Sea to Summit Drylite Towel - Ultra Lightweight Quick Dry Camping & Travel Towel - Perfect for Backpacking, Hiking, Beach & Gym Use

I purchased the Large Sea to Summit DryLite Towel in Cobalt Blue back in 2011. My main interest in purchasing the towel was for emergency preparedness and, more importantly, backpacking trips. This towel has come in rather handy for backpacking and camping trips.In looking for quality and low weight options for backpacking, I came across Sea to Summit and went down the rabbit hole of pack gear on offer. I knew I would be hitting the trail into Havasu Pai and knew this trip would require an easy to lug around towel. If you are not aware, Havasu Pai is an oasis 10 miles from the North rim of the Grand Canyon. There are waterfalls, rivers for wading and stunning blue natural pools to soak in after a long day of the trails. It is only accessible by trail (or helicopter for part of the way) so you have to be prepared to pack everything in that you want to use. I was not looking for a full size, luxury hotel towel, I was looking for a fit-for-purpose towel for a quick dry after a day in the water. This towel fit the bill.Things to note, microfiber towels are most effective if you pat down the area you want to dry. This is how I dry off regardless of what type of towel I use, so it was not a big change for me. If you are used to rubbing your towels across your body to dry off, you might find this towel dragging more than gliding. For me, this towel has been effective in drying skin and hair. I have a lot of hair, so I need something to bundle the whole of it and help grip the drips.A "large" backpacking towel is a far cry from a large bath towel, and this is a fine detail to note. I was not looking for a towel to wrap around my body, or to use as a shield for changing. If you need this, look carefully at the dimensions to find a towel that will fit your needs. This "large" towel will probably not be it.After use, this towel dries incredibly fast. I aid in the quick dry process by laying the towel out as flat as possible in places where the air flows freely. I am often camping or hiking in warm climates, so the warm air and sun also help. I've also looped this through a belt or pack loop and let dry while I keep hiking and it dries pretty quickly.This towel has held up pretty well against the elements, including multiple trips to Havasu Pai and hitting the lap swim pools at home (which I believe have mostly been saltwater chlorination systems). I have not experienced any mold or mildew growth. I have not experienced any funk or lingering smell on the towel. I have not experience any other mineral buildup, which is great. I was a bit worried about that, with the heavy concentration of calcium carbonate in the waters at Havasu Pai. This is the mineral that gives the waters their amazing color, but the sediment also builds up in your hair, in your clothing and in everything it touches while you swim these waters. It is great while you are there, but a beast to remove from everything when you get home (think travertine, think limestone, now you get the picture). This towel has not retained the mineral build-up. Phew.One thing I do to help minimize retention of smells and limit static is to add vinegar when I wash my clothes. The vinegar smell does not stay with the clothes. This may have helped to keep my towel smell free, but it all in all I am pleased with the retained freshness of this towel. I usually air dry this towel, but I think it made it into the machine dryer a time or two without issue.The structure of this towel is still intact. There are no holes or no tears in the fabric. I have not experienced any fading, bleeding, pilling or fraying. I store the towel in my hiking pack, so I know where it is. It is lightweight and takes up very little room. I like the performance of Sea to Summit goods so far, including this towel. I would recommend and will look to Sea to Summit again if I need to replace this towel.Great product super quick to dry, will buy more to complete the set!I've used this towel a few times so far and it is working great for what I wanted it for. I wanted to start riding my bike to/from work. I have showers at my workplace, so I planned to take a shower once I got to work. The first time I tried my bike commute, I packed a regular towel in my backpack. That thing took up so much space it was ridiculous. So I wanted to find something that I could put in my pack that wouldn't take up the entire bag. This DryLite towel is awesome. I got the medium and it takes up the space of a t-shirt rolled up in my bag. It is also awesome because it dries me off a lot quicker and better than a regular towel, which is nice when you are trying to out of shower and into your work clothes quickly. I also used this towel in the gym showers, which again was nice when I was trying to hurry back to work I could dry off fast.It dries pretty quickly, so I'm going to experiment with leaving it my locker and see how it does in there. I think it would be a good candidate for a towel that you could leave in a gym locker for a couple of days (if you have a rented one or something) so that wouldn't have to bring one everyday. This towel has a little loop with a snap on it so that you can hang it on a hook without it bunching up, and also snap it on to any kind of loop, bar, etc. for hanging. I imagine that would be handy for backpacking or traveling.The only thing you can't use this for is covering yourself up. I see that some people bought XLs for that purpose. I got a medium, because I wanted something to take up the least room and still soak up plenty of water. I can not use this towel to cover my shame outside the shower, which is mostly fine because the shower I usually use at work has a little changing area inside the door. The medium is not even long enough to wear around your body, top or bottom half. So depending on your situation, you might want to consider the right size for you.And as others have said, it is not a soft fluffy towel that you can rub around on your body like you do with a bath towel. You kind of do more of a blotting kind of action. But it sucks up water so well, you pretty much just press it on and you are dry.If you are looking for a thirsty little towel that won't take up space in a bag, I highly recommend this one.I’ve used this towel mainly for bike pack camping. When first opening the package, I thought the material felt like it wouldn't work well. However, after using it the first time, I was honestly shocked how well it worked. When I threw the towel over my wet body, it felt like Static was holding it to my skin lol. It truly works great and dries out fast. Does seem a lil pricey, so that’s why I gave it 4 stars.Nice towel but could’ve used a lighter weight towel. Tried it out 6 days and just a bit too heavy.I required ultra-light kit for a paragliding trip through the Alps and this was perfect: lightweight, compact and super-absorbent. It dries quickly, is simple to clean and the useful loop for hanging means it can be draped over your backpack to dry whilst hiking. When using a towel of this size, it would make sense to use your hands to brush off water before using the towel. I have a #1 clipper cut hairstyle but people with long hair may need a bigger towel!When i received this i was surprised and worried by how thin it was. The medium size would fit in a coat pocket. I have now used it to shower after the gym and was pleased with it. Only downside is that it feels a bit like drying yourself with a chamois leather.great prodict. well made. does the jobEverything as expected. Thanks.Although I haven't taken this camping yet I did try it after a bath at home. I washed it first as recommended (no fabric conditioner) and after a bath I tried to use it as a normal towel; it's not a normal towel. I put it round me and tried to have a good scrub but it wasn't having any of it...however, I was dry.It's a strange sensation as using this gives you the impression that you are trying to dry yourself with a piece of velvet clingfilm (if such a thing could exist) and you don't believe it is drying you at all, then all of a sudden you are dry.It worked well in a humid bathroom in the winter and I can imagine it will be brilliant after a couple of washes and then used in warm dry weather after a camping shower.I tour on a motor cycle and space is at a premium, a normal bath towel takes up a LOT of room but this takes up almost no space at all; you could fit it into your jacket pocket.Really good piece of kit although I can't yet vouch for it's endurance, time will tell on that one.One more thing, I dried it in front of the fire tonight, it took about twenty minutes, would be much the same on a sunny summers day.Not cheap but not that much more expensive than a normal, quality towel.