I rode those boots into the fucking ground. 500+ miles and 14 years before the soles finally split open halfway down the boot.
Is the hegemony justified? It is to me. Lowa earned my business. They're going to have to do something to lose it.
Big YAY from me. Currently have been wearing my Zephyrs for 2 years straight and they're amazing. Next time I probably should get half a size bigger but the experience has been amazing. Just buy the boot care kit and it just works.
Lowa Zephyr are the multicam equivalent of the military boots world. EVERYBODY is using them. Not a single picture of a russian/ukrainian without lowas. Even here in the Swiss army half of the NCO/officer corp is using Lowas ffs... Only ones not using lowas might the North koreans
only speaking from personal experience as a multi-year Merrel's/Salomon user; QC and material quality has gone down in recent years. You can spend $150 for a 1.5 year boot, or $350 for a (likely) 3+ year boot.
Can't really speak on other hard use boots as these were the first ones I've owned (and since replaced with the same exact pair). Just putting out my results. If the wear rate seems exceptional it might be due to me dancing in them consistently.
This pair lasted 1 year almost to the date. 6+ miles on average every day.
Just check my receipt email and turns out it was actually a year and a half of use.
>This pair lasted 1 year almost to the date
That sounds pretty shit. I walk several miles a day concrete/asphalt and my boots last a few years, cheap shit from Amazon. Do you walk on sandpaper?
I'm usually walking on gravel and uneven terrain. Plus spilling gasoline on them and kicking shit out of the ground with them. For the kind of abuse I put these through I'd say they held up exceptionally.
>This pair lasted 1 year almost to the date
That sounds pretty shit. I walk several miles a day concrete/asphalt and my boots last a few years, cheap shit from Amazon. Do you walk on sandpaper?
These boots sacrifice durability for comfort.
They use softer materials in the sole for better dampening, grip and so on.
This is the trade-off.
You will hear many accounts of Zephyrs wearing out in a year or in an even shorter time.
This goes against the old idea of "a good pair of boots will last you forever", they are treated more like a consumable.
>durability for comfort
I just buy $15 dollar insoles. Mine don't last forever, just long enough to not feel like I wasted money. Again, concrete and asphalt. Even sneakers will destroy my knees but setting my boots up right will keep me OK. 1 year is some serious Dr. Martens territory.
2,000 miles isn't bad "1 year" doesn't really mean anything. Compare that to this guy whose boots lasted 14 whole years! (He never leaves the couch)
I rode those boots into the fucking ground. 500+ miles and 14 years before the soles finally split open halfway down the boot.
Is the hegemony justified? It is to me. Lowa earned my business. They're going to have to do something to lose it.
Depending on environment, couch sitting can be harder on boots than walking. Electrolysis or whatever. I do think it's impressive you went through the soles before the internals wore out. I usually have to get new ones because the liner tears and destroys the backs of my heels. I'm getting into unlined leather boots now.
>"a good pair of boots will last you forever"
This really only applies to traditional welted boots of leather and cork with the expectation that you resole often so you don't burn into the midsole. Once you get into the modern realm of higher performance materials and lightweight bonded construction you just need to accept that the tradeoff is that they are disposable.
Anyway the thing with danner, make sure the specific model you are looking at says its resolable. They have a few models where they have made the construction cheaper by combining the insole with the midsole and those don't have the same durability as their traditional boots.
The mountain light is one of the well constructed ones. The mountain pass boots are the cheaper construction method >Built with light hikes and city streets in mind, the overall design is inspired by our original Mountain Light with an updated construction method that integrates the shank, midsole and lasting board into a single piece.
Stay away from those ones
They have Berry compliant boots but the Tachyon isn't one of them. >advertising compares it to a sneaker
I am skeptical, to say the least. I bet it's comfy but I was never a sneakerhead.
>boot durability
Here's the deal: you're almost certainly either standing on foam or leather. Other materials exist, but they're attempting to imitate one of those, namely leatherboard or textron/cardboard.
I'm talking about the insole and midsole here. Your outsole is almost certainly rubber or rubber inserted into leather, and this is for grip.
If you've got a boot designed to be resoled, that's probably because you're standing on leather. If you've got a disposable boot, it's because you're standing on foam. All boots wear through the outsole eventually and when that happens, you unstitch a resolable boot and stitch a new outsole on. With a disposable boot, you might be able to get a factory resole done, but if you've seen how that's done you'll see why these boots are meant to be disposable. You're standing on foam. Foam wears out. Resoling one of these boots means tearing out and replacing all that foam. May as well chuck the whole boot. With leather you don't have to do this. Your insole and probably midsole will still be fine.
