold weather bushwhacking comes up. Loose fit is also good, as I would want to wear my Patagonia thermal weights under it when I sleep. The integrated belt is also nice, like the MHW ones, but not required, I would just need a belt recommendation.
I'm 5'11", 185, and generally, wear a 35x34, but if your fit was different, let me know! Thanks!
tl;dr: I've been surprisingly impressed by the random pair of Marmot Transcend pants I ended up with, and have bought more as my go-to hiking pants. Prana Stretch Zion are kinda overrated. I have a longer review + pictures on my website
Why convertible hiking pants?
I almost never turn convertible pants into shorts. What I do do, however, is zip off the bottom half by about 50%. This allows the pants to mechanically vent through the opening gap you’ve created, giving you about 80% of the benefit of shorts, while also providing close to 100% of the benefit of pants (protection from brush and sun exposure). Over the 15,000+ miles of backpacking I’ve done in pants, most of those miles have been in Prana Stretch Zion Convertibles.
I've ended up with a variety of other convertible pants for various reasons.
| Feature | Prana Stretch Zion | Marmot Transcend | Columbia Silver Ridge | KUHL Renegade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating | 3/5 | 4/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
| Retail Price | $125 | (Discontinued) | $70 | $115 |
| How quickly they dry | 1/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 2/5 |
| Resistance to Odor | 4/5 | 4/5 | 1/5 | 4/5 |
| Quality of convertible zip | 2/5 | 4/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 |
| Weight | 15.1 oz | 10.85 oz | 9.45 oz | 15.2 oz |
| Durability | 4/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| General Comments | Don’t dry quickly enough. Direction of the zipper makes pants less durable. | Pretty good pants overall. Wish fabric were stretchier. | Do not purchase. They smell within hours of being used. | Perfectly adequate pants. Wouldn’t buy for backpacking. |
Stretch Zion Pants
These are the first convertible pants I ever used for long-distance hiking and I fell in love with them. I have thousands of miles of hiking using these.
The Good
They’re comfortable
They fit okay
They’re the right-amount of stretchy
They have an integrated belt
Zipper pocket is conveniently located
They have a lot of utility, and
They’re pretty durable (~3000 miles of use and more as just shorts)
The most interesting feature to the pants is the integrated belt. I’ve since learned from other pants that sometimes integrated belts can vanish internally and it can be near-impossible to get the belt out again. I have not had this issue with these pants. In fact, these pants are very usable, and the integrated belt mostly works. Of course, the integrated belt does become uncinched during movement, so frequent adjustments may be necessary (e.g. running), but for backpacking the belt works acceptably!
The Bad
They’re heavy
They take a long time to dry
When converting the pants to shorts, the front of the pants unzip first
What kept me coming back to the Stretch Zion pants is that they have an integrated belt! One less thing to worry about. However, they don’t dry very quickly, and they’re really quite heavy. The single biggest issue, however, is that when you start to convert them to shorts, the front of the knees get revealed first, rather than the back the knees.
The main reason I use convertible pants is so that I can vent my legs by unzipping the pants 50-70% of the way. For the Stretch Zion pants, this means that trees and other brush are likely to enter through your open knee, snag the pants, and stop you in your place. Continued use of the pants like this degrades the zipper. and results in torn and shredded pants around the knee area. When this happens, I retire the pants and they become permanent shorts in my collection. At this point in my life, I will only choose to buy hiking pants that open through the back of the knee first. That is a much better design.
Marmot Transcend Convertible Hiking Pants
I didn’t go out of my way to try these pants. I never would have considered buying them. In fact, the only reason I ended up buying these pants is because I needed to! When hiking the Continental Divide Trail in 2022, I completely destroyed my Stretch Zion pants while traversing through miles of aggressive blowdowns. I also lost my sunglasses to the blowdowns. I walked into Steamboat springs half-naked, and needed some pants. The Marmot store was the only store with convertible pants in my size (28 Waist), so I grabbed them. Of note: Marmot does not have very good warranty service, so know that before buying any Marmot product.
When I switched from Stretch Zions to these pants, I was blown away!
The Good
They dry quickly
They’re comfortable
They fit okay
They’re light-weight
They unzip, exposing the back of the knee first
They’re fairly durable (~ 1400 miles of use)
Moving from Stretch Zion pants to these, I was amazed by what it felt like to have pants that dried quickly. Also, the knees opening in the other direction was a game changer — it allowed for improved venting (better heat dissipation), and also meant that I was less prone to getting stopped suddenly by brush that snagged me through the opening!
