The Patagonia Streach Triolet pants are by design the pefect pair of pants for cold weather hiking and mountaineering. The fit is excellent and the style simple and minimalist. The elastic suspenders are a major advantage and are drop seat compatable, so you don't have to remove the suspenders when nature calls. This is also handy because you can keep your pants on, and thus warm, when having to answer nature's calls. But there are major draw backs as well. The surface of the fabric quickly get saturated, and you can feel the drop in breathability and condensation buildup. The surface of the fabric is not condusive to dispelling water, and you will see the beading up action of the DWR (Durable Water Repellent) give out after just one trip. Also the stretch panels on the rear and knees don't have enough give to make them worth while. The stretch panels are also less breathable than the rest of the fabric and seem to get saturated even faster. The fabric is also not durable, on my first outing, a simple branch was able to puncture a small hole into the stretch panel on the knee. Another problem is the maintainance of the pants. Every good waterproof breatable fabric requires a good ironing with a warm iron after a wash to keep the surface water repellent and restore the DWR. The care instructions on the pants recommend this as well. However the one time I ironed them, they got discolored and the nylon got slightly warped. I have three other Gore-tex shells and have ironed all of them at even higher temperature setting and not seen a scratch.
I am disappointed in Patagonia, a company that I greatly admire, in making this product so care intensive. As an avid back country traveler I do not have the time or the luxury to retreat the DWR after every trip, and watch every sharp object that may come in my way. Because of the lack of breatability and marginal durability I will not be packing along these pants for my next trip to the White mountains of New Hampshire. For Patagonia, a company know for only making the best products, this is a slight slip.

Customer Service

Patagonia has simply the best service in the industry. While other companies require you to return their product with an explaination for repair or replacements, Patagonia does no such thing. Their retail stores will take back any defective product and ship and receive it for the costomer, saving the cost of shipping and handling. The costomer service people are very helpful and honest, as are the retail store workers. The best costomer service I have ever experienced, period!

Similar Products Used:

Ether Pants, Patagonia (excellent)

Great attention to details as usual for Patagonia. I would have prefered to buy the bibs but all the stores were out. The pants still go up 4in. higher than waist level and are much lighter to carry so I do not regret my choice.
Great freedom of movement.
I have mine for 2 month now and the only thing I am worried about is the durability (I already got a small hole from ski edge)

Similar Products Used:

TNF Mountain bibs (sucks)