REI Co-op  Flash Gaiters

The REI Flash Gaiters are wonderful. I've only used heavier gaiters for snowshoeing. These gaiters are great for more moderate weather hiking or snowshoeing. They are very light and snug fitting. The medium fits just right (I'm a 9-9.5). The Velcro front attachment makes them easy to get on and off, and the left and right are marked. A double strap underfoot keeps the gaiters tight. The drawstrings at the top and underfoot keep the gaiters snug and keeps stuff out of my shoes. Extra draw strings are included with the gaiters. Also, the hook secures the gaiters near the front of the shoe. They are light material, which makes them great for summer backpacking or hiking, and they don't absorb much water when hiking in moderate conditions. The REI Flash Gaiters are a great addition to my hiking, backpacking, and snowshoeing equipment. I highly recommend these!

This pair of Flask Gaiters are my sixth pair of gaiters in 45 years, and the third pair I currently still have. They are more rugged than a pair of similar sized lightweight gaiters but shorter and less rugged than a pair of high gaiters that come to just below my knee. I originally thought I might use these Flash Gaiters only in warm weather and drier hikes, but they performed so well on a cold day and muddy trail that I will now consider using them under all conditions but deep snow. They easily went on and off even with cold fingers. They kept the top of my Merrill Wilderness boots and bottom of my hiking pants dry and clean in spite of wet, muddy trails. I saw other hikers coming back to their cars with wet and muddy pant bottoms, but not me! Perhaps the best part is that once they were on, I never had to adjust them. Unlike my taller and more rugged gaiters that occasionally slip down my calf while hiking, these Flash Gaiters stayed put. I like their design and construction. They go on the boot from the back, have a plastic hook to secure them to the bottom lace, and a plastic snap at the bottom that helps secure the hook and loop closure along the front. An adjustable bungee cord secures then under the boot and another one keeps them secured above the boot.

Wore these lightweight gaiters (mine were black, not tan and not as high on the ankle) on a 130 mile AT section hike in VT and NH with lots of rain and mud. The cords under the boots held up with visible wear through over steep and rocky climbs (although I am not sure I would get 200 miles out of them). Easy to put on in the morning and kept the trail mix and mud out of my boots and socks. Taking off was a headache at the end of a long day due to the little barb that is intended to keep the boot lace in the hook. I ended up filing off the hook so that I could slide the bootlace out of the hook and let the gaiters dry (see pictures before and after). I recommend REI modify the design so that the hooks drop the barb and face down, not up on the lace.

I got this for a hiking trip through Utah where I was regularly hiking in sand (sometimes quite deep) and small rocks. These did an excellent job at keeping said sand and rocks out of my boots. They are also very lightweight. I was out in the heat an sun and didn't notice they were on. My one critique is the string under them seems really flimsy. It had noticeable fraying after the fist hike I wor it on. It is true they give you 2 extra strings, but I'd rather have something that wouldn't break in the first place there. Like others I also found the clip to attach them to laces to be quite a tight fit, but on the flip side it stayed in place. I quickly decided to just leave the gatiers on the boots when taking the boots on and off to get around having to clip/unclip them.

I've never owned gaiters before, so I wasn't sure if these would be useful or not. I found them to be so in a number of different situations. I wore them hiking, on a walk on the beach, and biking. They were really well made, and easily adjustable both around the top and under the foot. - Upsides for hiking: they keep dirt and ticks out of your socks. They are very light, and you don't feel them at all when walking. They stay put and don't move around. The elastic laces stay in place, and don't seem to get worn down too much if you wear them in your instep. Extra laces are provided, and are easy to buy elsewhere. If you are wearing loose pants, they keep your cuffs from whacking your legs as you walk. A small amount of water beads up and rolls off; I'm not sure what extended walking through wet brush would do. - Downsides for hiking: there is a little hook that connects to your shoelaces and keeps the gaiter from riding up; it was fine for some pairs of shoes, but tricky to unhook on the ones with round laces. They also will make you warmer since you're not getting ankle airflow, I guess this could be good or bad. - Biking: I know this is not what they are designed for, but I have been commuting by bike in the early morning when it is cold. I have cycling shoe covers, but they are designed to wear with cycling shoes, and are a bit tight on my street shoes that I wear on my commute. These gaiters do a great job of blocking the air from freezing my ankles. They are nearly as good as the cycling shoe covers; they don't cover the toe, but my commute is short enough to not need that. They also don't have any reflective elements, but I wear reflective ankle bands. It's an unexpected but effective use for the product, and I will continue to use them for biking most likely. The only other downside is that it's difficult to tell what orientation they're supposed to be in; I'll probably take a marker and write on them so I can tell which side is the outside. The tags say left and right, but I hate tags so I'll probably cut them off and just write on the gaiter itself. Also, there is a snap over the top of the foot, but the velcro is so effective I don't think the snap does anything. I don't think it even connected half the time. I will say that these seem very sturdy, and the elastics are easily adjustable with a slick little slider and a knot. The velcro is very strong, and they really are light and easy to wear. Very pleased with these overall.

