ECCO Tahoe Shoes
Test Series by Kurt Papke
Tester Information
Name: |
Kurt Papke |
Age: |
57 |
Gender: |
Male |
Height: |
6' 4" (193 cm) |
Weight: |
230 lbs (104 kg) |
Email address: |
kwpapke (at) gmail (dot) com |
City, State, Country: |
Tucson, Arizona USA |
My backpacking background is a combination of the Minnesota area,
where I have lived most of my adult life, and Southern Arizona where
I moved about two years ago to Tucson for a new job. The
trails I hike are rocky -- I need shoes that protect my feet and
provide good traction on sand, gravel and stones.
Initial Report
Product Facts
Product Information
|
Manufacturer
|
ECCO
|
Photo courtesy ECCO USA
|
Manufacturer website
|
http://www.eccousa.com
|
Year manufactured
|
2011
|
Model
|
Tahoe (formerly Xpedition Lite)
|
Color tested
|
Moon Rock - Ice White
(Expresso - Coffee also available)
|
Size tested
|
EUR 46
Availability of other sizes depends on color and
availability. At the time of writing, sizes EUR 41, 42
and 45 were also available.
|
MSRP
|
$150 USD
|
Weight (measured)
|
1 lb 3.9 oz (560 g) Right
1 lb 4.4 oz (580 g) Left
Total: 2 lb 8.3 oz
(1140 g)
|
Material - upper
|
Yak leather and "textiles"
|
Material - soles
|
ECCO performance rubber
|
The Tahoe shoes are a member of ECCO's Performance line of
products. They are unlined and hence not waterproof, a feature
I neither need nor want for hiking in the Sonoran desert.
Initial Inspection
On removal
from the packing box I inspected the shoes for any obvious defects
or workmanship problems. I could find nothing - they were
absolutely immaculate. As soon as I picked the shoes up I
noticed a real heft to them - this is footwear of substance.
I like shoes to have good flexibility at the ball of the foot, but
with rigidity over the soles. These shoes did not disappoint:
I can flex them at the right spot, yet in the insteps they are
extremely rigid.
As can be seen by the photos these are visually striking
shoes. They look stunning. The Yak leather on the uppers
has an almost buttery feel to it.
Visible in the photo at left is the aggressive lugging on the
bottoms of the soles. Looks like it should have good traction
on my trails. Also visible on the tops of the shoes is the
substantial toe plate; it is very rigid and should give good
protection when I stub my toes on a rock.
In the photo above the rigid heel plate can be seen at the back of
the shoe. This has some flex to it, but should hold my heels
firmly in place.
The laces are looped through webbing straps, a middle leather loop,
and finally a through-hole at the top. These look like they
should transfer the lace tension nicely to the various structural
elements.
Ventilation looks like it will be primarily provided by the
horizontal strip of grid textile between the two pieces of leather
as shown in the top picture. When I feel that strip on the
inside of the shoe there is no padding along that strip, so I expect
moisture will readily escape.
First Impressions
Size: according to the ECCO sizing chart the EUR 46
shoe is equivalent to a US 12-12.5. My foot is more in the
size 12.5 category, so I'll have to be careful to not wear thick
socks. When I put them on and laced them up they felt snug,
but enough space in the toes that I should not have problems.
My little toes hit the sides of the shoe just past where the toe
plate ends, so there should be good "give" to allow my toes to roam
a bit.
Lacing: the leather "plates" on the shoe tongue has an
interesting stickiness to it that holds the laces in place while
tightening. It does require that the lower laces be tightened,
then the upper laces.
Trying them out: after lacing them up I walked around
the house on our concrete floors. These shoes feel very
substantial: they are a low-hiker boot, not what I would use for
trail running. Lateral stability seems excellent - my feet do
not want to rock from side to side with these shoes on. This
should prevent some turned ankles. There is some nice "give"
in the heels -- when I stomp down on the concrete with the heels I
can feel the shoes absorb a lot of the impact.
Summary
I am excited to get these shoes out onto the trail. I am
particularly interested to see how well they cope with the sharp
rocks I often have to hike on.
Kudos:
- Excellent out-of-the-box quality.
- Very attractive. I won't be ashamed to wear these shoes
for casual use in-town.
