Something Like Shoe Reviews
I seem to have quite a lot of shoes about at the moment between what has remained around and what I've just obtained. I thought I'd put together something like reviews for them. I'm photographing them with my foot on the insole that came with them under the expectation that the inside is roughly that shape. It doesn't seem to be perfectly true, but gives an idea. My larger left foot is size 8.5 nude and 9 in a light or medium cushion hiking sock and on the narrow side of average.
All my Roclite shoes have had great tread for sticking to trail and exceptional for sticking to rocks. This is my 6th pair of these slippers with lugs. Unfortunately, they reserve little-toe space for the more expensive shoes. The lugs wore down quickly on the identical pair before this one and the mesh fabric showed divots in it after the first wearing. These probably have about 100 miles on them and will be ripped at the toes by 400 miles and too smooth underneath at 600 miles like the identical pair before them. A steady diet of E6000 and sometimes little bits of fabric to fill in the holes helps them limp through the after holes miles.
These are well used at this point and the insole may be least representative of the space on the inside. They have always felt like I have 1/4 to 1/2 inch extra space all along the side without being too loose in the heel. When I first hiked in them, I felt like I might slip around sideways in them, especially as it was a tougher trail. Altra state that you might need some time to relax into them after whatever tight shoes and I did find I was steadier in them after a few more miles. My feet seemed to try to twist outward to try to smash my little toe anyway until I removed the stretchy piece that went through the slot by the laces and could lace them up tight enough. I think it is meant to give a little less pressure right over the arch, but when I put the laces through it, I pulled it as tight as it would go. The lugs weren't quite as nice either on rocks or trail as the Roclite, but they got the job done. The padding underneath is pretty near perfect and I didn't find my feet becoming sore at mile 12 or even mile 20. Mile 26 on hard road did start to get to me once. Then I ripped holes in them around mile 200. As the only shoes I actually paid full price for, I was rather disappointed. E6000 has helped them limp on, but they just rip some more. Now they are my everyday shoes and the cushioning is actually really good for sidewalk walking, too. A mile to the grocery store, two to the sporting goods store, or three out to the computer store is all good. Oh, and they totally match my day pack.
Some shinny new shoes. Altra make some narrower styles. I didn't try the Superior because I didn't like that the lugs are shorter and was feeling more concerned with lug size than width at the time. The King MT seems to be the same sole as the Superior. Unfortunately, it has a different width because it has a different cushioning. They consider this to be "low" instead of "moderate" cushion. I have only put it through a three mile loop so far, so no idea if it will still feel good at mile 12 the way the Lone Peak does. The strap is meant to be something to quickly tighten down the shoe for those steep downhills, but when I tighten it, I just feel pain. It is connected to the bottom of the shoe and comes up around the foot, then out through a slot in the side. The part that is painful is where it comes up under the outside of my foot. When it is not tight, it is quite ignorable. It said I should size up half a size, but I decided to risk not doing so. They are definitely shorter heel to toe than the other Altra 10.5, but I shall really see when I try them backpacking. Unfortunately, they don't look like they'll be longer lasting and the new ones were redesigned to increase longevity and those lugs are still a tiny bit short.
These are the shoes I'm usually wearing right now. They were cheap and had big lugs and were almost in my size when the Altra Lone Peak were too full of holes. It's getting back to that normal shoe shape but the extra length from the size 11 helps. I kick the ground a lot with them because of that extra length. I seem to have accidentally gotten water resistant shoes, but that's not such a bad thing. Water doesn't seep in when hitting shallow wet stuff and they aren't so bad at drying out. Additionally, the film over the fabric that makes it water resistant seems to be very good at making it abrasion resistant. These must have had twice the abrasions the Lone Peak shoes had and they're only showing it in the black overcoat by the toe. They're hardly scuffed. These are really solid uppers. The lugs are excellent too and holding up very well to the miles. The sole is pretty good for keeping out too much rock feel and keeping my feet happy instead of sore. If only they were more foot shaped and came with proper laces. The quick laces never work as well as real ones.
These have a lot of years on them rather than a lot of miles. My feet really like the shoe shape, but the tread slips on wet rocks. The uppers aren't very strong. The hole in the top of the toe is from when they were hanging on the back of my pack for a water crossing and the rest is from wearing them. The left side is much worse off than the right. The printed on color offers some slight protection, but not much.
Again with a very nice shape from Topo Athletic and the uppers are looking good around mile 100, but the lugs are coming loose from the Vibram soles. The lugs aren't all that deep, either. They stuck to things fine, but they probably won't once those fall off. Also, the sole feels like too much now. Perhaps that's the "pliability" which they rate as "moderate" and I've been wearing a lot of really flexible shoes. Anyway, I was loving these January-March when I noticed the peeling. Oh, and I got it from a place that doesn't think it has to worry about the quality of the product after 60 days. I should have taken it up with Topo, but now it's about a week past a year.
It's hard to gauge these based on the insole because they're not removable. They are another very thin soled shoe and would you believe they are actually the source of that small bruise under my big toe nail? They seem a little tight in the vertical around the toe, but I did neglect to cut my nail when I should have. These are the only ones that actually seem too long at 10.5, especially on my smaller foot. When the ball of my foot is correctly placed, my heel is a bit forward. Besides that, the lugs are shallow and don't work so well on hills. As usual, I threw these light hikers at a big trail to test them. I'm still amazed at how 20 miles with no cushion really isn't so bad, but I still don't want to feel the sharp rocks along the way.
This is another pair of shinny new shoes that have only been around the three mile loop. These are actually slightly shorter than the Altra King MT that suggested I should go up a half size. Some of the Xero styles also suggest going up a half size, but this is not one of them. For me, it feels like the outer two toes are getting close to the front of the shoe but not squished at the side. They felt a little stiff at first and I slipped once, but they improved for the second part of the loop. The heel is a little loose and a little bit tall, but the rest of the shoe is soft and comfortable and very nicely shaped for my foot. The sole is supposed to go 5000 miles. Reviews suggest I should worry about the uppers almost as much as those of the Altra shoes, but I should see rather good performance by that sole. I'm feeling pretty good about these except for the way they fit around the heel, particularly how high they come up on the back. I might need to invest in an insole to bring my foot up a little, or I might steal the ones out of my old Altras that I seem to like. The insole provided with these is particularly thin and not squishy.
While I'm at it, I might as well do the boots too. These have that really traditional shape to the insole, but the boot really isn't quite so bad. Really, Solomon does a superior shape to a lot of boots. It's still too pointy. I think I owned these for a year before I even used them. I expected a long day with bits of snow to chug through when I did, and that's what I got. My ankles were so used to being free that they fought the boots all the way leaving me with minor bruising under the tops of the boots. I wore them again after I did whatever it was I did to my foot. I came down the steps fast and landed hard with a mighty noise on the marble at the bottom. It was such a surprising noise that I stood there waiting for the pain, which didn't come. Pain did come when I hiked, so I reached for my boots for the support. Turned out, that wasn't the support I needed, but a little tape did the trick. I grabbed them again when I was still healing, suspicious my feet were a little weak for long miles and looking at a long weekend of peak bagging. There have been a few other times I went for them, but mostly I don't want these big things on my feet. I still took them with me for my big travel and I'm always surprised how light they are considering how solid they are.
My insulated boots. These are heavy and shapeless on the inside and the tread probably isn't great if I did hike in them, but they sure are nice to shove my feet into when I'm trying to make breakfast in 13°F weather.
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