Banana Boat Sport SPF 100 Sunscreen Lotion, 4 oz (2 Pack)

Why it's worth it

An SPF 100 lotion rated for 80 minutes of water resistance, sold as a twin pack of small bottles. It's the pick for ski days, high-altitude hikes, and open-water swims, where reflective glare can roughly double the UV hitting your skin.

Snow and water bounce a large share of UV straight back at you, and UV intensity climbs about 4% per thousand feet of elevation. Above 8,000 feet — most ski days, plenty of summer hikes — you're taking meaningfully more than you would at the beach. That's the specific situation where jumping from SPF 50 to 100 stops being a marketing exercise and starts being useful.

The twin-pack format is quietly the best part. Two 4-ounce bottles means one lives in your pack and one stays in the car, or one goes in a jacket pocket for the lift line. Small bottles are the ones you actually carry, and sunscreen you're carrying is sunscreen you'll reapply.

From our review of 8 sunscreens for outdoor activities, by Genevieve Dubois, Home & Living Expert

What we like

• +Snow and water bounce a large share of UV straight back at you, and UV intensity climbs about 4% per thousand feet of elevation
• +The twin-pack format is quietly the best part
• +The lotion is light and breathable rather than the heavy paste high-SPF products often are, and owners who burn instantly — the…
• +It has confirmed 80-minute water resistance, so it's rated for swimming and paddling and not just for dry-land sun

What to know

• –A high number invites bad behavior
• –It uses chemical filters, so it's not the bottle for a reef zone
• –The bottles are small