Joshua A. Hedetniemi
After months of researching, reading on-line forum reviews and watching videos, I decided to bite the bullet and buy these boots for my up-coming Colorado Elk hunt in the fall of 2018. I picked them up from a local REI that had them for the same price as here on Amazon, however my particular store gave me an instant $50 store credit; effectively knocking these down from $230 to around $180. First of all, I would absolutely not classify these as trail running shoes. These are 100% backpacking boots all the way and are designed as such. The can certainly pull triple duty as hunting and hiking boots as well, but for day hikes with no packs to carry, they are way over kill. Everything about these is made for life off a beaten path. Quality is great, all the seems are tight and well finished. The tongue is really comfortable and lays very evenly and flat under the laces without bunching up. The feature I like best about these boots is the ankle lock lacing system which really pulls your heel in to the rear of the boot, keeps your foot immobile in the boot, and prevents your toes from smashing forward into the front of the toe box during steep descents. For those who are hunting in mountainous areas, this is a clutch feature. Padding is good, especially under the heel and Im sure could be very comfortable under heavy packs, but I have yet to carry a heavy load with these yet. Once I got them home, it was right out of the box, on my feet, and I was off for a 3 mile walk around the neighborhood which includes 2 moderately steep hills. They were a little bit stiff and actually sat higher above my ankle then I remember them in the REI store. After the second mile, I pretty much forgot I was wearing them, and just enjoyed the walk with the dog. These are very lite weight in my opinion, and would make excellent hunting boots for those who need to hoof it in and out a long way, and also would be excellent for thru hiking. I cant comment on how good the waterproofing is because I havent seen any rain yet, but I will update this review once I have a chance to put them through the paces. the tongue is gusseted and stitched fairly far up, so I am certain you would need to get water over the top of the boots to get wet. As I read in many other reviews and learned in videos, these tend to run about a half size small, so keep that in mind. I wear a 10.5 in both Red Wing and Danner boots, I wear a 10.5 Bellville combat boot in the Army, and I got an 11 for these Salomon boots, and Im glad I did. With sock liners and slightly heavier winter socks, it will be a perfect. UPDATE 01/19/2019: Okay, after wearing these boots for a few months now, I thought I would follow up. The boots are as I suspected absolutely fantastic. I wore these on a 10-day SW Colorado elk hunting trip. We hunted between 9,500 and 10,800 feet of elevation. We spent hours and hours each day side-hilling some of the steepest, most difficult terrain immaginable, navigating thick deadfall, rocks/boulders, dark timber, thick mud and drainages, all while carrying 40+ lb packs. These boots did not let me down. The ankle support is unmatched in any boot I have evet worn, which was absolutely clutch when side-hilling (some slopes we a measured 78 degree incline)! The tread was aggressive, and dug-in and held even in all but the most slippery mud and cleared easily to keep grip constant. I lost my footing one day, fell and started sliding down a very slick drainage; they only thing that stopped me from going over the edge was digging in these treads! Waterproofing was my only complaint about these boots. Transitioning from snow covered areas to Bare ground was always a drag, because the boots would quickly become wet. After about 20 to 40 minutes walking through snow, the boots would soak through, making for a pretty miserable afternoon once we stopped moving to set up for our hunt. This can probably be fixed with some spray-on silicone treatment, but I would suspect Solomon should do better given the price point of these boots. All things considered, these boots prooved their worth 100 times over and held up to the most nasty terrain I have ever hunted. If they can survive Southwest Colorado, and are now the issued boot for US Special Forces, they are probably good enough for anything you can put them through. Stop looking at reviews and buy these boots already.