>pic: ariats. bet you zephyrs are built about the same way
Now don't listen to the boot snobs who tell you that a resolable full-leather boot is better always. That's not true. Foam gives you impact resistance. It gives you shock absorbance. Leather doesn't do that. What leather gives you is stability. There's nothing like the air pockets in foam under your foot that's compressing and decompressing every time you step. You wear that that insole down into an exact mold of your foot and your foot stays in place as you walk. Leather is also certainly heavier than foam. My White's are twice the weight of my Vasques (~1200g vs 674g)
so >durability
All boots break down. All boots need a resole eventually. The full-leather boot is cool to point three resoles and one rebuild later, but did it make sense for your day-to-day? If you're on cement day in day out, I don't see why you'd want to be standing on leather for it.
>pic: vibergs. note the lack of any and all foam, except the insert (not shown)
Foam insoles are an option, I just bought a pair of Red Wings and they tried to sell me on insoles pretty hard. There's also the cork in some boots which acts as a sort of compression layer. There are also foamier outsoles to help add some squish. Agree that they're hard under foot, but it should be noted that it's a different feel to standing directly on the ground, or compressing all the way through foam layers. I've been wearing mine on hard floor (tile and concrete) pretty much all day and it isn't as bad as wearing cheap foam boots on concrete. I used to wear Wal-Mart work boots and I had to buy knee braces they destroyed me so hard.
I knew someone was going to mention cork and I am prepared to argue to the death that cork is simply old-school foam, lol.
I'm kidding a bit, but I declined to mention it because it's filler rather than anything structural.
Its a balance and you need to buy what suits what you are doing. leather is generally really good for just standing on. foam is really nice for when you are putting miles on your feet, but when you are static they tend to allow your feet to wobble and since your muscles are making mico adjustments non-stop so you can end up with your feet feeling even more worn out standing in a very plush boot versus a stiffer one.
what
I rode those boots into the fucking ground. 500+ miles and 14 years before the soles finally split open halfway down the boot.
Is the hegemony justified? It is to me. Lowa earned my business. They're going to have to do something to lose it.
>500 miles
>rode into the fucking ground
NGMI
>using "military boots"
Even Lowa purposely makes their military boots lower quality than the civilian ones. I've seen Zephyrs blow out after 3 months.
I know several people who use Renegades and have never seen one fail.
Currently wearing my hightop Zephyrs. Used and abused them through SUT/Robin Sage and on the job.
I’m a fan. Mine are goretex so they’re pretty warm, but that’s my only “gripe”.
Idf reservist here.
I had my renegades gtx for 7 or so years, and i had to repair a seam only once.
Really good boots, but not too suitable for summer.
Don't you have some genociding to commit, or suck Bibi's cock?
Big YAY from me. Currently have been wearing my Zephyrs for 2 years straight and they're amazing. Next time I probably should get half a size bigger but the experience has been amazing. Just buy the boot care kit and it just works.
thanks, Tod
No problem! 🙂
they're better than salomon boots that just break after a year of light use
Lowa Zephyr are the multicam equivalent of the military boots world. EVERYBODY is using them. Not a single picture of a russian/ukrainian without lowas. Even here in the Swiss army half of the NCO/officer corp is using Lowas ffs... Only ones not using lowas might the North koreans
But why? Why not Salomons or something?
only speaking from personal experience as a multi-year Merrel's/Salomon user; QC and material quality has gone down in recent years. You can spend $150 for a 1.5 year boot, or $350 for a (likely) 3+ year boot.
Bought mines for camping/hiking and they're fucking brilliant.
Sturdy and comfy af, feels like wearing trainers almost.
The eternal Kraut strikes again
This pair lasted 1 year almost to the date. 6+ miles on average every day.
How much longer has that lasted you compared to other boots youve used?
Can't really speak on other hard use boots as these were the first ones I've owned (and since replaced with the same exact pair). Just putting out my results. If the wear rate seems exceptional it might be due to me dancing in them consistently.
Just check my receipt email and turns out it was actually a year and a half of use.
I'm usually walking on gravel and uneven terrain. Plus spilling gasoline on them and kicking shit out of the ground with them. For the kind of abuse I put these through I'd say they held up exceptionally.
>This pair lasted 1 year almost to the date
That sounds pretty shit. I walk several miles a day concrete/asphalt and my boots last a few years, cheap shit from Amazon. Do you walk on sandpaper?
These boots sacrifice durability for comfort.
They use softer materials in the sole for better dampening, grip and so on.
This is the trade-off.
You will hear many accounts of Zephyrs wearing out in a year or in an even shorter time.
This goes against the old idea of "a good pair of boots will last you forever", they are treated more like a consumable.