The Bad
The material isn’t stretchy enough
They’re discontinued
The one big problem with these pants is that they’re not stretchy
Unlike my Stretch Zion pants that fail due to punctures from brush material, my Marmot Transcends failed by having the crotch break open. I tore the seems when doing some high steps during rock scrambling. For the rest of my hike, I had to regularly repair the crotch with my sewing kit. My sewing did not maintain the the integrity of my pants for very long.
Other features that I’m ambivalent about: they include side zippers, so you can remove the bottom half of the pants without removing your shoes. I seldom use this feature.
Columbia Silver Ridge Convertible Hiking Pants
I wanted to like these pants, I really did. The only thing to like about them, however, is that they came with a 1.3 oz lightweight belt.
The Good
They dry very quickly
They’re light-weight
They come with a light-weight belt
The Bad
They smell terrible with very little use
When converting the pants to shorts, the zipper unzips the front of the pants first
The fit is too baggy
They don’t block wind well
If the pants didn’t smell so bad after very little use, I might be more into these pants. However, I can’t do it. If I use them, even casually for a day, I notice that I smell awful whenever I sit down. I have never had this happen before with anything other than a couple of synthetic-material boxer briefs that I’ve used in the past, and only after intense workouts.
It adds insult to injury that the pants unzip from the front, exposing the knee, making them prone to snags and destruction. The material doesn’t seem durable compared to the other pants in this review (although I just will never use these pants for enough miles to know for sure). All-in-all, I can’t get behind these pants. I’d even go so far as to say, “stay away from these convertible hiking pants!”
KÜHL Renegade Convertible Hiking Pants
I only have around 100 miles of use with these pants for this review, so it may be a little pre-emptive. For most pieces of gear, I aim to get at least 300 miles of backpacking use before making a definitive decision. However, I need to state that I got these pants for free from KÜHL (yay!)
Overall, I think the pants are fine. Their best use is probably for snowshoeing, or less-intense recreational activities. They might also be great for long, urban tourism trips where you’re packing minimal clothing for a variety of activities. They’re usable for hiking and backpacking, and perform acceptably for that. I recently did 40 miles of wilderness bushwhacking in Ventana, and they did what they needed to do!
The pants have also been fine for running (as shorts), use around town, and they look pretty stylish (all things considered) for a convertible pant! I’ll probably continue to use these in normal life, just not for backpacking. If you’re looking for durable, stylish pants with a mix of activities involved, these might just be for you!
The Good
They’re comfortable
They fit okay
They unzip, exposing the back of the knee first
The zipper pocket is inside another pocket
The thing that I like most about these pants is that the zipper pocket is located inside another pocket. Zipper pockets is one of the key things I look for from my hiking pants! A good zipper pocket is essential for securing my hiking wallet (ID, money, credit cards) and car keys. Having this zipper pocket more protected does a lot to assuage my concerns on backpacking trips (or long trips in general).
The Bad
They’re very heavy
They include snaps at the bottom of each pant leg. The snaps are prone to getting caught on trail debris
The zipper for conversion seems likely to fail.
The snaps… omg. Not good. They should not be at the bottom of the pants. They don’t improve fit, and they are the biggest weakness. A friend that joined me for my most recent-bushwhack in Ventana had to make an emergency stop at REI to grab a pair of pants for P.Oak mitigation. On the way down, he mentioned that he had a pair of old pants that kept coming unsnapped, making them terrible for hiking in. Kuhl needs to cool it with their snaps — they’re just not good. Due to bottom-of-pants snap design, pants are unlikely to be durable long-term for backpacking
Additionally, when I was reattaching the bottoms to the pants, the zipper came undone. I’m used to this happening as zippers fail, but never with new gear. This does not instill confidence that the zippers are going to hold up over hundreds of miles of use.
Other features that I’m ambivalent about: the pants include side zippers. This means that you can remove the bottom half of the pants without removing your shoes. I seldom use this feature.
Hi!
I'm looking for a some convertible pants mainly for hiking and minimalist traveling.
I want some pants that can do the following:
UV40 or more protection
Preferably good looking so I can use them in places where "good looking" pants are required.
Zip-off so they can become shorts for hot days.
I want the "shorts part" (or all the pants) to be from a "dry fast" material and to be intended to also be used as swimming shorts.
I want at least one good pocket with zipper.
Anybody knows something that can do all this good?