Recommendations on Hiking boot: Style/Performance - Page 2

Ron Ryder from Ryder Boots will be having his Ottawa hiking boots for sale soon.

You can have a look of what it looks like from Forum sponsor Need Supply.

I find the Brasher Supalite a great walking boot. It is very lightweight and can also be worn off the trail without attracting too much attention. Another advantage is practically no breaking in is required as the leather is so soft.
http://www.brasher.co.uk/catalogue/products/supalite-ii-gtx-r-supaiimn

I have been looking for some 'true' hiking boots, but all the new offerings these days are very 'techy' looking with lots of synthetics.

 

Just wanted to throw it out there that Vasque still makes their old school Sundowners  that I think you could still wear as your winter/hiking boot.

 

My experience suggests an exact opposite, or maybe it's just JCrew from where I ordered my Danners.

For reference, my shoe size is an 8.5E - 9D for most dress boots.

I first ordered what JCrew has as an 8.5D medium ('8H Medium' on their site). When they shipped it to me it was stamped an 8.5 EE on the boot. In terms of sizing the boot would have been better for 9-9.5D, IMO.

Then I replaced it with an 8EE (advertised as '8 Medium' on the JCrew site), which arrived yesterday. They're still a shade too big.

Not sure if this is an error on my part, but there it is.

To add to the above - just got in touch with a Danner customer service person.

The Mountain Trail only come in wides, and they advise sizing down if your original size does not fit you. Better still, they have offered to replace my Danners (since J Crew does not carry the next lower size for me in Trails, 7.5EE)

However.....

 

When my Sundowners wore out more than a few years ago I picked up another pair. And in less than a year the sole started to separate. I was in a Red Wing store a couple of months ago and saw the Sundowner sitting on display. Talked to the sales person about what happened and he admitted that when Red Wing purchased Vasque they moved production to China and had some QC issues at first. He said they have all been worked out now, don't know if that is true or not. In any even I am more than pleased with the Meindl Perfekt hikers that I replaced them with.

 

Vasque are nice, but if you want the business, go with Zamberlan

I'm sorta blessed that i can comfortably fit any boots without needing ANY break-in at all. can strap on a fresh pair and jaunt up a 15k mountain top. Zamberlan just gets a slight slight edge on comfort

I realize this is probably not the fashion forward answer, but I would have to agree with the previous post and recommend a visit to REI. Yes, you're gonna pay close to retail, but their SA's are very knowledgeable and if for any reason you have a problem their return policy is awesome. I bought my Merrills ~10 years ago at REI after spending about an hour trying on different brands and styles and walking up and down their ramp to test for fit and comfort. After lots of hiking and a couple of years helping out the scouts hey have finally started to deteriorate to the point where I'll be replacing them with another pair of Merrills.
Just my $0.02
Jon

Meindl
http://www.meindl.de/english/index.html