The photo I am sharing in this review is after having worn these for probably three weeks. Just to give you an idea of the general look of these as they begin to wear a little bit. The shoes are quality made and as far as I can tell, everything is high-quality top to bottom. This is obviously not a cheap running shoe that has been slapped over with nubuck leather and Cordura nylon patching. I think it strikes a pretty decent balance between a very comfortable shoe, which it is, and something designed to be heavy duty enough to actually hike in. But would I actually use these to hiking? I’m going to say no, not quite the feel I expect and not quite the amount of firmness and support I expect in a hiking shoe but pretty close. For me, these are the perfect run around every day type shoe that could be worn to work, in the evening, on weekends, doing home projects or yardwork and more. It’s a great crossover shoe that just fits everywhere. I’m giving it four stars instead of five for one very simple reason, the way it fits. I’m just not a huge fan of the kind of narrow and Slim feel I have with these shoes, and it has a relative lack of much arch support, but the letter really is not something most shoemakers can target because of how different all of our feet are. But, just know that this is definitely a shoe that fits quite narrow all the way from your heel to the toebox and it’s the toebox that kind of bothers me just a little bit. It’s not bad enough that I don’t wear them, I do, but it also tends to feel a little pinched from the ball of my foot to my toes after having worn these for half a day or so. Again, this is quite a personal thing, how shoes fit, but there are a lot of manufacturers out there including most of the running shoe manufacturer such as Nike, Saucony, Adidas, Mizuno and almost any other major brand that tend to get the toebox right for the majority of users - and I don’t experience that kind of thing with any of those running shoes. Also, I certainly haven’t experienced it with the low-cut hikers I have owned and used from Solomon, Merrill, Asolo, Vasque, Timberland, and especially Keen’s. All that said, what I really enjoy about these shoes is the actual design flair that they have from the soul of the shoe all the way up until the individual finishes and components all of which are high-quality and good and should last a long time. Where your typical running shoe that is rebranded as a hiking shoe would last you 4 to 6 months of good use, these would probably give you double that. Maybe that kind of a timeframe shocks you but I’m also pretty hard on shoes it seems. All in all, they are a purchase for you to consider when shopping for excellent all-around shoes for almost any purpose.
