Chill Pal Mesh Cooling Towel (Blue, 12 x 40 inch)

In my infinite wisdom, I ordered not one, not two, not three, but four cooling towels, all of which arrived in the same box. So I have spent the last couple of weeks comparing them. Then I decided to wet a terrycloth towel that I had to compare that to the cooling towels. The bottom line is that all five work about equally as well. So, if you have a terrycloth towel that is about 42" long and 10" wide, you may want to use that.The things I was checking were how much I sweat while wearing it, the size of the towel, the comfort of the towel, how much it wet my shirt, and how long it stayed cool.Without a cooling towel I sweat a lot. I never used to sweat at all but now I make up for it in my old age. I am not certain that there was any particular difference in how much I sweat using the different towels. The amount of sweat appeared to more depend on how high I got my heart rate up and whether or not I was drinking water while exercising. So, while all appear to cut down on the amount of sweat, there is no appreciable difference between them. They all work, and all work about the same.As for the size, all except one are about 42" long and about 11" wide. The odd one out is about 10" shorter. So the size is the same except for the one. They are all similar in weight and such, other than the one which was smaller. That is heavier.They are all comfortable to wear. The problem with the shorter one is that it flops around more. At first I was putting it around my neck and throwing one end behind me. Except that one would not stay behind. But, on the other hand, if put around the neck, the shorter one does not hang down as far on the clothing. Which, in turn, means the clothing does not get as wet. Lately, however, I have been wearing it as a headband so the clothing getting wet is not an issue. I believe that, for me, using it as a headband works better. Considering that I have four cooling towels, I could always wear one as a headband and another around the neck. Then I should be really cool.As for wetting my shirt when used around the neck, that also is pretty much the same among all of the cooling towels. The terrycloth towel definitely gets my shirt wetter. The terrycloth towel is also more difficult to use as it is heavier than the cooling towels.All of them stayed cool the entire time I exercised which is one hour at a time. I have also checked them hours later and found they were still wet.I do not know why this is true, but I like the Chill Pal the best of the five towels I tried. To me it simply seemed that the size was the best and that it worked as well as or better than any of the other towels. I used it on the exercise that raised my heart rate the highest of the times I was trying towels, and it definitely kept the sweat down considerably. It is, however, the most expensive of the cooling towels that I ordered.

I absolutely hate the heat and being in the sun. When I saw how hot it was supposed to be on our vacation I bought this and hoped for the best. My daughter feels the same way so I bought one for her as well. First of all these work like magic! We were at biggest theme park in Anaheim, CA which means hours walking around in the sun. Every time we used the bathroom we would soak our towels and snap them. At first I was nervous because the water in the bathroom was actually warm to hot and not cold for some reason. It didn’t matter one bit! These towels were actually cold on our skin even though the water wasn’t. The weather was in 90s but these towels stayed cool on our necks. They stay soft and not stiff like I remember older cooling towels being. Without this towel there is no way I could have persevered in the heat. It’s super easy to use and my 5 year old had no problem activating hers. I thought it looked pretty cute on her too. She looked like she was wearing a chic little scarf. She asked for hers everyday and never wanted to take it off. Don’t believe other reviews that say this is no different from a regular towel. A regular towel would not feel cold on your skin, even with warm water, and stay that way. On our last theme park trip my bag strap rubbed off my sunscreen and my only sunburn was on my neck so another great thing about this towel was keeping my neck from getting burned and padding my shoulder from the bag strap all day. It’s long enough to wrap around your neck and have length to wrap into your shirt. It feels absolutely great and lightweight on. I think it’s made by wizards because it’s magic.

I haven't found anything that truly stays cool for any length of time (even with re-watering, wringing, snapping, etc.). Then again, I live in very humid South Florida, so the evaporation/cooling effect isn't going to be as effective.That said, this one works noticeably better than most I've tried, and (in my very unscientific opinion) lowers the temperature about 10 degrees (so from 98 down to about 88). It may not make you *comfortably* cool, but it definitely makes the heat bearable. For comparison, on a 0-10 scale, I'd rate the following in terms of cooling effectiveness:0.5 - wet paper towel1 - wet cloth towel/rag2 - handheld fan3 - older, thicker cooling towels4 - handheld cooling fan/mister6 - most newer cooling towels7 - Chill Pal cooling towel10 - bag of icePROS:- it does work, and better than others I've tried- stays soft- length is nice and long for different wearing options- bag with clip is a useful and appreciated additionCONS (any complaints I have are minor):- narrower than expected - I wish it were a little wider so I could cover both my head and neck.- I didn't really notice it change color. There's a pattern on the towel that turns a slightly lighter shade of blue, but you'd have to look closely - nowhere close to the white they show online.All in all a very worthwhile purchase!