Columbia Men's Palmerston Peak Sport Short, Ancient Fossil/Black, Small x 8L

The good: 1. The fabric is light without being flimsy or translucent. 2. The cut is trim but comfortable and not restrictive (at least for a slender person like me.) 3. Although the pockets, both front and back, aren't huge, they're big enough. The bad: 1. The "drawstring" is an elastic cord. Since the waist is already elastic, tightening the drawstring just adds more constriction without really securing the shorts against, say, being pull down by a bit of rough water or heavily loaded pockets. 2. The drawstring is secured in front with a kind of rubber cord lock which doesn't work. So I'm probably going to replace the drawstring with some nylon accessory cord and a real cord lock. 3. The shorts look like they have a fly, but they don't have a fly. Don't bother with the appearance of one if you aren't going to have one. 4. The front pockets are entirely mesh, which will let things like keys get snagged, and I don't know how durable they'll be ultimately. They do add a bit of ventilation but they could've been mad of half mesh and half the main shorts material, and there would still be ventilation. I may reinforce them at the bottom with heat-sealable packcloth. 5. The rear pockets have no closure, which is a problem for outdoor wear. You don't want your wallet sneaking out when you're scrambling up a rock face or something. I may add a snap or a thin strip of velcro to them. Which I shouldn't have to do. Neutral: The side pocket is velco-secured, which is better than nothing, but it's on the left and I prefer the right, being right-handed. No biggie. And it has a little sub pocket inside made of mesh, which I can't imagine any use for, but at least it doesn't hurt anything.