PackTowl Personal Review

Overview

The Personal is PackTowl’s best-selling camp and travel towel: a looped microfiber that feels closer to a bath towel than a chamois, made from 50% recycled fabric and treated with Polygiene odor control. It is aimed at backpackers who want to dry off properly after a swim or a cold-water rinse. The trade-off is weight. It is heavier and softer than PackTowl’s own UltraLite line, and ultralight purists will notice every gram.

Key Specs

Spec	Detail
Weight	80–275 g depending on size
Dimensions	Hand: 42 x 92 cm (16.5 x 36 in); Body: about 64 x 137 cm (25 x 54 in); Beach: 91 x 150 cm (36 x 59 in)
Material	85% polyester / 15% nylon microfiber; 50% recycled fabric
Odor control	Polygiene® silver-ion treatment
Claimed absorbency	Up to 4x its weight in water
Claimed drying speed	70% faster than comparable cotton towels
Extras	Snap hanging loop, zippered mesh-panel pouch with carabiner loop
Care	Machine washable
Warranty	Limited lifetime

Performance

Absorbency and wringing. The looped, terry-style knit defines the Personal. A hands-on tester who measured the Body size recorded absorbency of about 3.3 times the towel’s own weight, essentially level with a cotton towel in the same test. The difference showed up after wringing: the microfiber held about 37% of its absorbed water, against 46% for cotton. On trail, that gap decides whether a towel is usable twice in one day or just once.

Drying. PackTowl claims the fabric dries 70% faster than cotton, and reviewers find that believable, with the usual caveat that climate rules. The same Body-size test logged a dry time of 24 minutes, one of the faster results in that tester’s roundup. Packhacker, which scored the Personal 7.6 out of 10, pointed out that it will dry faster in the Arizona desert than in Bali’s rainy season. Clipped to the outside of a pack, it generally gets there.

Odor. This is the Personal’s strongest suit. The Polygiene treatment earned a top odor score in the hands-on test, and owners report that the towel doesn’t turn sour even when stuffed away damp. On a multi-day hike with no laundromat in sight, that matters more than any number on the tag.

Feel and sand. The fabric is soft enough to wipe glasses clean after a rainstorm, and owners say the Hand size can dry a person from head to foot after a full soaking. The weave sheds grit well. Beach-goers note that sand doesn’t cling, and the hands-on tester gave it high marks for shedding grass and debris. The one recurring quirk is dye: color can bleed over the first two or three washes, so it should be laundered away from light-colored gear.

Pouch and hardware. The zippered pouch is half mesh, so a damp towel can breathe. It is an awkward size, though. Packhacker found the easiest way to fit the towel inside was to fold it in thirds, then in half. The carabiner clip feels cheap, but it only has to carry a towel. The snap hanging loop on the towel itself is the more useful attachment point at camp.

Versus the lighter options. PackTowl’s UltraLite line has been listed at about 40 g for a hand-size towel and about 150 g for a beach-size one, roughly half the Personal’s weight. Those towels are thinner and feel it. The Personal gives up grams for comfort and a more cotton-like hand.

Choosing a Version

Only the size changes. Material, odor treatment and hardware are the same across the range.

• Hand (80 g, 42 x 92 cm): The right size for most backpackers. Owners say it covers a full post-swim dry-off, and at under 3 oz it is easy to justify in a thru-hiker’s kit. It drapes over the shoulders but is too narrow to wrap around the waist, so anyone who wants to change out of wet shorts discreetly should step up a size.
• Body (180 g, about 64 x 137 cm): The size that has been measured most closely, and the one that behaves like a real bath towel. At about 6.3 oz, it wraps around the waist and handles a full-body dry-off in one pass. It suits shorter trips, hostel-and-trail itineraries and hikers who value a proper shower-style towel over base weight. For a multi-month thru-hike, it is a luxury.
• Beach (275 g, 91 x 150 cm): A full-size towel at its best on road trips, at a campground, or on shared trips where it doubles as a picnic blanket or a mat for sandy feet. At nearly 10 oz, it is heavy by backpacking standards. Packhacker noted that a large Personal stays compact in its pouch, but a trail user who spends 275 g on a towel is probably carrying the wrong one.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Soft, looped fabric that feels like a regular towel
• Polygiene treatment keeps it fresh between washes
• Wrings out better than cotton and dries quickly
• Sheds sand and dirt
• Built-in hanging loop and pouch; machine washable
• 50% recycled fabric; limited lifetime warranty

Cons

• Roughly twice the weight of PackTowl’s UltraLite line
• Absorbency per gram is no better than cotton
• Dye can bleed during the first few washes
• Pouch is an awkward fit, and the carabiner is flimsy
• Beach size is too heavy for most backpacking

Who Should Buy This

The Hand size suits section hikers, thru-hikers and weekend backpackers who bathe in lakes and creeks and want a towel that feels decent against the skin and won’t smell by day four. The Body size suits hikers on shorter trips who want a towel that wraps. The Beach size suits car campers, travelers and paddlers who care about comfort over grams. Gram counters who only need to mop a face and hands, or who plan to wipe down with a bandana, should look to a thinner towel such as the UltraLite.

Verdict

The Personal Hand is a sensible 80 g luxury: soft, odor-resistant and reliably quick to dry, which is what a camp towel should be. The Body is a good step up for shorter trips, and the Beach is a fine campground towel that doesn’t belong in a trail pack. Buy the Hand for trail use, and look at the UltraLite line if weight is the only concern.