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I bought four REI MultiTowel Lite XL’s. I opened the packaging and was shocked at how thin they were. They are as thin as a sheet is. It made me very skeptical. I have tried to dry off with a bed sheet before at an impromptu swimming excursion or two where all I had to dry off with was a sheet from the back of my car. It taught me to start keeping a towel in the car because sheets DO NOT work well to dry you off.
I decided to test this towel at home after a shower before I am at the water park this weekend and soaking wet with only this “towel” to dry me.
First test was the absorbency test. Nothing is worse than trying to get dressed when you are still damp. Your arms stick in the sleeves; your feet get stuck in the pant legs. YUCK. Let me tell you… this towel dried me so thoroughly that all those little peach fuzzy hairs on my arms and back stood up! It was really neat to run the towel over my arm and actually watch the water almost jump into the towel.
Second test was the body wrap. I have seen these microfiber towels before and they were not much bigger than a dishtowel. Dimensionally these are the same size as my old bath towels. They are 49.5 inches by 31.5 inches. I personally need to be able to wrap the towel around me and tuck it to keep it closed. I usually streak from the bathroom to a bedroom where I inevitably forgot my clothes! (Or in the case of camping, streak from the tarp that serves as a shower closure to the tent) This towel was large enough to cover me up, and I am 5’9” and go about 175.
The third and final test was the time-to-dry test. I have hung towels out in humid weather and had them stay damp all day. If the campsite is particularly shady, this too could be troublesome with no breeze and no sun on a humid day. It is hard to replicate shady summer humidity in a heated house in the winter, but I did my best all the same. I hung the towel on the shower curtain rod in the misty bathroom, turned off the light and shut the door. I checked back in about an hour, and the towel felt decently dry. It never felt all that wet because the water dispersed when I dried off, but where I had wrung my wet hair had gotten pretty wet, and that area had come pretty close to drying. I could have dried off with it again if I would have needed to… and that is good enough for me!
My ultimate endorsement of the product is this: I would replace all my towels in my bathroom with these towels if they didn’t cost $25 a pop. It is worth investing in four for my family for camping, swimming, and amusement parks with “you will get wet” rides. It was especially helpful that I snagged the four I got for $18 a pop because REI had last year’s colors on clearance to roll out the new colors…. As if I care what color they are! I did however hear that microfiber doesn’t hold dye well, so you should avoid buying bright colors because they bleed when they get wet.
I decided to test this towel at home after a shower before I am at the water park this weekend and soaking wet with only this “towel” to dry me.
First test was the absorbency test. Nothing is worse than trying to get dressed when you are still damp. Your arms stick in the sleeves; your feet get stuck in the pant legs. YUCK. Let me tell you… this towel dried me so thoroughly that all those little peach fuzzy hairs on my arms and back stood up! It was really neat to run the towel over my arm and actually watch the water almost jump into the towel.
Second test was the body wrap. I have seen these microfiber towels before and they were not much bigger than a dishtowel. Dimensionally these are the same size as my old bath towels. They are 49.5 inches by 31.5 inches. I personally need to be able to wrap the towel around me and tuck it to keep it closed. I usually streak from the bathroom to a bedroom where I inevitably forgot my clothes! (Or in the case of camping, streak from the tarp that serves as a shower closure to the tent) This towel was large enough to cover me up, and I am 5’9” and go about 175.
The third and final test was the time-to-dry test. I have hung towels out in humid weather and had them stay damp all day. If the campsite is particularly shady, this too could be troublesome with no breeze and no sun on a humid day. It is hard to replicate shady summer humidity in a heated house in the winter, but I did my best all the same. I hung the towel on the shower curtain rod in the misty bathroom, turned off the light and shut the door. I checked back in about an hour, and the towel felt decently dry. It never felt all that wet because the water dispersed when I dried off, but where I had wrung my wet hair had gotten pretty wet, and that area had come pretty close to drying. I could have dried off with it again if I would have needed to… and that is good enough for me!
My ultimate endorsement of the product is this: I would replace all my towels in my bathroom with these towels if they didn’t cost $25 a pop. It is worth investing in four for my family for camping, swimming, and amusement parks with “you will get wet” rides. It was especially helpful that I snagged the four I got for $18 a pop because REI had last year’s colors on clearance to roll out the new colors…. As if I care what color they are! I did however hear that microfiber doesn’t hold dye well, so you should avoid buying bright colors because they bleed when they get wet.
