[philmont] Boots Story

I bought some new boots at REI this weekend, and I thought my experience
might be useful to some others.

As background, I bought a pair of Montrail boots 2 years ago at REI. I was
never satisfied with those boots, but thought they might eventually get
broken in enough to be comfortable. No such luck. So, in preparing for our
Philmont trek this summer I decided I had to get new boots.

Given the total cost of attending Philmont, paying for both my son and
myself, it seemed like trying to save a few bucks on boots was not a great
idea. At 58 years old, going on my first Philmont trek, I can afford to get
something good. At the Houston REI store I tried on a pair of Vasque
Sundowners, and I liked them. The salesperson was pushing the Superfeet
insoles, so I tried those, and they felt a good bit better than the Vasque
insoles. I was close to buying the Vasques, but since we had driven quite a
ways to get to the store, I felt like I ought to try the Asolo TPS 520's.
The Asolos were slightly more expensive and slightly heavier, which is why I
tried the Vasques first. Well, the Asolos were MUCH more comfortable on my
feet! The Vasques felt slightly uncomfortable around the tops and across
the laces. The Asolos felt great!

I then tried the SuperFeet inserts with the Asolos, and I found that the
Asolo insoles felt just as good as the SuperFeet. And the cost of the
Asolos was less than the Vasques with the SuperFeet insoles. I wore the new
Asolos home and we hiked a couple of miles last evening. They feel great!

My son (14 years old) tried both a lower priced pair of Vasques and the
expensive Asolos, but he chose a pair of La Sportiva boots as being the best
fit for him. The SuperFeet insoles also felt much better to him than the
insoles that came with the La Sportiva boots. His lower-priced boots with
the SuperFeet inserts cost only slightly less than my "expensive" Asolos.

I'm not trying to push any particular brand here. I'm sure that a lot of
people are well-pleased with Montrail and Vasque boots. But I think my
experience does point out that there is no substitute for going into a store
that has a good selection and trying on a number of different boots to find
out what works best for you.

I also don't want to start any flaming here, but I consider it to be
somewhat unethical to go into a retail store where you have no intention of
buying and using the store's facilities and the salesperson's time and then
buying online to save a few bucks. Support your local store. (I admit to
being biased on this. I owned a retail business for over 15 years.)

Your mileage may vary.

Guinn Unger

Troop 889 - The Woodlands, TX

Troop 1861 - College Station, TX

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Received on Sun Feb 25 13:47:22 2007