Any experience with Luke's Ultralite Thru-Hiker "laundry day" shorts?

[Zack Freije]

I saw them here on Massdrop:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/lukes-ultralite-shorts?referer=BS4J98

It says they are 1oz in total weight, made of Argon90, have a drawstring waist, and pack down to the size of a cigarette lighter.

So, my question is would these hold up for hiking shorts? If so, I could see these as an alternative to runner’s shorts or similar which can be 6-10oz.

I’m considering a different option for clothes layering that includes shorts and separate pants. Currently and in the past, I’ve always used zip off pants with the belief that I get both shorts and pants in the lightest possible combo that is still reasonably durable.

I’m trying to think if there is an option to go with ultralight shorts and a separate lightweight pair of pants that don’t zip off…and I guess a corollary to that is do I often need the convenience of the ability to convert on the fly? Lately, for me at least, the answer has been no.

As we move into Fall, I like to have shorts during the day and pants at night.

[Zack Freije]

[JCH]

Interesting…

Makes me think they might make a good UL pair of swimming trunks. Its nice to take a swim at the end of the day when/where possible, and doing so in my drawers is fine when alone or with male companions…but not so much in a more public or sexually heterogenous environment.

I bet those things dry FAST!

[Simon Kenton]

They would be pretty fragile. There are more durable running shorts for 2-3oz when you trim the liners out.

My system when weight is the absolute priority

Ex Officios – 2oz

NB Running Shorts – 3oz

Icebreaker 150wt Bottoms – 5oz

Montbell Dynamo Wind Pants – 2oz

 

12-13oz for a setup that could easily handle temps down to the mid 20s while moving

 

For modesty’s sake, most of the time I wear my Patagonia Baggies with the liners cut out en lieu of the NB running shorts. The Baggies weigh about 5oz

[Zack Freije]

Simon,

Which NB running shorts? Patagonia Baggies – 5″ or 7″? Do they all breathe well and dry quickly? How do they hold up to scrambling on rocks and underbrush?

[Russ W]

I had been recently eyeballing these shorts and had a late night impulse buy from Massdrop. It will be a while but I’ll provide feedback once received. Unless it’s less than 35-40 degrees F, I hike exclusively in lined running shorts, either Nike or Brooks, so I’m anxious to experiment.

[Simon Kenton]

New Balance Go 2 shirts – 100% polyester

5″ Baggies

They both breathe well (they’re shorts after all, lots of ventilation) and they both dry quickly.

I’ve never been in brush with the NBs but the Baggies are the most durable pair of shorts that I own.

Again, they’re shorts so they aren’t affected by scrambling. Unless you are worried about sitting on granite with them? If that’s the case, they hold up well.

There is also an outfit who makes a 3oz Supplex Running short. Best of both worlds. If I can find the vendor I’ll edit this post with their URL

 

Edit – Here’s the URL:

http://www.soark.com/shorts_supplex.shtml

My wife has a pair of these and they are well built. I expect they’ll last a really long time. Supplex, after all.

[JCH]

Zack – if you haven’t already, peruse the discussion section of the drop. Quite a bit of info about opacity and durability there along with some sizing insights.  Looks like this is at least the second drop.

If you buy from Luke’s website you have more choices: 2 other colors and options for a zippered pocket. This will cost $39.95 delivered or only ~$7 more, but also avoids the delays inherent in MassDrop.

[Michael]

Zack … I ordered a pair a few weeks back … would be very fragile to hike in. Its the same Argon that HammockGear makes their quilts outs of, if you are familiar with those.

I wear them for sleep in the summer so I am not getting funky/sweaty shorts on the pad/quilt.

My size 34″ waist weighs 31g.

In addition to the durability limitations as a true pair of hiking shorts, I don’t think the cut is ideal for active motion/pursuits.

I love them for my uses though!

[Ricky Ng]

I used a pair of the wind pants version for my PCT thru hike this year. My standard wear is a pair of 2 in 1 shorts from asics. When it got cold/windy, the wind pants gets put on over them. They were also my laundry pants in town.

In terms of durability, I’ve probably hiked a couple hundred miles including most of the sierras in mine and they are still holding up except for the spots on the butt where I sat on sharp rocks. A bit of tenacious tape fixed up the holes.

[Zack Freije]

Wow, thanks for all the feedback! I’ll check out all these options.

Sounds like the Luke’s shorts may or may not be useful in certain circumstances only.

I think I’m sold on moving away from traditional zip-off hiking pants. The question is do I buy a pair of lightweight pants to change into at camp, or do I get simply a pair of wind pants. My current waterproof/windproof pants are a bit heavier than some of the UL options.

