Reader Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5

5.11 is a company that makes law enforcement gear. There Tactical pants are made in either nylon canvas or cotton canvas.

I chose nylon for its fast drying ability and safety in wet conditions. The pants are made with double seat and double knees (which have internal "pocket" openings to insert the optional 5.11 thin neoprene knee pads. Great for rock scrambling.) The rear slash pockets have no cover flaps but close with Velcro. The front pockets are regular vertical side entry pockets and the cargo pockets are about 2/3 the size of military BDU cargo pockets.
There is a small "cell phone pocket" on the left, above the cargo pocket. All three pockets have Velcro closing flaps.

In addition to belt loops 5.11 has provided wide elastic sewn into the sides of the waist. Also there is a provision for you to put your own cord in the cuff hem if you need it, as in tick country.


The price is in the mid-$50. range and they come in light tan or olive green.
For my money they are a better deal than RailRiders pants in features, ruggedness and price.


For the Mojave Desert, where I live, these heavy duty pants are great lightweight protection from the sun and sharp desert plants. They are MUCH heavier fabric than, say, REI Sahara nylon convertable pants.

Edited by Danepacker on 01/16/2007 00:25:24 MST.

Rating: 5 / 5

I've had a chance to use the nylon canvas version of the 5.11 Tactical pants and have found them to be close to ideal. Slightly heavier than the Railrider's or REI counterpart, they are still not too Heavy. They were, in fact slightly lighter than I expected.

They were well described in the review above so I'll just concur that they are excellent. On sale at under $50 they are an excellent value, too. As far as sizing goes, I found them to be around the same size as a similarly sized pair of new denims might be... and there is a bit of elasticized give in the waist.
---------------
After reading Brett's review below, I do have to admit that the crotch is very snug if they are worn at the normal waist level. I don't have the slppage problem using a belt.

Edited by Quoddy on 12/06/2007 14:46:11 MST.

Rating: 3 / 5

These pants weigh in at 720grams, that's a pound and a half, folks. I bought them as winter hiking pants because I do not need the convertable feature of my other pants in winter, but I found these to be too heavy and saggy. Worn with a synthetic base layer(which is more slippery than wool) they are constantly slipping down, because their heavy weight is not counteracted by sufficient friction force. I dont want the weight and hassle of suspenders.

The crotch is strange; very low. I think they tailored these for the average defense contractor (think Haliburton in Iraq), not a thin hiker. Therefore, for me, lifting either leg beyond say.. 30' results in resistance and a lifting of the opposite pants-leg. This wastes energy which could be used for forward/climbing motion.

On a positive note, they are bullet-proof and have all the right pockets in just the right places. I will continue using them as in-town pants where I don't have to climb anything more than a flight of stairs. For that they get a 3.

No criticism would be fair without suggesting a solution, so for winter use I'm back to my NorthFace Paramount or the 360 gram REI Adventures pants which are 1/2 the weight of those 5.11 tactical pants.

Edited by Brett1234 on 12/05/2007 22:01:14 MST.

Rating: 3 / 5

I finally found something I know something about to review. Doing war zone photography, I took a pair of the 5.11s (nylon version) to Iraq and ended up just leaving them there. The crotch is what got me. I have a pretty normal inseam 32" and and the same problem mentioned below with the crotch binding. It finally ripped out when I stepped up to get into an armored vehicle and I gave up on these pants. Too bad as I wanted to like them and everything else about them seemed good. I ended up making three trips with the same two pair of Northface Paramonts.