- Very substantial soles and stiff foot plate, yet flexible at
the balls of the foot.
- Great foot protection at toes, heels and soles.
Concerns:
- Not lightweight. It'll be interesting to see if I
experience any fatigue from hoofing it up the local mountains
with this much weight on my feet.
Field Report
Field Use
Date
|
Location
|
Trail
|
Distance
|
Terrain/ trail type
|
Weather
|
Altitude range
|
Insoles Used
|
May 28
|
Coronado National Forest, Santa Rita
Mountains, near Green Valley, Arizona |
Old Baldy |
10.8 miles (17.4 km) |
High desert mountain,dirt trail with rocks |
78-88 F (26-31 C), 7-16% RH, winds 10-30 mph
(16-48 kph) |
5400-9453 ft (1646-2881 m) |
Stock insoles
|
June 12
|
Tortolita Mountains, Northwest of Tucson,
Arizona |
Wild Mustang
|
7.4 miles
(11.9 km) |
High desert + desert wash (sand) |
75-91 F (24-33C), 5-15% RH, winds 6-16 mph
(10-26 kph) |
2770-4100 ft (845-1250 m) |
Stock insoles |
July 10
|
Coronado National Forest, Santa Catalina
Mountains just North of Tucson, Arizona |
Finger Rock
|
7.2 miles
(11.6 km) |
High desert mountain canyon,lots of granite
slabs and boulders |
82-92 F (28-33 C)
29-51% RH, winds were calm |
3000-6300 ft
(915-1920 m) |
Stock insoles |
July 16 |
Willow Creek Reservoir area near Prescott,
Arizona |
Willow Lake
|
about 2 miles (3 km) |
Granite boulders |
80-90 F (27-32 C) |
5200 ft
(1585 m) |
Stock insoles |
July 24
|
Coronado National Forest, Santa Catalina
Mountains just North of Tucson, Arizona |
Sutherland Trail
|
9.3 miles
(15 km)
|
Mix of sand and fist-sized rocks
|
78-85 F (26-30 C), 60-80% RH, winds were calm
|
2650-4600 ft
(810-1400 m)
|
orthotics
|
Field Usage Observations
Old Baldy
I wore the Tahoes all day to work the day before this hike to see if
they needed much breaking in, and they seemed not to need it.
The next day I set out on one of the more physically taxing hikes in
Southern Arizona - summit of Mount Wrightson, also called Old
Baldy. This trail climbs 4000 ft (1240 m) in just over 5 miles
(8 km). The local wisdom is if you can't do Baldy, you are not
ready for the Grand Canyon.
At Josephine Saddle, about 2.5 miles (4 km) into the hike, I started
feeling hot spots on the back of my heels. I applied more
sports lubricant to the hot areas and changed into silk liner socks
to give my feet more room and a more slippery surface. I
repeated the lubricant application at the summit, and put my wool
hiking socks back on over the liners for the descent to provide as
much padding as possible, since there would be little pressure on my
heels on the way down the mountain. Here's what the shoes
looked like at the top:
The trail is very dusty, and the shoes don't look nearly as
beautiful as when I took them out of the box!
When I got home I inspected the damage. The good news is my
typical problem area is the outside of my small toes where they rub
against the outside of my shoes, no problems there. The bad
news is the back of my heels looked pretty bad:
At least the blisters were not filled with blood -- I hate it when
that happens. Hard to tell from the photo, but this blister on
my left foot was about 1.5 in (3.8 cm) in diameter. The one on
my right Achilles area was slightly smaller. Looking at the
construction of the shoe, there is a fairly rigid plastic heel cup
support on the outside of the shoe. The curvature must be
slightly more aggressive than the contour of my feet.
On the positive side the bottoms of my feet did not feel beat-up as
they often do when I wear trail runners. The Tahoes did a
great job of protecting me from the rocky areas of the trail.
They are also incredibly stable. I feel like I am walking with
miniature snowshoes when I wear them. The soles are broad and
flat, and really raise my confidence that I am not going to turn my
ankle accidentally. I like that.
The next morning I did wake up with some stiffness in my
arches. I have suffered from Plantar Fasciitis for a number of
years, and have to be careful that I get enough support. I
wear Ecco shoes on an everyday basis to work and do not use special
insoles in them, but I don't walk up a mountain every day
either. I will experiment with several other insoles that I
use to see how they work with the Tahoe shoes.
