Biographical Information
Name	Jennifer Pope
Age	25
Gender	Female
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Shoe size	Women's 8 US
Weight	140 lb (64 kg)
Email Address	Jennifer dot Pope at gmail dot com
Location	Los Angeles, CA
Backpacking Background Intermediate. I've been a car-camper as long as I can remember and started backpacking in Northern California when I was 16. I've been backpacking for a little over a year after a hiatus during college. I backpack in the Sierras as well as National Forests and Parks in the Los Angeles vicinity. I also spend time in the California deserts and the mountains and coast of Northern California. I'm a tent camper leaning towards lightweight; but I'm also a fan of gadgets and I like being comfortable. I also frequently day hike close to home and while car camping.

Product Information (back to top)
Manufacturer	Injinji
Manufacturer URL	http://www.Injinji.com/
Year of Manufacture	2006
Size Tested	small (unisex) Available in S, M, L, XL
Claimed Weight	none listed
Outdoor Quarter - Actual Weight	1.7 (48 g)
Performance Crew - Actual Weight	2.1 oz (60 g)
Color Tested	slate (almost black) with a green label- Outdoor series black with a red label - Performance series
MSRP	Outdoor quarter - $16.00 US Performance crew - $14.00 US
Outdoor Series Material	70% NuWool, 25% nylon, 5% Spande-Flex
Performance Series Material	70% CoolMax, 25% Nylon, 5% Lycra
Washing Instructions	Machine wash warm. No not bleach. Line dry.
Purpose	These are seamless socks with five toes. The toes are intended to provide a thin layer of wicking fabric between all the toes to eliminate toe friction and prevent blisters.

For a more detailed product description and my initial impressions please refer to my Initial Report.

Field Conditions (back to top)

I've worn these socks in a variety of capacities over the test period. I wore them on several day hikes of less than five miles (eight kilometers). These were in temperatures ranging from 50-75 F (10-25 C) some days it was cloudy, but never raining. I've also worn these socks for added warmth while sleeping in a tent down to 45 F (7 C); one night in the Performance socks and one night in the Outdoor socks.

Since these socks are black and very dark gray I've been able to wear them to work with slacks. In fact, I find they look pretty similar to regular trouser socks I might wear on a daily basis. It ranged between 70-80 F (20-25 C) when I wore these socks and it was sunny.

Field Test (back to top)

While hiking I've had mixed feelings about the performance of the socks. I should start by saying that, while hiking, the "toes" of the socks have not been a problem for me. They don't feel weird and I don't feel like I constantly have something stuck betweem my toes. I've gotten used to them. The main problem I've had is with the shoes I wore with them. I recently purchased some Vasque lightweight hiking shoes, these are lowtops, but are waterproof and more heavy-duty than a trailrunner (Vasque calls this a "multisport"). These socks just haven't been heavy enough to wear with this type of shoe. I've found that after about a mile (1.5 km) of hiking or a few hours of just general wear the back of my ankles start to get sore. I just don't feel like there's enough padding. I had the same problems with both types of socks. In the future I'll try wearing these socks as a liner under a thicker sock but it's just now starting to get cool enough to use this weight of sock as a liner.

Now for some good news. I really like how these socks handle foot sweat. When I'm walking a lot or wearing shoes that aren't breathable (like the shoes I wear to work) I tend to sweat between my toes. It's not comfortable but it doesn't usually cause me to get blisters. I found that my feet were signifigantly less sweaty with these socks. The fabric between my toes must give the sweat somewhere to go. I've found this to be a really nice feature.

In the limited cool weather I've seen so far, the socks have provided adequate warmth. At night in my sleeping bag my feet stayed nice and warm. It was never really cold enough during the day while hiking (or general use) to say that they were able to keep my feet warm. I never had a problem with cold feet though.

So far the socks are holding up well. I've washed them in with my regular laundry to no ill effects. This is really important to me because I can't be bothered to separate out socks to wash differently than my regular laundry. The loose strings I mentioned in my Initial Report have not progressed at all and the socks are still in good shape.

It still takes me a couple minutes to put on the socks (probably a minute per sock). Some of my toes really don't like to be separated and I have to manually put them in the right place. This is only slightly annoying when I'm in a hurry but it's not that big of a deal.

I really haven't noticed any difference between the Outdoor Quarter and the Performance Crew socks other than the crew sock comes up about an inch (2.5 cm) higher.

Summary (back to top)

So far I have both positive and negative feelings about these socks. Due to their wicking nature I definitely want to find a place where they work well.

Future Test Plans (back to top)

I will continue to wear these socks on day hikes. I may wear them on a backpacking trip if I can find a comfortable combination of sock and boot. I'll probably wear them as a liner if I wear them backpacking. I will also continue to wear them to work about once a week.

I will continue to report on their performance with wicking sweat as well as in cold weather conditions. I will also report on their durability over the full test period.

I want to thank BackpackGearTest.org and Injinji for giving me the opportunity to test this item.

Read more reviews of Injinji gear
Read more gear reviews by Jennifer Pope

Field Report

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