Thursday
Mar272008
March 27, 2008 Hits & misses from ExOfficio
I’ve previously reviewed the ExOfficio Air Strip Lite shirt and it’s a winner. It’s pricey so look for a sale. I’m less impressed with ExOfficio’s vaunted travel underwear. The men’s boxer variety - at least in my case - came oversized; they were the blousiest, largest mediums I’ve ever seen. This led to a good deal of bunching and discomfort. The fabric had more of the tacky, polyester feel when sweaty than I expected. My old Terramar Visaendurance briefs were much more comfortable and more odor-resistant. Alas, a far-sighted sock fairy made off with them and they’re no longer available. This looks like the replacement though: Terramar Underwear Boxer Briefs - with EC2 and 4-Way Stretch (For Men).Update on April 4, 2008 by
Frank@OBOW
Frank@OBOW
Briefly: To be fair, I now believe that some of my gripe with the ExOfficio boxers is that - as I must admit - I am really used to wearing boxer briefs, not true boxers. If you are used to wearing blousy boxers you’ll probably love the ExOfficios. My beloved and long lost Terramars were boxer briefs with tight legs. And so are most of the rest of my shorts. The ExOfficio fabric really is quite nice. I’ve given them something of a workout recently and I think my original comments were rather too negative.
Reader Comments (6)
I have to confess, I disagree. I've had my ExOfficio travel briefs for a while now. (I've amassed 5 pairs) and they are more comfortable than my regular cotton briefs, and they hold things right where I want, and of course they have all the light travel benefits of light weight and quick drying etc. I reserve them specially for travel. I've handwashed a couple of the older ones a score of times, and they still look and wear like new.
I also admit I'm not crazy about boxers, or boxer briefs so I can't speak to that. I can and do heartily recommend the briefs though (but, don't pay full price - wait for a sale).
P.
I have the ExOfficio boxer briefs and I have to say they are a perfect fit, more comfortable than my everyday Hanes boxer briefs even. Like Paul, I bought them on sale - even so, these puppies are expensive for underwear! Darn good thing they are so comfortable.
It certainly may have been that mine were packaged or sized erroneously or just slipped through quality control...
Maybe I'm showing a little bit of my REI fanboyishness here (I posted about their Adventure pants) but I've had excellent luck with the REI MTS (Moisture Transfer System) Boxer briefs. I normally wear a medium and would probably like the fit of those as well, but I bought these on sale in a large and they fit me just fine as well. Slightly roomier and nice for traveling.
I have 4 pairs which serves as my full kit for one bagging.
FWIW, I made a switch from hanes cotton (yes, I know... but they were daily wear as I've been a slave to work) boxer briefs to the Terramar boxer briefs. These are the BEST boxer-brief underwear I've had the pleasure of using and I've picked up 8 of them through STP now. They wick very well, remain 'fitted', even when sleeping in them and I've never experienced any rank smells when doing long weekend backpacking trips. The one complaint I have is that they are tall in the rise, and thus come up fairly far (boxers are worn differently, this may not be an issue). I've never hand-washed them, but have been thinking about it for a few days now since stumbling on the whole "one bag" travel idea. I can whole-heartidly recommend the underware, at least the boxer-briefs.
Generaly I'm a bit of an REI fanboy, but I've found none of the REI boxer-briefs to hold up to my perceived standards. They all stretch out through the day and turn more into boxers, which then give me grief when sleeping.
Anyway, just some newbies impression
Try my Stinkfighter homemade travel laundry formula (recipe here) - I've used with my Terramars, but it will make even cheap poly underclothes perform like the anti-microbial stuff. Allows you to do a trip of any length with two or three changes of underclothing.