| 932 | REI Multi Towel | 2014-05-27 |
In '90's, I worked in a job where I worked 15 days and then had 6 days off. During the off days I left town and camped. All total, I was camping around 75 days per year. One of the problems with camping so often was trying to stay relatively clean. Basically, I was car camping in rock climbing areas and not backpacking. I did not really have to worry about weight or size, but was still looking for gear that improved my camping life.
When packTowl first made the microfiber towels, I tried one almost immediately. Camping in the south, I was always wet and regular bathroom towels were slow to dry. I also had a dog who loved the water so much, he would cry to go swimming. Soon, I owned two microfiber towels. The original towels dried quickly but they were not exactly soft.
Amy, my wife, had also been buying the quick dry towels and by the time we got married, we had a collection. We still have them. We don't really use them as bath towels, but we do use them as dish rags and multi-purpose around the camp towels.
packTowl then began making a softer towel, I believe it was the Personal model, or mine is similar to that model. The towel was supple and when dry - it almost felt luxurious. The towel was very thin and dried quicker than the original towel. However, when using the towel to dry off, the towel would cling to me like a wet t-shirt. It became my camping towel, but I had to develop a tolerance to the feel of the clingy fabric.
Last summer, Amy was looking at towels in a REI store and decided on their Multi Towel. The towel was thick, soft, and dried quickly. I was jealous. For my spring birthday, Amy bought me a Multi Towel. The towel quickly became my favorite.
Multi Towel is in the Middle
So for a few Multi Towel notes ...
The Multi Towel has a waffle weave.
The towel does not cling to you. It feels more similar to a regular bath towel or beach towel.
My XXL towel weighed 14 ounces, more than double the weight of the other two towels.
The edge of the Multi Towel has a finished seam. It would be difficult to cut and resize the towel.
With the Original packTowl you could cut it into smaller pieces without any fears of unraveling. We have multiple small pieces of the Original towel in our cook kits. They have at least a 1001 uses.
The Multi Towel includes a loop to hang the towel while it is drying.
On the Care tag, instructions call for "prewash separately." When checking out the REI site, one reviewer mentioned that the towel bled. I washed mine without noticing the tag and all my clothes in the washer did not turn green, but if the color did run, it would have ruined everything. It is a very bright color of green.
The XXL towel is 32.5 inches by 58 inches. It is big.
The Multi Towels' waffle pattern keeps the towel from clinging to you and it still absorbs well and dries quickly. It is a good choice for a camping towel.
Happy Multi Towel trails