Mountain Hardwear Mesa Convertible

I've owned three pairs of convertible pants in the last 5 years: Royal Robbins Zip n' Go pants (16.2 oz); Columbia Titanium Silver Ridge II pants (11.2 oz) and the Mountain Hardwear Mesa Convertible Pants (15.2 oz). Of the three, the Mesa Convertibles are my favorite.
These pants fit and feel great and don't have that "zip-off pants" look. Even with a trim fit, these pants provide a great range of motion for scrambling on talus & boulders and other off-trail maneuvers. The zips at leg bottoms open up far enough to remove legs while keeping boots on (can't do that with my Columbia's). There's also a snap at the bottom of boot zip openings. With this snapped, I opened up the "boot zips" on recent trip for ventilation and it worked great (pit zips for your calves!). The pants don't have cargo pockets. This might be a problem for some, but isn't for me because I like to travel on the "trim" side. There's a zip pocket just below the right front pocket that I use to keep compass and maps handy. The Mesa shorts are longer than both the Royal Robbins' and Columbia's shorts (which I think are waaay too short... think, '70s short). I think the longer length looks better and, in addition to backcountry use, I wear them around town. The "micro-chamois-lined seamless conical waist" really does feel nice under a cinched-down pack belt. I also have a pair of MH's Wildlands shorts with same feature and the waist just really feels good. The "Cigar" color does a great job of hiding a week's worth of dirt and abuse (my other convertibles are tan and look trashed after a week). Lastly, and most importantly, the Mesa's simply look great (if you don't look good in the backcountry, you're nowhere!)
Pic below shows Mesa Convertible Pants in use in Colorado's Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness:

lightweight, comfortably loose, easy zip off and quick drying. what else do you need from pants?
in all there categories the mesa does well. I use these pants for light hiking and daily use and they are serving me well, the fact that the sizes are simple makes it possible to order the pants with confidence (I ordered them to the other side of the world) without trying them on.
the one thing in these pants that doesn't work quite right in my opinion are the pockets. they do their job, but I feel they are awkwardly placed.
I've had these pants for a month now so the real test is yet to come - durability! so far so good, but as a man who goes through pants like... something that you go through a lot of, I hope they well meet my minmal requirement and last the year.

I'm one of those guys that buys few pants and wears them out over a couple of years. I bought these to replace an old pair of North Face convertibles that had seen more than their fair share of mountaineering and hiking, particularly from 2 years of working in Torres del Paine National Park as a photographer.
These Mountain Hardwear pants seem to be a very nice upgrade in terms of comfort. I love the soft lining around the waist. However, as I am a short dude, the legs come in ridiculously long for someone who's 5'5". My only option was to have them tailored.
The other thing I really liked about these was the zipper placement for the shorts-to-pants conversion. The zipper line runs below the knee which means your shorts aren't too short when you take off the legs.
I would highly recommend these.

MH Mesa pants are incredibly durable (have seen many sharp thorns/sticks)! These are one of the two pairs that I wear (the other being TNF Paramount Valley) and I don't need any more. I never use the boot zip openings, but have worn as shorts and can say that they are comfortable. I wear a size 30x30 generally and the small fits me very well. The only complaint I have is that the belt tends to ride up above the button and can need frequent adjustment (that's the only reason for 4 stars instead of 5).

Overall I love these pants, a few things that bother me are 1 they are a little short for me and the waist is a little too big but with the belt its no problem and 2 the zippers on the legs can be a bit cumbersome and tend to get stuck in the fabric. other than they they are great ive been climbing in them and doing some light hiking they shed water very well and have kept me warm so far.

I ordered the Grill S/Reg. The S/Reg has about a 30-32" waist, which fit me, but the inseam is 32" which is too long for me. I'm about a 30". The description was unclear, it just listed the inseam lengths but not their corresponding sizes. They seem like well made pants. They are a little baggy around the thigh/butt area, not really tailored. My return label was issued without a problem because of the unclear description. Wish they had my size!