PrAna and Arc’teryx are both notable names in the hiking pants business. Both provide excellent quality pants with tons of innovations and features aimed at hiking not just safer, but also more convenient. As a result, both brands have received a lot of love from hikers everywhere.
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best hiking pants on the marketBut which one to give your love to?
Well, if you haven’t made up your mind yet, here’s the article you should read. Today, we’re comparing the two front-runners from either brands: the PrAna Stretch Zion and, from Arc’teryx’, their popular Gamma LT series pants.
PrAna Stretch Zion
It’s one of the most popular pants for hiking on the market at the moment. And that’s not without a good reason!
This good pair of best outdoors pants is made from PrAna’s unique “Stretch Zion” weave, which is a special blend of Nylon (97%) and stretchy Spandex (3%).
The Nylon provides the pants with the durability and abrasion resistance to protect your legs from hazards on the trail like sharp rocks and itchy branches. Nylon is is quick drying, which makes it excellent for both dry-weather day hikes and for hiking in the rain.
Meanwhile, the Spandex offers excellent flexibility for you to tackle more technical hikes and climbs that demand you to exercise your body’s full range of motion.
The PrAna Stretch Zion has ventilated inseam gusset and mesh pockets to further ventilate your lower body. If the temperature becomes too hot for a full-length pair of pants during your hike, there are roll-up snaps for you to convert it into makeshift shorts.
Four cargo pockets, two at the front and two at the back are available for you to store your things.
You can have it for less than $100, depending on the size, configuration, and color you picked. Quite cheap for such good pants for hiking.
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Arc’teryx Gamma LT
Now, if you want the best hiking pants that the market has to offer and is generally not worried about cost, the Arc’teryx Gamma LT is the way to go.
Made from a special blend of 88% Nylon and 12% Elastane, the Gamma LT is super comfortable and stretchy. Really stretchy, as a matter of fact. Not a lot of makers use more than 10% of stretchy materials in their pants since it can decrease durability. But customers and our testers alike observed the pants to be holding up well against scratches, tears, and rips in spite of that.
The tight weaving alongside a strong Durable Water Repellent (or “DWR finish”) also makes for a very weather-resistant and water repellent hiking pants.
It has gusseted crotch and is intentionally built to be a bit looser for you to have more wiggle room inside the pants. The comfort metric goes up drastically for this. Other than that, the Gamma LT has all of the extra features you’d expect from a premium pants for hiking like an integrated belt, articulated knees for greater mobility, and an ankle cinch cord that you can use to convert the full-length pants into shorts when needed. It’s got plenty of pockets, too, although there are none at the rear.
The only thing that’s not so great about the Gamma LT is that there aren’t a lot of vent points, which can make the pants sweltering hot during day hikes. The tight weave also hampers breathability, as well. But that’s the price to pay for the excellent weatherproofing capability.
The Arc’teryx Gamma LT is quite costly, having a base price of $190.
Conclusion
So which one to choose?
If you want a pair of pants that can get the job done and is affordable, go for the PrAna. If you want the best of the
best backpacking pants and have a lot of intensive, highly technical hikes and climbs to tackle, consider the Gamma LT with weatherproofing capability.