The only question is on convenience and converting from shorts to pants and back without a major stop. I’m not sure how important that really is, so I’m going to evaluate that.

[Bob Shuff]

I held off on the first drop, but jumped in this time.  I usually hike in Rail Raider Eco Mesh pants, but it’s good to have shorts if you want to wash and/or dry them.  Swimming, etc.  Every oz counts, and I’m not planning to use them as my main hiking clothes.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Before my PCT Thru-Hike I sewed a pair of shorts that are extremely similar to these. Mainstream running shorts all seemed to be either ridiculously short or unnecessarily heavy, so I sewed my own with a nice long inseam.

My shorts have a shockcord waist band and they’re from a 30D fabric I think. They are 58g (2oz). I used them a lot on PCT for swimming, hiking and wearing during laundry and they’ve held up great. I’m planning on taking the same pair on another thru-hike next summer.

The LUL ones are lighter (28g) because they use even lighter fabric (15D argon90) and a thinner shockcord. I suspect my choice of 30D fabrics is closer to optimal if you want to use this for more than just laundry shorts.

One word of caution is that these really light fabrics can be less than modest. Men may prefer a shirt with ample length on the front or a pair of undies.

[Nick Gatel]

New Balance Go 2 shirts [sic: shorts] – 100% polyester

5″ Baggies

They both breathe well (they’re shorts after all, lots of ventilation) and they both dry quickly.

I’ve never been in brush with the NBs but the Baggies are the most durable pair of shorts that I own.

I don’t think the NB Go-to-Shorts are available anymore. I have several pair with the liner cut out. Inseam is 5″ and they have two large side pockets. Weight is 3 1/8 ounces. These are my favorite shorts for everything except backpacking. I even wear them in restaurants (shorts are acceptable in the resort town I live in). If anyone sees these on sale somewhere, let me know!!

My go to backpacking shorts for ~30 years have been 5″ Patagonia Baggies (sans liner). Durable and have large pockets that are not mesh. Also have a rear mesh pocket. Weight (M) is about 5.5 ounces.

A really nice pair of shorts (although they lack pockets so I don’t wear them much) are the Patagonia Field Shorts. Similar material as the NB Go-to-Shorts, they do not have a liner, inseam is 7″, and weight (M) is under 3 ounces.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

^  Those Patagonia Field Shorts do look nice. Patagonia claims 2.7oz, $44.

http://www.patagonia.com/product/field-shorts/11193.html

[Nick Gatel]

Those Patagonia Field Shorts do look nice. Patagonia claims 2.7oz, $44.

Mine (size M) are 2 7/8 ounces (81 grams) verified on my wife’s digital kitchen scale, which I am not supposed to use to weight “dirty” gear.

One caveat… mine are 5 years old and Patagonia often re-releases the same product with a different fabric (think Houdini).

But again, they don’t have pockets. I would never carry an extra pair of shorts for “laundry” as there is usually something else I can wear.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Yeah I also don’t see the value in a dedicated pair of UL laundry shorts. A devout UL hiker would just wear their rain paints for an hour or two, so shorts only really make sense if they have additional functionality. I suspect these 1oz LUL shorts aren’t up the task of much additional use, but 2-3oz shorts can be. I suspect my MYOG shorts are similar in durability to the Patagonia Field Shorts, but weigh less due the shockcord waist band which works okay.

[Zack Freije]

The 30d shorts sound pretty cool.

I don’t really need or want pockets in my shorts.

I tried on a pair of baggies at REI. They only had 7″ and I didn’t love the lenth, so I held off, but they do seem durable. I wonder how well they breathe through…

They also had Brooks and NB running shorts that seemed promising, but a little less durable or more likely to get snagged on something…but they did have a drawstring waist which seems like a nice feature. Also these materials claim to wick moisture and transfer it outward.

I weighed the shorts portion of my convertible hiking pants and they are 8.7 oz.

Something around 3-4 oz sounds nice.

[JCH]

My Luke’s “laundry shorts” arrived yesterday and I am totally impressed. Well made, light, awesome fit. Durability? They are super light (mine came in at 32.3g) and there is no way to know after one day plus this is totally dependent on how you (ab)use them.  I don’t hike in shorts…too many mosquitos and ticks around here…but just looking at them I think they might work just fine for hiking if you stayed on trail. I intend to use them as something to swim in or to change into at the end of the day.

I ordered from the website, not MassDrop as I preferred one of the colors not offered on MD. Sizing was a question and honestly a bit of a gamble…the website says “write your waist size in the comments when ordering”. I normally wear a 36, so I said my waist size was 36″-38″ and if given a choice would prefer a little baggy over a little tight.  They nailed the fit…perfectly.

I’m very happy and look forward to using these for quite some time to come.

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