[Dobe Man]

I like my 5.11 Tac-Lite Pros a lot - lots of capability with these pants. They're a 65/35 polyester/poly cotton ripstop blend. Quite a durable pant and I have their Operator belt to go along with them.

I'm going to be doing some late fall/winter/early spring backpacking and I wanted to wear these over my polypropelene/wool blend base and fleece mid pants.

I have a wind/water resistant ski pant shell that I can wear too, but there are no pockets to speak of - just zippers to access some pockets underneath.

Can the 5.11 be reliably worn as an outer winter pant (considering the cotton in them)?

[garret]

if it were me i would leave off the fleece mid pants whilst hiking and just use the thermals and 5.11's unless it gets wet/windy then put the over pants on.

when you stop to make camp break out the fleece pants and use the 5.11's as the outer unless it once again starts to get wet/windy then put the outer layer on.

and if traveling in snow dont forget gaters, they are a real boon

the 5.11's are good pants and if they get wet will dry quickly but not if it is constanly wet (they wont have chance)

thats my take on it, i am sure others will have some good ideas

[LaRemnant]

I have two pairs of 5.11 in the cotton/canvas blend, and in my experience they dry very fast, just over 30 minutes after being completely soaked provided I keep moving in them and the weather warms up.

The Tac-Light are good pants, especially for hotter weather regions. As for being a top layer, not too sure. Never tried it. Go for it though, but make sure you have a back up garment. The poly blend will keep the cold out better than an all out cotton rip stop blend, but there are other pants (Like True Spec) that are 50/50 poly/cotton RS (Rip Stop) blend, and are usually way more expensive, like 65 dollars.

I bought two military outfits from Desert Deuce Surplus in multicam and digi-woodland in the 65/35 blend of poly/cotton because of the decent tensile strength of the fabric, which seems like a pretty good blend IMHO for the price. The 24/7 line is pretty decent too.

I have two pairs of 5.11 pants in Tundra and OD green for my "civies" with a few shirts to complete the civilian look, whenever/if ever I hike through cities and the rugged military clothes for the bush (let's face it, civilian camo clothing is insanely expensive, when it is really only the camo pattern and rugged durability you're looking for), whereas the military stuff is less expensive despite the fact you might look like a homegrown terrorist if some sheeple end up walking upon you in the woods.

Just rambling.

[Hiline]

I grew up in Alaska and all I wore out in the woods were the 50/50 NYCO bdu's and I had no problem with them being wet and undryable. I own a pair of OD green 60/40 tactical pants now and don't have a problem wearing them in the winter. If really snowy I'll put a shell over the top but that's only if the snow is nut deep, otherwise I wear my gaiters and I'm good to go.