Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me start by saying that if I were simply to review these boots for occasional use such as on a rainy day, I'd give them four stars. They look nice enough to wear in a business casual environment (assuming you are wearing slacks), are moderately comfortable if the walking is not extensive, and are solidly waterproof. However, I bought these boots to do actual hiking.I should have considered that none of the reviews actually mention how well they perform while hiking, so if you are a hiker, maybe this review will help you. For the record, I hike mountains a few times a year and just hiked 55 miles in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons over 7 days wearing these boots. (Yes, I broke them in by wearing them to work prior to going on the hike, so no one can say, "You should have broken them in first!") Without further adieu, these boots are ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE for any hiking that includes a rocky surface, any kind of appreciable elevation, or long distances. I'm sure they'd probably be fine on a flat, short hike, but when you buy a "hiker boot" for the purpose of hiking, you're looking for more than that. Or at least I am. These are my major issues: --Awful arch support. I don't have freakish arches or anything like that. In fact, they are pretty close to normal, but these shoes are way too flat to offer good support. The bottom of my feet began hurting on the third day of hiking. --Poorly designed. The back of the shoe destroyed my Achilles tendon. If you look at the boots, you'll see that they provide ankle support, round down, and then push back up along the back end. What moron thought this was a good idea? The result of this is that you aren't giving the tendon a stable cushion because the back end of the boot pushes into your Achilles tendon upon any kind of steep climbing. (Keeping the design straight across the back end would allow the boot to cradle the tendon, not dig into it.) This ended up leaving me with a very swollen Achilles tendon three days into the hike, and by the fourth day I was limping slightly. But, I'm an idiot and continued hiking anyway. (Thankfully, I survived.) --Lack of an efficient rubber toe. The rubber toe on this boot doesn't provide decent protection if you bump into a rock. If you clip a rock, it will jam your toe and sting like a *&$^%. The rubber stopper really needs to run across the top of the toe. Speaking of toes, I also ended up with the nastiest blister on my front toe that I've ever had. It started to show up two days into hiking. (See the photo.) Anyway, that about sums it up. Good shoes if you aren't wearing them for any kind of significant hiking. But if you are a legit hiker, I'd look elsewhere.