I purchased these gaiters for the Adirondack Trail Ride, a 587mile bike packing race with quite a bit of hike a bike. It was a wet year in the Adirondacks and the "trails" were in rough shape. The REI Gaiters held up well, they do include a replacement under foot bungee cord, which I have not needed to replace yet. I used flat pedals with metal spikes for traction. The gaiters never came loose and kept debris out of my boots.

My gaiter collection nearly rivals my water bottle collection, so I was pleasantly surprised and very satisfied with these Flash Gaiters for my PNW hikes and rainy trail runs. It's a smidgen heavier than a few ultralight cottage-industry gaiters, but the front Velcro/single-snap closure is far easier to remove, especially when I'm covered in mud back at the trailhead and attempting to leave most of the trail outside my vehicle. I also appreciate that the flap closure is Velcro and not zipper, because the latter tends to jam on me after collecting muddy trail grit. The top leg cuff has a barrel-lock cord adjustment that won't slip like other lightweight gaiters that have elastic tops, and I like how this top cord adjustment functions consistently well over both winter layers and bare legs. The front nylon hooks that connect to your laces curve inward much like barbs on fishhooks, and these raised barbs firmly hold both flat running shoe and round cord hiking boot laces without the typical stops for readjustments. My other ultralight gaiters rely on simple sewing eyelet hooks to save weight, but often slip off when I wear lightweight footwear with flexing soles. The Flash Gaiter hooks stay firmly attached to the point that I often remove my boots at the trailhead and leave the gaiters attached via the lace hooks (it's cleaner than stuffing dirty gaiters inside your boots so you don't lose them on the ride home). My other gaiters are often interchangeable for either foot, but these have a specific 'left' and 'right' designation for underfoot adjustment cordlock mechanisms on the lateral (outside) sides of your boot. If you wear these on the wrong feet, these rigid cordlock garages may potentially rub against each other and, depending on your footwear, possibly your ankles. Soft interior L/R tags on the gaiters make this easy to sort out, even in low light conditions. Adjusting the cordlock mechanisms for the underfoot cords are easy and intuitive. The lightweight fabric has enough stretch to fit well over all my boots and running shoes. I wear a Men's US size 11 and the Large gaiter perfectly fit my trail running and light hiking shoes. I also have a pair of Solomon 4D Gore-Tex hiking boots with a generous amount of laces, so while this extra bulk along the upper resulted the snuggest fit, it still worked at the top where the upper cordlock sealed rain out. REI included an an extra pair of cords for underfoot straps, although the cords have covers durable enough to withstand many miles of abrasion on talus and broken gravel. I might get rid of some of my other gaiters now. ;-)

I really like these gaiters with one caveat. They're light weight, keep mud and debris from entering my shoes, and are easily adjustable. With that said, I must agree with other reviewers about a design flaw that caused me much frustration at the end of a long day of hiking. The clasp that attaches to the front shoe lace has a barb that is too large. The barb is meant to keep the latch secured to your lace. When attaching the latch, the lace goes in easy enough but trying to remove it is a struggle and requires innumerable profanities to be shouted aloud. My shoes have flat laces. I can only imagine the creative expletives round laces would engender. I used a fingernail file to reduce the barb height by half. Now, life is good.

First time gaiter user. Used them on two miles hiking through dense cheat grass. without gaiters I pulled out at least 100 prickers per shoe mostly in the socks. With gaiters, only on the uncovered toe area and velcro. Large was a bit tight on 10.5 Moab 3's.

So disappointed for two reasons! I followed the REI size chart and purchased size small to wear with women’s hiking shoes size 7.5 and hiking boots size 8. The gaiters are too small and tight to fit over both pairs. The front clips are too small to easily slide on and off over laces. I thought I was going to need to unlace and pull the laces out sideways, but my husband was able to force them out. I never used the gaiters and will return them. Even if size medium fits my shoes and boots, the frustration caused by the front clips make them a no-go for me.