Darn Tough Hiker Full Cushion Review

The Darn Tough Hiker Full Cushion is our favorite hiking sock. This full-length Merino-blend hiker is best for adventuring in the fall, spring, and winter, when temperatures range from cold to warm. Its performance delivers in all conditions, keeping you comfortable, whether wet or dry. Be sure to check out the different sizing options for men and women.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

This comfortable sock is meant for all-day wear. It is constructed of 66% Merino wool, 32% nylon, and 2% Lycra spandex, which provides excellent cushioning underfoot and a streamlined fit.

Putting this sock on is like slipping your foot into a soft, breathable blanket. The Merino wool blend is soft to the touch, while the spandex and lycra keep it from slipping down while adventuring. The compression paneling around the arch of the foot and the ankle provides additional support while keeping the sock snug on the trail. For wider feet, this sock could feel a bit too snug for comfort, though, or at least that was the opinion of one big-footed member of our testing crew. So if you need a thinner sock for your clodhoppers, the Danish Endurance Unisex Merino 3-Pack or the Smartwool Performance Light Hike Cushion may serve better.

We love the length, which easily accommodates a hiking boot. It's a perfect sock for everything from day hikes to long thru-hikes. Overall, the Hiker Full Cushion is super cozy, though there are other options if that's what you're looking for.

Wicking and Breathability

Featuring a fine gauge Merino wool blend, this sock wicks and breathes quite well. Our testers took it running, backpacking, and hiking, where it excelled in warm to cool weather conditions. The Full Cushion also kept our feet surprisingly dry after a long, hot day of farm work in boots. The fitted design wicks moisture away from the skin and pushes it to the outside of the fabric, keeping the skin dry. We also noticed water beads on the fabric (not immediately absorbing), illustrating the excellent wicking capabilities. This makes this sock an ideal three-season option, best for fall, spring, and winter, especially where moisture is present.

Although thick, this is the most breathable of the thicker socks we tested. It is ideal for running on cold winter mornings, keeping feet dry even with high-intensity activity. That said, there is a limit to what it can do. Given its high boot height, it's not recommended for wear on super hot days, and it can be downright miserable in humid climates.

Warmth

Boasting excellent insulation, the Full Cushion is warm and does well in most weather conditions. The blend of materials does a great job of insulating feet when wet and dry. We appreciate a tall sock that provides additional warmth on cold days. Our testing showed that this contender can keep our feet warm in low 20s (Fahrenheit) temperatures while hiking and standing around. If you need something warmer, the Smartwool Classic Mountaineer Maximum Cushion or the REI Co-op Merino Wool Expedition are heavyweight socks and could be a better option.

When splitboarding in Alaska, we could wear this sock all day. We would hike, ski, make dinner, and then go to bed. Although changing your socks in these cold temperatures is recommended, we didn't need to. The material insulated our feet well and kept us warm all night, even when temperatures dipped below freezing.

Durability

As the brand name implies, this sock is true to being “Darn Tough.” Like all other socks from this company, it scores high in this category. The high-density Merino wool construction provides durability that should last you years. In our testing, we put it through the wringer. We wore it while trekking through varying microclimates of the high Peruvian Andes for a month and at the base of Mount Everest, above 17,000 feet on the Tibetan Plateau. We took it splitboarding in the Central Alaska mountain range for a week. We also went backpacking through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Over the last few years, we've logged over 200 miles in this sock, including hard hiking, running, and snowboarding. In the end, we only noticed some pilling around the heel and midfoot. For a hiking sock, this is truly impressive. What's more, is that the Full Cushion comes with a lifetime warranty — like all Darn Tough products. This means that if you get a hole in the material, you can send your socks back for a brand-new pair. You read that right. That said, if it's served you well and you like Darn Tough, do them a solid and just buy another pair to support a company that makes exceptional products.

Drying Speed

One area where this sock struggled was in our updated drying test. It absorbed only 1.5x its weight in water, the least of any other sock in our review. It dried nearly as slowly as the heavyweight options when drying on the line. In the field, we noticed that the fabric does a pretty good job of drying out through the sock's length. However, due to more cushioning, the sole of the sock can get swampy if not properly ventilated with the right footwear. Aside from that, we'd say that the Full Cushion offers a slow-to-average drying speed, making it less ideal for scenarios when you may be exposed to heavy downpours or need a quick turnaround with your handwashing.

While the Full Cushion is suitable for cold wintry applications, it has one of the same disadvantages as other cold weather socks: a slower dry time. Although it does have a slightly higher percentage of synthetic materials than the heavier-weighted options in the lineup (meaning it does dry somewhat faster), the Full Cushion did not perform as well as thinner socks in our side-by-side dry tests. They also couldn't compete with midweight pairs constructed with a lower percentage of Merino fibers. After submerging this sock in water, we hand-wrung it and set it on a drying rack to air dry. The drying time for the Full Cushion was 180 minutes, just twenty minutes less than the heavyweight contenders that proved the slowest to dry. Meanwhile, other merino-based socks, like the Danish Endurance Unisex Merino 3-Pack and the Farm to Feet Damascus Lightweight Crew, performed much better at only 120 minutes to dry. Our best-drying socks, like the Feetures Elite Light Cushion Mini Crew at 60 minutes or the CEP Run Compression Mid Cut 4.0 at 50 minutes, are made from fully synthetic materials.

Should You Buy the Darn Tough Hiker Full Cushion?

This is one of the best hiking socks to have in your drawer. It will provide plenty of warmth for cold weather pursuits, and it is the best in class for wicking and breathability. It also has enough cushion to stand up to the longest of days on the trail. It's hard to find an ill-suited adventure for this champion. On top of all that, it has a lifetime guarantee that we have claimed and verified. Whether you're looking for a sock that will keep your foot comfortable over miles and days backpacking, warm and sweat-free while you tackle the slopes, or simply comfortable on your next hike, this sock can't come more highly recommended.

What Other Hiking Socks Should You Consider?

The Darn Tough Hiker Full Cushion sock is our favorite sock overall, and it does a superb job of tackling almost any condition. However, if you're packing your axe to tackle a winter peak, you might want to grab our top choice for cold weather, the Smartwool Classic Mountaineer Maximum Cushion. And, while The Darn Tough Full Cushion would be good to have on cold desert nights, long hot days on sandy trails may be more comfortable with our favorite lightweight hiking sock, the Darn Tough Light Hiker Micro Crew. If full-length support isn't your thing, the Full Cushion is also available in ankle-length.