Darn Tough Run Coolmax No-Show Tab Ultralight Review

Over long distances, your feet will swell, and that perfect fitting shoe can start to feel a little cramped. On the other hand, a wide-fitting shoe with room for your foot to slip around can cause blisters or worse. Socks like the Darn Tough Run Coolmax No-Show Tab Ultralight are a good solution to this conundrum. Their light cushioning fills the show a little more so you have room for your feet as the miles stretch higher in the double digits but keeps you from slipping around when you first head out the door.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

While wearing these socks and going into a deep state of yogi-like awareness, we can close our eyes and turn our attention to our feet, searching with our thousands of nerve endings for every seam and crinkle in our Darn Tough socks, and feel nothing. This sock hugs the foot gently and doesn't feel tight like a compression sock. “No-show” is a bit of a misnomer, since when we look down we can see where the collar of the sock clears the top of our running shoes. Honestly, these shoes would likely receive a lower comfort score if they didn't clear the ankle, as they wouldn't be effective at preventing rubbing or chafing around the shoe's tongue and heel.

Fit

In the overall scheme of sock fits (and we've worn a lot of socks) the Darn Tough Run Coolmax comes in slightly on the tight side. They will gently hug the average foot, but someone with super-wide or high-volume feet may find them too tight. We found them pretty close to perfect, and they're available in a robust size range, from 4-11.5 for women, and 8-14.5 for men.

Wicking & Breathability

Moving moisture isn't this sock's strongest suit when compared to thinner competitors, but it has a few design strategies to help keep your feet cooler while providing cushion and slip protection at the same time, mainly the Coolmax fabric. Coolmax fabric has tetra or hex-shaped fibers that draw moisture away from the skin. Once we take our sweaty foot out of our shoe, the sock dries very quickly, as moisture gets pulled from the foot and to a bigger surface area on the outside of the sock for quick evaporation. Inside the shoe, the extra cushioning absorbs more water and causes this model to have a slightly longer drying time. Overall, this sock offers a very good balance of breathability and cushioning, and should only be avoided if you have exceptionally sweaty feet, or run in particularly swampy zones.

Slip Prevention

These socks are excellent at stopping the slippage without crowding out your shoe. When testing the very wide-fitting Altra Lone Peak trail running shoes, we found that a thinner sock caused us to slide around so much that the shoe felt sloppy and unsupporting. After switching to the Darn Tough Run Coolmax No-Show Tab Ultralight, our experience changed completely, as we were able to run in a stable and controlled manner while enjoying the benefits of a wider fitting shoe. In short, if you're often running longer distances, consider a wider fitting shoe and cushioned socks like these from Darn Tough.

Durability

There are times when “the name says it all” and this is certainly one of them. We've seen our share of darn tough socks, run hundreds of miles in them, ground sand and dirt into them, and run them through the washing machine dozens of times, and they're still alive and kicking, and ready for more. If you're looking for a high-performance sock with decent cushioning and wicking technology, but balk at the price, these are a great choice as you'll only need another pair if you lose them or are psyched on more colors.

Value

Darn tough has a legendary value in the sock world, offering a no-questions-asked lifetime guarantee. They can do this because they stand behind their incredibly durable socks, which last a remarkably long time. They're not the absolute cheapest performance running socks out there, but you'll get more miles for your dollar.

Conclusion