Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra 2 GTX

These are my initial thoughts after just beginning to break them in, updates to follow..

I picked these up at SportChek here in Canada at a New Years sale for just over $100. I believe they regularly sell for $170-$190 so a fairly pricey boot. I read somewhere that a blacked out version of the boot was produced for the U.S. Special Forces so I figured they must have been studied and determined to be a good quality boot and worthy of $100 for sure.

When trying them on at the store I noticed that they fit snuggly on the forward part of the foot and I went up 1/2 size bigger than I normally do to compensate. After wearing them around the house and to the store a few times I still find them snug, but not uncomfortably so. I recently wore them on a 3-hour drive and my feet felt like they were in a furnace. I suspect these boots don't breath very well, at least not like my Merrell Moab GTX mids. My hope is that the boots will loosen up some after breaking in more. It's my intention to wear these on my circuit up and over Mt. Katahdin this summer so I hope they work out.

The boot seems to have a very high tech sole with a decently aggressive tread pattern similar to some trail runners I have seen. My impression is that these boots are tough as nails and they have a very tough rubber toe cap that will take severe abuse.

The boots have the Quicklace system which is basically wire laces with a rubber toggle you pull to tighten them and then there is a sliding lock that you adjust to your desired position. It seems to hold snuggly but time will tell. The pull toggle is held out of the way under a pouch on the upper part of the tongue.

One drawback I can see would be if they fail on the trail you better have a set of regular laces or some paracord available. The boot design will allow you to use regular laces if you wish.

I'll post more as I continue to wear them.