"Sweet show, terrible sole" - Review of Salomon XA Comp 3 GTX Trail Running Shoe - Men's

By pl8048062074511

July 15, 2008

I'm thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail and i just got a pair of these to replace my 600+ mile cheap new balances that were seriously blown out. Within four days and about 75 miles i have begun to destroy the Salomon's soles. There are chunks missing and the whole rubber section is coming unglued. There is a flaw in their construction; the tread is glued onto the foam sole and is not one contiguous piece, but is formed so that some of the foam is exposed. if you look at the picture, anything on the bottom that is not grey is foam and not rubber tread. In any case, its a real shame that it took me only four days to destroy the sole because i love pretty much everything else about these shoes. They are totally waterproof (wear gaiters if you want to stay dry while hiking) and the uppers are super tough. Lets clarify: i tore these up on one of the rockiest sections on the AT (northern Pennsylvania) doing a string of 20 mile days at speed and a 12-hour 30 mile day yesterday, all with a 25 pound pack. Not everyone will test the limits of durability to this extent, BUT, these shoes have failed the ultimate test, and you all should take note.