Wild Mustang
All the wildfires raging in Arizona have closed most of the close
high-altitude mountain ranges for hiking. I had done parts of
the Wild Mustang trail in the Tortolitas, but never completed the
trail, so even though this is more of a cooler-weather locale for me
I set out early on a Sunday morning. My socks on this hike
were a light athletic model made from a cotton/polyester blend, and
they feel quite soft.
The good news: no blister problems on this hike! I don't know
if it was the change in socks, or the shoes are getting broken-in,
or perhaps there was just less vertical climb on this hike so my
heels were not pressed for so long against the back of the shoes.
The last third of this hike is down the Wild Burro wash, which is
almost like walking on the beach as it is loose sand. The
Tahoes did very well in these conditions.
Finger Rock
The Finger Rock trail is, by reputation, the toughest hike in the
Tucson area. It is not the steepest, rockiest, brushiest, nor
most dangerous trail, but it ranks near the top on all of these
attributes. It is the combination of these challenges that require
that a hiker bring their "A game" when they do Finger Rock. I
hadn't been on it in well over a year, and I'm in much better shape
this year and wanted to test my mettle after the Coronado National
Forest was re-opened following the diminishing fire danger that came
with the inception of our monsoon season.
The challenge for hiking shoes on this trail is the large granite
slabs that seem to always occur right at the edge of a precipice,
and the slabs tilt towards disaster. Trekking poles do not
bite into granite very well, so especially on the descent I was
extremely conscious of how well the Tahoes were gripping the
rocks. They did very well actually -- no slips occurred.
I had only a very slight blister on the back of my right heel after
the hike, so I think I am getting these shoes broken in. After
the hike I felt some heel pain, as if my Plantar Fasciitis was
kicking in. I think I'll use my orthotics in some of my future
hikes to make sure I am getting enough arch support.
Willow Lake
My wife and I took a weekend jaunt to the
Prescott, Arizona area to cool off at some altitude, as things were
getting pretty steamy in Tucson. We took a short day hike in
the Granite Dells area around Willow Creek Reservoir.
As can be seen in the photo at right the Dells are composed of huge
granite boulders. They almost can't even be called boulders,
as they stretch on for huge distances. The granite is not
slippery, at least not when its dry such as on the day we hiked on
it. The surface is quite rough.
There were a lot of short and steep ascents and descents of these
big boulders, the kind of hiking that cause one to lose their
footing. I know my wife was concerned that she did not have
her good hiking shoes on, and was worried about slipping.
The Tahoes handled these conditions with no issues. The soles
have a soft feel when hiking on rock, and they hugged the granite
exceptionally well. I worried a bit about becoming
overconfident with them, they had such good traction.
Sutherland Trail
When I really want to put hiking shoes through their paces I take
them out to the Sutherland Trail. The early part of the trail
coming out of Catalina State Park is quite tame, soft sand and some
granite rocks, but in general easy going. Then it turns onto a
very old Jeep road. Erosion has washed away all the sand and
dirt, leaving only rocks. The rocks are just the perfect size
to make for miserable footing: they are too large to ignore, and too
small to make a flat, stable surface for my foot:
ECCO Tahoe shoes on the Sutherland Trail in the Santa Catalina
Mountains of Arizona
I managed to complete my hike without twisting my ankle, a major
accomplishment for me on this trail. The Tahoes did a
great job of protecting my feet, though as noted in the table
above I did use orthotics on this hike which gave me a bit more
protection than the stock insoles would have. I've been
attempting to make the transition to running in minimalist shoes
for the last three months, and my arch was quite sore and needed
as much support as I could provide it.
It was an overcast morning, so the temperatures weren't too bad
for Tucson in July, but the humidity was really oppressive from
the monsoon rains we had the night before. The Tahoes
breathed very well in these conditions, and my feet never felt
hot during the hike.
The picture does not do credit to how dirty the shoes are
starting to get, particularly the mesh on the top of the
shoe. I need to figure out how to clean them. I'm
concerned with just throwing them in the washing machine, as I
don't want to destroy the Yak leather. I sent an e-mail to
Ecco Customer Service after looking in vain on their website for
cleaning instructions. The response came back quickly the
next day: "We recommend using the ECCO Golf/Outdoor Footwear
Cleaner. This product is especially developed for the ECCO
Golf/Performance collection and is suitable for cleaning all
materials." Hmmm, where am I going to get the
Cleaner? I guess I will wear them dirty for a while.
