>>1260174>>1260163I have Prana zions too, a pair of convertible and just regular ones. Use them for work and rock climbing as well, and they've held up great. Stock DWR doesn't last long though and is pretty unnecessary overall.
Also recently got some really cheap Fjallraven Keb gaiter trousers that at least doubled my meme level, so gonna put those to the test this year.
Honestly, I barely zip them off but they are handy when you want to. They are so stretchy you can just roll them up if you cross a river.
They are definitely clutch on my canoe trips, because mosquitoes on portages and then zip off on extended paddles and just leave the zipped off portion on your leg down by your feet to protect them from the sun (sunscreen doesn't last long on my feet.)
Or if you are paddling a lake and enter a river, mosquitoes start to swarm just pull the legs up and zip them back on for protection.
Most of the time though, I'm just in quick drying running shorts. Put some rain pants on for portages to protect from brush/bugs, take it off for paddling or roll them up/down.
Honestly if I had the money for some nice rainpants with a long zip along the sides I'd probably never bring my convertibles.
Overall, I'd say convertibles aren't really necessary, but only you can decide. Some designs are kinda annoying because your knee will catch the zipper and cause pain over time.
One nice thing, you can buy one item and have two use cases: warm weather use as shorts, colder weather use them as pants with a baselayer.
