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Review for PackTowl Nano, Ultra-Compact Towel
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Ruth A.'s Review of PackTowl Nano, Ultra-Compact Towel
I bought this ultralight towel to compare to several other camping/hiking towel options. After careful quantitative testing, here are my conclusions.
(The weight listed by the manufacturer is without the included but removable stuff sack. With the sack, the weight of the "medium" is 1.13 ounces. All my tests were done without the stuff sack.)
Drying time vs. absorbency: This Nano is the fastest drying of the eight fabrics tested, but it was also one of the least absorbent per ounce of fabric. Meaning that it will excel for wiping sweat or drying hands, but don't count on it for larger jobs like drying multiple dishes or yourself after a shower or bath. Still, if you will be using it in a humid environment, faster drying time allows reuse fairly quickly. My Nano dried (from super-saturated) in 1 hour 10 minutes, outdoors in the shade at 56% humidity and about 82º with a very light breeze.
Weight vs. absorbency: If weight efficiency is important to you, this is not your camping towel. My two "winners" in the ml absorbed/gram of fabric category were a microfiber cleaning cloth from a multipack at Walmart and a gauze flat-fold cotton baby diaper. The diaper also had the third best dry time (about three hours), but the microfiber cloth will take a while (it held about 2.5 times as much water per fabric weight as the Nano). Unfortunately, both of these “towels” have to be bought in multipacks, unless you can score one or two diapers from a friend. Make sure the diaper is the gauze type, because birds-eye diapers take a long time to dry. Ditto flat fold vs. pre-fold. An easier to procure alternative is a lightweight cotton bandana (dried in 1 hr 20 min), the kind you can somewhat see through if you hold it up to a window. It fell into the moderate range of weight vs. absorbency.
So, it all depends on what you’re wanting your camp towel to do. For hanging from my pack to wipe sweat, I’d give this Nano five stars. But not so much for bigger drying jobs. I’m giving it four stars because I often dry camp dishes or myself. Your mileage may vary.
(The weight listed by the manufacturer is without the included but removable stuff sack. With the sack, the weight of the "medium" is 1.13 ounces. All my tests were done without the stuff sack.)
Drying time vs. absorbency: This Nano is the fastest drying of the eight fabrics tested, but it was also one of the least absorbent per ounce of fabric. Meaning that it will excel for wiping sweat or drying hands, but don't count on it for larger jobs like drying multiple dishes or yourself after a shower or bath. Still, if you will be using it in a humid environment, faster drying time allows reuse fairly quickly. My Nano dried (from super-saturated) in 1 hour 10 minutes, outdoors in the shade at 56% humidity and about 82º with a very light breeze.
Weight vs. absorbency: If weight efficiency is important to you, this is not your camping towel. My two "winners" in the ml absorbed/gram of fabric category were a microfiber cleaning cloth from a multipack at Walmart and a gauze flat-fold cotton baby diaper. The diaper also had the third best dry time (about three hours), but the microfiber cloth will take a while (it held about 2.5 times as much water per fabric weight as the Nano). Unfortunately, both of these “towels” have to be bought in multipacks, unless you can score one or two diapers from a friend. Make sure the diaper is the gauze type, because birds-eye diapers take a long time to dry. Ditto flat fold vs. pre-fold. An easier to procure alternative is a lightweight cotton bandana (dried in 1 hr 20 min), the kind you can somewhat see through if you hold it up to a window. It fell into the moderate range of weight vs. absorbency.
So, it all depends on what you’re wanting your camp towel to do. For hanging from my pack to wipe sweat, I’d give this Nano five stars. But not so much for bigger drying jobs. I’m giving it four stars because I often dry camp dishes or myself. Your mileage may vary.
This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.
Would Recommend:
Yes
5 of 5
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