Summary
It has been a pleasure to wear these shoes for the last two
months. I am already looking forward to wearing them for
two more!
Kudos:
- Excellent traction on all types of terrain I used them on
- Very good breathability
- Excellent foot protection
- Extremely attractive shoe in my opinion
- Good "foot feel": my feet just feel good when I put them
on
Areas for improvement:
- Blister on the back of the heel. Maybe I just needed
to break them in a little bit more before pushing them that
hard, but the design with the rigid heel cup seems like it
could be problematic
- A puzzle on cleaning: how to wash the mesh without ruining
the Yak leather without buying a special cleaning product
Long-Term Report
Field Use
Date
|
Location
|
Trail
|
Distance
|
Terrain/ trail type
|
Weather
|
Altitude range
|
Insoles Used
|
August 13
|
Coronado National Forest, Santa Catalina
Mountains just North of Tucson, Arizona |
Ventana Canyon
Trail |
7.6 miles
(12.2 km) |
Mix of sand and granite boulders |
82-88 F (28-31 C), winds were extremely calm,
40-74% RH |
3000-4800 ft
(915-1465 m) |
Orthotics
|
August 14 |
Coronado National Forest, Santa Rita
Mountains Southwest of Tucson, Arizona |
Arizona
Trail, Kentucky Camp trailhead |
7.2 miles
(11.6 km) |
Dirt, gravel and rocks |
75-85 F (24-29 C), breeze from the South,
very high humidity from rains the night before |
5100-5400 ft
(1550-1650 m) |
Orthotics
|
August 20-21
|
Coronado National Forest, Santa Rita
Mountains Southwest of Tucson, Arizona |
Cave Creek Trail
|
8 miles
(13 km)
|
Dirt, gravel and rocks, some areas thick with
weeds |
60-80 F (16-27 C), thunderstorms shortened my
hiking plans due to lightning
|
5700-8100 ft
(1740-2470 m)
|
Orthotics
|
August 27
|
Coronado National Forest, Santa Catalina
Mountains just North of Tucson, Arizona |
Romero Canyon Trail
|
3.6 miles
|
Sand, rough granite boulders
|
75-85 F (24-29 C), still |
2700-3600 ft
(820-1100 m)
|
Orthotics |
September 18 |
Tortolita Mountains Northwest of Tucson,
Arizona |
Alamo Springs
Trail
|
6.6 miles (10.6 km) |
Mix of sand and granite boulders |
75-85 F (24-29 C), light breeze |
2700-3900 ft
(820-1190 m) |
Orthotics |
September 25
|
Coronado National Forest, Santa Catalina
Mountains just North of Tucson, Arizona |
Bear Canyon
Trail
|
7.0 miles
(11.3 km)
|
Mix of sand and granite boulders |
76-95 F (24-35 C)
|
2700-3100 ft
(820-945 m)
|
Orthotics |
October 2
|
Coronado National Forest, Santa Catalina
Mountains just North of Tucson, Arizona |
Romero
Canyon Trail reprise
|
6 miles
(9.7 km)
|
Sand, rough granite boulders |
75-85 F (24-29 C), still |
2700-3800 ft
(820-1160 m)
|
Orthotics |
Field Usage Observations
Ventana Canyon
Ventana is one of the Santa Catalina Mountain canyons on the South
side of the range, close to Tucson. It follows somewhat along
the bottom of the canyon, traversing the dry creek bed
periodically. This makes the treadway quite a mix of sand,
gravel, and boulders.
The Tahoes did great on this hike, no problems whatsoever.
Arizona Trail -
Kentucky Camp
This section of the Arizona National Scenic Trail is high desert, so
it doesn't look like one would expect of Southern Arizona:
Arizona National Scenic Trail near Kentucky Camp
Its quite "green" in this area during the monsoon rains, and the
wildflowers are reblooming. Not all the trail looked like
this. There was another section, about 25% of the hike, on an
OHV trail that was as rocky as the Sutherland
Trail. This hike didn't have nearly the elevation change
typical of what I have been hiking lately, so it did not stress the
shoe's climbing prowess. I did have to slop through some wet
areas, and the Tahoes did a good job of shedding the sandy mud, at
least on the rubbery portion of the shoes.
