These are GREAT pants! The only things I’m not psyched about really are preferences, not problems.
First off the material is comfy, looks great, and is quite durable. I put the durability to the test last week (I do search and rescue and spent a couple hours searching through an area with lots of brush and downed trees and these things came home with nary a snag or hole despite getting dragged through it all!). The material stretches nicely and hangs well. The fit (mountain) is also the closest to perfect I’ve found off the shelf in a long time.
Now to the things that I would change. I really don’t like built in belts for a couple reasons. The first is that they never seem to stay adjusted and these are no exception. I have to snug them up all the time during the day. Secondly I wear a belt to carry a few things most days (pager, medical gloves, pocket knife, etc)so I’ll be adding belt loops to these pants, adjusting the waist in a touch, and ditching the built in belt.
Second, I REALLY like thigh pockets but I like them on both sides. I wish these had a left thigh pocket and I’ll probably get around to adding one sooner or later. Butt pockets just mean sitting on things so I like one thigh pocket for my phone and one for my wallet and no back pockets. Additionally, I prefer those though pockets to sit slightly more to the side of my leg. These ones go forward from the side seam so my phone ends up more on the front of my leg which I find mildly annoying. And since the bottom of the pocket slants down and forward my phone tips to the front even more. I like the LOOK of the downward seam above the knee but it makes the pocket slightly annoying.
So I give these pants 4/5 stars but they only lose the 1 star for preferences really. Except for if you are going to use a built in belt PLEASE use some sort of buckle that stays adjusted!