Columbia Men's Palmerston Peak™ Hiking Shorts

Very comfortable Quick drying Nice color Sized right

Glad to see I'm not the only person having issues with the drawstring.

Just wish they had more zippered pockets like the old snake river shorts.

The good: 1. The fabric is light without being flimsy or translucent. 2. The cut is trim but comfortable and not restrictive (at least for a slender person like me.) 3. Although the pockets, both front and back, aren't huge, they're big enough. The bad: 1. The "drawstring" is an elastic cord. Since the waist is already elastic, tightening the drawstring just adds more constriction without really securing the shorts against, say, being pull down by a bit of rough water or heavily loaded pockets. 2. The drawstring is secured in front with a kind of rubber cord lock which doesn't work. So I'm probably going to replace the drawstring with some nylon accessory cord and a real cord lock. 3. The shorts look like they have a fly, but they don't have a fly. Don't bother with the appearance of one if you aren't going to have one. 4. The front pockets are entirely mesh, which will let things like keys get snagged, and I don't know how durable they'll be ultimately. They do add a bit of ventilation but they could've been mad of half mesh and half the main shorts material, and there would still be ventilation. I may reinforce them at the bottom with heat-sealable packcloth. 5. The rear pockets have no closure, which is a problem for outdoor wear. You don't want your wallet sneaking out when you're scrambling up a rock face or something. I may add a snap or a thin strip of velcro to them. Which I shouldn't have to do. Neutral: The side pocket is velco-secured, which is better than nothing, but it's on the left and I prefer the right, being right-handed. No biggie. And it has a little sub pocket inside made of mesh, which I can't imagine any use for, but at least it doesn't hurt anything.

The waist drawstring will not stay at the set tension. My solution is to pull extra through the clip and tie off the cord after the clip. Try a clip mechanism like what you find on elastic shoe laces.

They great and fit the legs well, but the mechanism used to help adjust the elastic waistband does not work at all for me. The shorts are always coming loose because it has been impossible for me to keep the waistband snug. I can't wear them and have anything with weight in the pockets such as a wallet or phone. Only if the shorts were a perfect fit, it might be okay.

This version of the Palmerston Peak shorts are a poor, cheaper replica of the originals. - They have more pockets, which might be a good thing if the shorts didn't replace the belt with an elastic drawstring, so anytime you use the pockets, your shorts slide down your hips. - They replaced the zippered cargo pocket with one made of velcro. That's livable. - The fabric may be a bit cheaper. Again, livable. - These shorts used to be lined. They no longer are. - The most ridiculous thing they did with these shorts was replace the adjustable belt with the aforementioned elastic drawstring. As cheap as they have made these shorts, Columbia still charges a primo price for them. Definitely no longer worth the price!

Toggle for elastic broke after a few times of usage