Pace Rival Crops - Try On Review and Comparison To Inspires (UPDATE 2 - With TryOn Phone-in-the-Thigh-Pocket Photos)

The Pace Rival Crops have hit US lululemon stores in three colors - a Black/Gray Wee Space, a palm leaf stripe (the exact name is escaping me right now), and plain black. They each are a little different. The Black and Wee Space are luxtreme while the palm leaf stripe one is fullux:

Tag for the Palm Leaf Stripe Pace Rivals

Tag for Wee Space Pace Rivals

Tag for Black Pace Rivals

Though the black claims to be regular luxtreme, I swear the portion covering your backside is full on luxtreme since it was fully opaque on me - I couldn't even see the tag - and the color is a bit different looking than the side panels.  I found the Wee Space the most comfortable of the three pairs. Wee Space luxtremes tend to be silky smooth, very light feeling, opaque, visually slimming, and provide camouflage for imperfections. The downside is they are not as compressive as full on luxtreme or even regular Power Luxtreme. However, my wee space run crops are the ones I reach for in the summer since the material feels lighter (i.e., less thick) than regular luxtreme and I love the buttery softness. 

The mesh on the back of the leg is circle mesh and opaque.

I ended up going home with the Wee Space ones even though I don't 100% love the block of Grapefruit used at the bottom of the leg, locking me into pairing these crops primarily with oranges or black. 

Front view of the Pace Rivals and Inspires

Back view of the Pace Rivals and Inspires

The Pace Rivals are a little longer than the Inspires - by 1/2" according to the website.

I also found the Pace Rivals had a little bit longer rise in both the front and back. My measurement from top of the waistband in the front to the top of the gusset was 9.5" on the Pace Rivals and 9.25" on the Inspire. For the back rise, I found the Pace Rivals to measure 11.5" and the Inspires 10.75". I thought the fit was TTS but if you are in-between sizes you can probably size down, especially in the Wee Space version.

Pace Rival thigh pocket.

My phone does not slide in easily in the narrow pocket.

The pocket is bonded into the crops.

The Pace Rivals also have two thigh pockets but I've got to say I was a bit disappointed with how narrow, tight, and shallow they are compared to the thigh pockets on the Speed Tights. I had a very hard time getting my iPhone 5S in its Lifeproof case into it. The pocket measures 2 5/8" across. I was hoping the pockets would be as roomy as the ones on the Speed Tights, which are 4.25" across:

Speed Tight Pocket - roomy and deep

Speed Tight pockets are sewn.

Normally I would just shove the phone in and forget it but the pocket is bonded into the crops, unlike the Speed Tights which are sewn on all sides, and that makes me doubt its durability if I over-stress the seam. Though the Speed Tight pockets tend to gap a little at the top they are super roomy. People are telling me they can fit their iPhone 6+ in the Pace Rival but a 6+ measure 3.06" across. The regular iPhone 6 is 2.64". I'm not sure why they made the pocket so narrow. I think it was probably to make them as low profile as possible in answer to people complaining about the Speed Tight pockets gaping. I don't know how functional the Pace Rival pockets will be. I can see using it for money or ID but as for being able to put something rather bulky in there like a phone in a sticky case or a packet of Gel Blox, I tend to think it'll be a little bit of a pain to use.

UPDATE- A reader points out the pocket stretches across your thigh so you can get a larger iphone in and out but I did try using the pocket while wearing the crops in the dressing room and I had to work to get my phone in and out of the pocket. It's definitely something I'd have to pull over during a run to do, whereas in the Speed Tight it was no problem to pull my phone out on the move. If you have a grippy case on your phone like I do - a caseless iPhone 5S or smooth case will be much easier - you will have to wiggle it to get it in and out since the pocket lays super flat and snug on your thigh.

I dug up an old case-less iPhone 5S I had around my house to show how it fits in the pocket. This is just laying on my table.

This is how a case-less iPhone 5S fits on. It slid in very easily.

I have a pretty substantial case on my phone. The case brings the phone up fairly close to the dimensions of an iPhone 6, except it's a lot thicker. Here are the dimensions of the three kinds of iPhones:

5S (l x w x d):    4.87" x 2.31" x 0.3"

6:                        5.44" x 2.64" x 0.27"

(5S in my case): 5.41" x 2.64" x 0.5"

6+:                      6.22" x 3.06" 0.28"

My phone in its case - about the same height and width of an iPhone 6.

My initial review was probably too pessimistic about the usefulness of the thigh pockets for carrying a phone but I was expecting the pocket to be more like those in the Speed Tights. Like people said, a case-less iPhone 6+ will work, though it will stick out a bit more on top.