>durability for comfort
I just buy $15 dollar insoles. Mine don't last forever, just long enough to not feel like I wasted money. Again, concrete and asphalt. Even sneakers will destroy my knees but setting my boots up right will keep me OK. 1 year is some serious Dr. Martens territory.
2,000 miles isn't bad "1 year" doesn't really mean anything. Compare that to this guy whose boots lasted 14 whole years! (He never leaves the couch)
Depending on environment, couch sitting can be harder on boots than walking. Electrolysis or whatever. I do think it's impressive you went through the soles before the internals wore out. I usually have to get new ones because the liner tears and destroys the backs of my heels. I'm getting into unlined leather boots now.
>"a good pair of boots will last you forever"
This really only applies to traditional welted boots of leather and cork with the expectation that you resole often so you don't burn into the midsole. Once you get into the modern realm of higher performance materials and lightweight bonded construction you just need to accept that the tradeoff is that they are disposable.
Thoughts?
They make both good and bad boots.
Anyway the thing with danner, make sure the specific model you are looking at says its resolable. They have a few models where they have made the construction cheaper by combining the insole with the midsole and those don't have the same durability as their traditional boots.
The mountain light is one of the well constructed ones. The mountain pass boots are the cheaper construction method
>Built with light hikes and city streets in mind, the overall design is inspired by our original Mountain Light with an updated construction method that integrates the shank, midsole and lasting board into a single piece.
Stay away from those ones
What about their "military" and "tactical" ones with the edgy names, like the Tachyon?
They have Berry compliant boots but the Tachyon isn't one of them.
>advertising compares it to a sneaker
I am skeptical, to say the least. I bet it's comfy but I was never a sneakerhead.
>boot durability
Here's the deal: you're almost certainly either standing on foam or leather. Other materials exist, but they're attempting to imitate one of those, namely leatherboard or textron/cardboard.
I'm talking about the insole and midsole here. Your outsole is almost certainly rubber or rubber inserted into leather, and this is for grip.
If you've got a boot designed to be resoled, that's probably because you're standing on leather. If you've got a disposable boot, it's because you're standing on foam. All boots wear through the outsole eventually and when that happens, you unstitch a resolable boot and stitch a new outsole on. With a disposable boot, you might be able to get a factory resole done, but if you've seen how that's done you'll see why these boots are meant to be disposable. You're standing on foam. Foam wears out. Resoling one of these boots means tearing out and replacing all that foam. May as well chuck the whole boot. With leather you don't have to do this. Your insole and probably midsole will still be fine.
>pic: ariats. bet you zephyrs are built about the same way
Now don't listen to the boot snobs who tell you that a resolable full-leather boot is better always. That's not true. Foam gives you impact resistance. It gives you shock absorbance. Leather doesn't do that. What leather gives you is stability. There's nothing like the air pockets in foam under your foot that's compressing and decompressing every time you step. You wear that that insole down into an exact mold of your foot and your foot stays in place as you walk. Leather is also certainly heavier than foam. My White's are twice the weight of my Vasques (~1200g vs 674g)
so
>durability
All boots break down. All boots need a resole eventually. The full-leather boot is cool to point three resoles and one rebuild later, but did it make sense for your day-to-day? If you're on cement day in day out, I don't see why you'd want to be standing on leather for it.
>pic: vibergs. note the lack of any and all foam, except the insert (not shown)
Foam insoles are an option, I just bought a pair of Red Wings and they tried to sell me on insoles pretty hard. There's also the cork in some boots which acts as a sort of compression layer. There are also foamier outsoles to help add some squish. Agree that they're hard under foot, but it should be noted that it's a different feel to standing directly on the ground, or compressing all the way through foam layers. I've been wearing mine on hard floor (tile and concrete) pretty much all day and it isn't as bad as wearing cheap foam boots on concrete. I used to wear Wal-Mart work boots and I had to buy knee braces they destroyed me so hard.
I knew someone was going to mention cork and I am prepared to argue to the death that cork is simply old-school foam, lol.
I'm kidding a bit, but I declined to mention it because it's filler rather than anything structural.
Its a balance and you need to buy what suits what you are doing. leather is generally really good for just standing on. foam is really nice for when you are putting miles on your feet, but when you are static they tend to allow your feet to wobble and since your muscles are making mico adjustments non-stop so you can end up with your feet feeling even more worn out standing in a very plush boot versus a stiffer one.
>you're almost certainly either standing on foam or leather. Other materials exist, but they're attempting to imitate one of those,
Why not gel?
"gel" in the marketing you see for shoes and boots is just another foam type. its the same with "gel" mattress toppers.