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Reviews > Clothing > Base Layers and Undies > Saxx Quest 2.0 and Loose Cannon > Test Report by Kurt Papke

Saxx Quest Boxer Briefs

Test Series by Kurt Papke

Initial Report - May 29, 2018

Field Report - August 28, 2018

Long Term Report - October 30, 2018

Tester Information

Name: Kurt Papke
Age: 64
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 4" (193 cm)
Weight: 230 lbs (105 kg)
Email address: kwpapke (at) gmail (dot) com
City, State, Country: Tucson, Arizona USA

I do most of my hiking in the desert Southwest, but occasionally get up into the Pacific Northwest and my old stomping grounds in Northern Minnesota.  I am a comfort-weight guy when it comes to most gear, trying to stay as light as possible but I don't go to extremes. I have horrible problems with groin chafing while hiking, and I'm always looking for solutions to that problem.  I have been wearing the Saxx Kinetic underwear for years, so I am somewhat familiar with the product.

Initial Report

Product Facts

Product Information
Manufacturer
Saxx Underwear Co.

sq01
Image from Saxx Underwear website
Manufacturer website
https://www.saxxunderwear.com/
Model tested
Quest 2.0 boxer briefs
Year manufactured
2018
Size tested
XL, but also available in S, M, L, XXL
Country of manufacture
China
MSRP
$31.95 USD
Warranty
30 days
Weight
Specification: N/A
Measured: 2.9 oz (83 g) for size XL
Materials
nylon (77%), spandex (14%) and polyester (9%).

According to the packaging and website, the Quest 2.0 underwear is designed for travel: "Road trips, red-eye flights, and treks around the world".  The "BallPark Pouch (TM)" is designed to "prevent skin-against-skin friction and ensure chafe-free support".  The "Flat Out Seams" reverse the stitching with the soft side against the skin.  The garment is supposed to be moisture-wicking and anti-microbial.

Initial Inspection

sq02The briefs as they came out of the packaging are shown at the upper left in the photo.  The color is pleasant and should do well with not showing too much dirt and grime after a week on the trail.

The photo on the right shows the thinness of the mesh used for the pouch.  It should breathe very well, it'll be interesting to see how well it holds up after a number of miles.

The photo at lower left shows how breathable the fabric appears to be - lots of little dots should allow the sweat through!  It's amazing to me that I can see through it.

The design looks quite similar to the Kinetic model that I have been wearing for years, but this looks much lighter in weight.  It should be more breathable, but I have some concerns how well it will hold up.


Summary

The Saxx Quest 2.0 boxer briefs look like a comfortable pair of undies, I look forward to wearing them.  I have a trip to Portland Oregon planned for the upcoming week, no hiking, just a family gathering, but a good opportunity to test the travel suitability of the item.  I look forward to getting them out on the trail, but I have some concerns with durability and how well they will keep the chafing down considering the gossamer fabrics used in the construction.  Time will tell.

Field Report

Test Conditions

Date
Location
Trail
Distance
Altitude
Weather
June 10-11, 2018 Santa Catalina Mountains in the Coronado
National Forest near Tucson, AZ USA
Samaniego Ridge
6 miles
(9.7 km)
7800-9100 ft
(2380-2770 m)
Sunny, 50-76 F
(10-24 C)
July 18-20, 2018 San Juan Mountains near Durango, Colorado USA
Colorado/CDT 21 miles
(34 km)
8900-12,700 ft
(2710-3870 m)
35-75 F
(2-24 C) with sun, rain, hail and wind

Samaniego Ridge

I was looking for a break from the Tucson summer heat, and I hadn't been up to one of my favorite campsites up on Mt. Lemmon for years, so I set off in search of altitude.  The trail begins just a few steps away from the mountain peak, and descends 1300 ft over 3 miles to a bucolic spread of Ponderosa pines with a thick bed of needles beneath.  Great spot to pitch a tent, too bad I hang from the trees in a hammock!

It wasn't a real high-mileage hike, but it was a good start with the Quest boxer briefs.  They performed perfectly, no chafing, no issues of any kind, good comfort.  They washed up well after the hike - no fraying.

Colorado Trail/Continental Divide Trail

The Tucson Backpacking Meetup group traveled to the San Juan Mountains for a week of camping and hiking.  Several of us took off and did a 3-day backpacking jaunt.  We headed East from Molas Pass on the Colorado Trail, then turned North on the Continental Divide Trail before turning Northwest to our trailhead and shuttle in the Highland Mary Lakes area.

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Our backpacking group at the intersection of the Colorado and Continental Divide trails
That's me at photo left in the bright red shirt

I wore the Quest boxer briefs for the entire hike, taking them off only at night to sleep.  Once again, no chafing, no discomfort, and no noticeable "funk" smell for three days, though to be honest I have a poor sense of smell.  I don't quite have the nerve to get someone else to check my undies for odors, so the data on this dimension of performance will be somewhat limited!

