Heavy duty trail boot

By trexpesto Ranked #192 - Men's Backpacking Boots May 16, 2011

This is a heavy duty boot with shank. "One-piece" upper is very water resistant sturdy leather. Nicely made. Not lightweight. The Vibram sole incorporates softer foam areas.

Very stable on trail, you can see the sole sticks out on both sides of the foot. It does make it harder to edge or side-hill because of the torque on your foot, so this is no kind of mountaineering boot. It's like a heavy duty patrol boot.

Thin lining, so not cushy and will require a fair break-in period. If it wasn't gore-tex, the thin lining would help it dry out once wet. As it is, gore-tex is useful in real wet areas where you wont get a chance to dry out anyway once wet.

Decent ankle support, but not as bomber as Makalus; they have support to help you from getting as tired, but it still possible to roll your ankle. The soles are more cushy than the old 90's steel shank makalus. Oddly small lugs, perhaps because of the foam in-molds. These are comparatively wider in the footbox than the Granites or Makalus. They are not sized small.

Con: I need them to go straight up a 35-40 degree hill and flex forward equally to my ankle, but then the plastic insert in the tongue (that reinforces the tongue stud for the laces) bites into the top of my foot. I believe the rest of the boot would break in, maybe not this. I'll have to keep trying, I'm starting to have affection for them and got them dirt cheap.

Whereas the Asolo Sasslongs are going straight back as all-around too wimpy for the extreme duty I expect. I'd go La Sportiva Granites but too narrow in foot, too wide in ankle. Also considering Garmont Dakota, maybe some Scarpa boots. I have a couple light Kayland boots which are super wide, but the ones I got were not supposed to be very durable, and are not. For what these retail, you can do better for backpacking or mountaineering. These are like a military or work boot. Could be good for trail crews. Very reliable seeming, heavy duty, good for heavy loads.

View Details: Asolo Power Matic 500 GV Backpacking Boot - Men's

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