Have worked great as running shorts, and could use them for swimming. Medium fit well for me with 32 inch waist. Nice features you would expect from LLBeans including inside key pocket. Will get another.
I have been using these shorts for years for gym workouts, bike rides and daily use. I'm between Med and Lg, so I wear size Lg (6" inseam) shorts for extra room in legs and hips to move for workouts. The waistline elastic has always held up with the drawstring. On my recent order of new Lg shorts the waiste ran very large - much larger than previous shorts, and the elastic is much less flexible. Couldn't make up for it with the drawstring. I had to return the Large shorts, and ordered Medium. The Medium waist seems to work, but the legs and hips seem narrow. Waist and legs don't seem to match. I hope LL Bean can correct this and return to the previous cut on the shorts, i.e. better elastic on the waist for security and flexibility for the wearer.
These are shorts you can get wet, not swimming shorts. They're probably going to be comfy for lounging around the patio or boating, but I don't have a boat. The side pockets are too voluminous in the water and the elastic waist doesn't do anything. I'm between a medium and a large and should have bought the medium for swimming. Obviously, if they had fit better or I was just interested in a sporty pair of shorts, I would've rated them higher. The red color alone probably is worth an extra star, it's the exact right shade of red, but they didn't work for me and I'm not going to return something I wore in the pool so...two stars it is.
Bought size large for my father who wears a 36 in pants. They nearly fell off while lap swimming. I'm going to try a medium since I can't find the length/color combination elsewhere.