Non-hiking Use

I have been using the briefs 4-5 days/week under my baggy workout shorts when I go to the gym.  I do a combo of 20 minutes of cardio (rowing, stair climber, treadmill) and about 45 minutes of strength/resistance work.  The stair mill and treadmill closely mimic hiking conditions.  I do high-intensity intervals, so it is a short duration, but stressful workout.  I have had absolutely no chafing or discomfort from the briefs in these workout sessions. I've thrown the briefs in the washing machine at least twice a week for the last two months, and they are holding up very well with no pilling or seam deterioration.

Summary

The Quest undies do not have quite the support of their hefty brethren, but on the hiking I did in the first two months of testing I was perfectly happy with how they functioned.  What I ask most of my briefs is to prevent between-leg chafing, and the Quest product did this with aplomb.  After numerous washings, they still appear brand-new so I can't complain about the durability which was my biggest concern.

Long Term Report

Test Conditions

Date
Location
Trail
Distance
Altitude
Weather
September 1-8, 2018
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near Ely, Minnesota
Canoe
Our base camp was about a 12 mile (19 km) paddle from the drop-off point.  We paddled several hours each day in pursuit of fish and scenery.  We had 6 portages on the way in and the same on the way out which were all double portages, i.e. three trips each.
About 420 ft
(128 m)
45-70 F
(7-21 C),
Sunny several days, all day rain one day
October 4-6, 2018
Long Valley campgrounds near Payson, Arizona
Arizona National Scenic Trail
1.3 miles (2.1 km)
6750-7300 ft
(2055-2225 m)
38-65 F
(3-18 C)
Sunny and clear
October 22-25, 2018
Gila Wilderness in Western New Mexico
Middle Fork
24 miles (39 km)
6800-7350 ft
(2073-2240 m)
32-65 F
(0-18 C)
Rain and more rain

Boundary Waters Canoe Trip

I wore the briefs for the entire week of this trip.  There was not a lot of hiking, just carrying the canoes over six portages on the way in and again on the way out.  They were very comfortable for the entire week.  This trip was more humid than my typical desert southwest trip, in fact it rained one entire day.  Despite the increased moisture, they did not get "funky", at least from what I could tell.

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You can't see them, but I'm wearing the Quest briefs
I'm in the front of the canoe

Arizona Autumn Hammock Hang (Arizona Trail)

This was a 3-day 2-night car camping trip.  The hammock aficionados of the desert southwest get together every autumn at a campground up on the Mogollon Rim, the edge of the Colorado Plateau, just north of Payson, Arizona.  We compare rigs, exchange do-it-yourself ideas, drink adult beverages and eat enormous quantities of food around a campfire.  We also try to get a little exercise, so this year I planned a short hike to an historic railroad tunnel (or at least an attempt to build one) just a few miles from our campsite along the Arizona National Scenic trail.  This hike was short, but brutal - we had two hikers take a spill on the descent and rough themselves up a bit.

I wore the briefs only for the hike, and they performed admirably as I have come to expect.

Gila Middle Fork

sq05I've hiked the lower sections of the Gila extensively, but never made the drive up near the headwaters at Snow Lake before.  The weather forecast was for one night of rain, but that turned into rain every night and an all-day rain on my planned big mileage day.  This hike requires constant wading across the Gila River, so I was wet all day long from mid-thigh down, and combining that with hiking in the rain and colder temperatures I skirted with hypothermia a few times and had to severely curtail my expectations for how far I would hike.  It was a hike with lots of "character-building opportunities"...

I didn't get any "selfies" on this trip, especially of the briefs, but the photo at left is a close-up of my tarp on the morning of day 4 just before I hiked out.  It rained early in the evening, then a cold front went through and the temperatures dipped to the freezing point.  I couldn't get all the ice off the tarp in the morning while breaking camp, so it went into the stuff sack that way.

I wore the briefs all 4 days and they were wonderful, no issues.  I did my final launder of them when I returned home and they still look almost brand-new.  All my fears of them being too flimsy and not holding up were totally unfounded, they surpassed my ruggedness expectations for the product.


Daily use at the Gym

I continued to use the briefs under my baggy workout shorts.  I like that they just sort of disappear, I don't even know they are there because they are so thin and light.  They really are great for this purpose.

Conclusion

I am really pleased with the Saxx Quest Boxer Briefs - they have become my undies of choice for both hiking and working out at the gym.  In four months of testing I never experienced the dreaded "crotch chafe" which I so often experience with regular underwear.  I expect to continue to use them until they are threadbare, which judging from their current excellent condition could be a long time!


Many thanks to Saxx Underwear Co. and BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to test this product.

Read more gear reviews by Kurt Papke

Reviews > Clothing > Base Layers and Undies > Saxx Quest 2.0 and Loose Cannon > Test Report by Kurt Papke



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