( 13 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 7 2009
I have been wearing these boots to work for quite sometime. I will never go back to anything I have worn in the past!
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Posted: May 24 2009
In these boots, I feel like I can walk three times as far, in half the time. I don't know what the exact increase is, but I can walk noticeably further in these over any other hiker or shoe I've compared them to. They seem to delay the onset of fatigue. Not only that, but I swear my footing is better as well. On those now rarer occasions when I do lose my footing, I honestly feel as if I have better control through the incident. I suspect that the combination of the tread pattern and the very soft material on the sole are the main reason why the handling of these boots seem so much better than others. A lot of reviews complain about rapid sole wear. It's well known softer tires wear down fast, but have superior grip. It's the same thing here. They have a very soft grippy material most shoes don't have. If you're primarily walking on concrete, you should seriously consider that. When I got my first pair, I worked in a corporate environment where my day was running around the different carpeted floors of the building. I also drove to that job. At that time, I was also seriously trail hiking(10+ mile hikes twice a week or more when I could do it) and doing some backpacking. I hiked all around northern california trails. The wear at that time seemed very slow. When I started wearing them in a job that involved me walking between 8 different buildings over concrete throughout the day, every day, as well as doing 8 block walks between agencies in the city on an every other day basis, the soles disintegrated. I also wasn't hiking at all during this time. It seemed about the same amount of walking, but what I was walking on chewed them up. As these are not marketed as daily wear shoes for urban/suburban life, I don't think it's reasonable to fault them for that "limitation". That's like buying a 4WD offroad vehicle and then complaining about how fast the knobbies wear down when you use it for commuting on the road. For that reason, I didn't even consider that when I gave my 5 star rating. Had I, I would have made it a 4 star instead, because the comfort and handling of these boots override other considerations for me. They are THAT good. I just recently picked up my second pair of these. My first pair wasn't made in china, these are. There was a touch of tightness around the balls of my feet the first pair didn't have(12 years earlier and 45 lbs lighter), but no pain or ciriculation restriction. The tightness faded with hours of walking. Other than that, they feel EXACTLY the same as before, with the same great toe space area that no other boot gets right for me. As for the quality of the new boot, time will tell. I got 7 years of good service out of my last pair. They appear to be just as high quality as before. In fact, they actually improved the design in one important(for me) way... The top four lacing hooks on my last pair all used to be "open" so that you would wrap the lace around it, rather than running a lace through something. I would often miss the bottom hooks when tying these in a hurry. Now the bottoms have been closed off so that they are laced through, and I like that layout A LOT better. The last few years, I didn't have a pair of eccos as we had just had our kids and I was in ultra budget mode when it came to stuff for myself. In that time, I developed chronic low back and foot pain. Within 5 minutes of walking around in these(tightness and all) the foot pain was gone. After about a half hour of walking in them, the low back pain was gone. I had read other reviews on the net where people claimed that, but it sounded dubious till I experienced it myself. If I put on my old shoes, or walk around barefoot on our hard tile floor, the pain comes back, but if I put these boots on, it begins to go away again. These Eccos have made me realize that the "good deal" shoes I've been buying haven't been doing me any favors. Enduring chronic pain to save 150 bucks is nuts. It's not indulgence or wasting your money when it's a basic quality of life issue like that. Smiles for your kids and everyone else come a lot easier when your back isn't in a knot and your feet don't feel like someone took a bat to the bottom of them. A small price to pay for peace. These boots are worth every penny.
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Posted: Mar 1 2009
I am on my first pair of Track II'S. The stitching has not held up which also damaged the gortex lining. I have sent the boots (shoes) back to the repair facility. I understand these are now outsourced to China for manufacturing. That being the case, I suggest a tune-up within the QC dept. The price of these shoes certainly commands better.
