# REI MultiTowel Lite Review



## kiteri (Jan 12, 2008)

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.


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## grace (Nov 16, 2007)

I read your post about the towels. It sounds quite nice if it dries so well. I have a set of towels I use for the girls baths only. The reason I use them exclusively is because they absorb better. I bought some new towels, but they don't soak up much water. One of my old towels, I dried the van off with it. That was after I washed it.


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## ctfortner (Nov 16, 2007)

Excellent post kiteri, thanks for the detailed review. I think you sold me on one :scratchhead:

I have read about these before, and I thought they sounded great. You could use them for a lot of things, gym, camping, walking, hiking, etc...


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## grace (Nov 16, 2007)

I think that they are going to be used for lots of things. Let's face it - we are messy people and we need a cleanup bad. Anything that is smaller in dimension is great. What about people from Texas - where everything is BIG?


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## kiteri (Jan 12, 2008)

Hey... just got back from the weekend in Splash Lagoon, and let me tell you... these towels ROCK!!!!!!!

More to come later, but I was SO impressed!


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## ctfortner (Nov 16, 2007)

Sounds great Kiteri, cant wait to hear about them. How was the trip to Splash Lagoon??


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## kiteri (Jan 12, 2008)

Splash Lagoon was okay... it was SO busy though. I won't be going back. I heard Great Wolf Lodges with indoor waterparks are nice, so I will try one of those next.

The towels did GREAT!!!! I was thoroughly impressed! I even used one as a make shift dressing room since the lines for the locker rooms were WAY WAY WAY too long!

That is some of the best $$$ I have spent on camping gear.


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## bill0830 (Nov 16, 2007)

Where would you pick some of these towels up? Camping World, Bass Pro?


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## l2l (Jan 27, 2008)

You can get one online at this link

http://www.rei.com/product/763238


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## grace (Nov 16, 2007)

I saw the link for the towel. It's looks like a real winner. I saw a similar item that was advertised. It had microfiber in it, and was machine washable. It was talking about the durability of the microfiber. My daughter went to Great Wolf Lodge water park with her friend. She really liked it, and had lots of fun.


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