KUIU Tiburon Pants Initial Review

I finally received my KUIU Tiburon Pants in Verde camouflage pattern last week, just in time to try them out on a couple of hikes I took in Northern AZ over Father's day weekend. 

From the KUIU blog:

Tiburon utilizes a new Toray fabric technology that gives you a wider temperature range in your layering system, especially if you hunt in warm climates or early season. Toray invented a new fabric technology called Dot-Air for Japan’s Summer Olympic team to help manage heat stress and we have turned this technology into the most advanced warm weather-hunting product line ever made.

At 149 g/m2 Tiburon is not thin, noisy or non-durable like typical “light weight-quick dry” pants or shirts. Dot Air is made with “Micro-Openings” to allow air to flow easily through the fabric to cool the surface of your skin with the slightest breeze or movement.

My initial thoughts are that I like these new pants.  While I didn't try them out in typical AZ summer scorcher temperatures, I wore them each morning this past weekend in temperatures typical of a northern AZ archery elk hunt.  The temperatures ranged from mid 50's to upper 70's during the time I wore them.  I was very comfortable and never had a sticky or clammy feeling while wearing them.  

Due to the Toray Dot Air fabric, I was was able to feel slight breezes through the fabric on my skin which helped keep me cool.  The side zip vents on the pants (pictured below) also aided in ventilating the pants.   

The Tiburon pants are 2 way stretch pants, not 4 way like the KUIU Attack pants.  I was somewhat worried they wouldn't be as comfortable as the Attack Pants, but even without the 4 way stretch the 2 way stretch fabric did not bind or restrict leg movement when squatting or climbing steep hills. 

The fabric is also lighter than the Attack Pants, but I never felt it was too thin.  I went through a fair amount of brush on my hikes, and my legs never felt like they weren't protected like they sometimes do in lightweight nylon pants.  I didn't get any snags in the pants, but I'm not sure yet if they will be less snag prone than Attack Pants.  I'll need to wear them more and try them out in some 'prickly' vegetation.  They were very quiet pants also, much quieter than lightweight nylon pants that give a noticeable swish when walking.  I didn't notice any noise coming from the Tiburon's while hiking.  

The Tiburon's are an athletic fit, but were very comfortable for me to hike in.  These will most likely be my go to pant for early season archery deer and archery elk hunts here in Arizona.  While I normally wear a 32" inseam in my jeans, I like having the 34" inseam in these pants so that they don't ride up over my boots when I kneel or sit down.   

There is also a Tiburon 1/4 zip long sleeve shirt available made out of the same fabric, but I did not purchase that and probably won't.  I've used the KUIU 185 Merino wool shirt in warm temperatures before and it has performed well for me.    

I got drawn for archery deer in Colorado this year, and I'm not sure which pants I'll wear yet on that hunt, my Tiburon's or my Attack pants. I plan on wearing these pants on some future scouting trips this year and get a better feel for the strength and weaknesses of these pants as compared to my Attack pants.  I do know that so far I'm very satisfied with these pants and would really like it if KUIU made solid color pants and hats (ball cap and boonie) out of this material.