It was the second day in a row that I wore the Tahoes, and I was a
bit surprised that the outer edges of both of my little toes were
sore and calloused. They are rubbing a bit on the shoes,
enough that two consecutive hiking days in them caused some
irritation. I'll keep my eye on this in the future.
Cave Creek Trail
This was my first real backpacking trip with the Tahoes, and my pack
weight was about 40 lbs (18 kg). This seems a lot for an
overnight trip, but I was packing a lot of water because I didn't
know how much I'd find along the trail.
My socks were a combo of a liner plus a heavier wool hiking
sock. This seems to be the winner combination for me with
these shoes, as I had no hot or sore spots whatsoever. This
was not a big mileage weekend -- my goal was just to get out and
spend some relaxing time in the backcountry, but I really did not
push the mileage on these shoes during this trip.
This trail does a lot of climbing in a very short distance with few
switchbacks, so I was huffing and puffing pretty good. I had
no heel issues regardless of the pressure put on them by the
climbing. I did notice some bits of gravel getting into the
shoes. I brought gaiters with me, but neglected to put them
on. Next time!
Romero Canyon
I get low back spasms every once in a while, and was recovering from
an incident the day I did this hike so this was just a little
leg-stretcher. Romero Canyon is an old standby trail for me,
just a few minutes from my house. For the intrepid shoe
tester, it throws just about everything a shoe needs to handle at
it: altitude change, sand, sharp granite rocks, uneven surfaces,
etc. The Tahoes did their usual great job. I was more
careful than normal to not slip and fall, which I have done several
times on this trail during descents, because my low back would not
have liked that. I was glad to be wearing shoes with
exceptional grip on the way out of the canyon.
Alamo Springs Trail
The weather has cooled down a bit, so I returned to the Tortolita
Mountains and the Alamo Springs trail to try one more time to find
the petroglyphs that are supposedly in the area. A great hike,
but alas, no petroglyphs were found. Right after I took this
picture of the Tahoe shoes next to some wild Morning Glories growing
along the trail I managed to turn my ankle on a rock:
No injuries, but it does point out that these are *not* boots
with ankle support, they are shoes.
Bear Canyon Trail
Though I've been to Sabino Canyon many times, I have never taken
the Bear Canyon Trail that begins at the same trailhead.
We'd had some nice September rains, and I figured there would be
some water running through Seven Falls, and I was not
disappointed. The trail crosses the stream many times, and
though I was able to rock-skip in most crossings, the Tahoes saw
their first slosh through very shallow water on this hike.
By tiptoeing I was able to keep my socks dry. This trail
requires a bit of a road walk at the beginning and end, and I
found the Tahoes to be very comfortable in this situation.
I felt tired during this hike, and the Tahoes felt heavy on my
feet. It seems when I'm at a high energy level the weight
of the shoes aren't a bother, but when fatigue is a factor I
notice their heft.
Romero Canyon Reprise
Since this was to be my last test hike with these shoes, I
thought I'd close it out with one of my favorite trails. I
have slipped more frequently descending this trail than any
other, I think because it gets such heavy traffic that the dust
and sand is often kicked onto the granite making for a slippery
surface, but the Ecco Tahoes held on all the way down. My
Plantar Fasciitis has been flaring up again, but with the
orthotics in-place I was able to make the hike with no
issues. Here's what the shoes looked like at the end of
the test, standing in the stream flowing down Romero Canyon:
Summary
I am likely to use the Tahoes on future hikes mostly where I expect
rocky conditions and I need a substantial shoe to protect my
feet. I am not a big fan of over-the-ankle boots, so these
shoes are a nice match for my needs in those situations. I did
not have an opportunity to hike in wet conditions during the test
period so I cannot comment on their performance in that
dimension. The shoes held up very well despite the distance I
hiked in them and the rocky conditions they were worn in.
Additional kudos:
- Great comfort in all conditions from sand to rocks.
- Good durability and wear -- with the exception of some trail
dust they look as good as the day they arrived.
Final improvement suggestions:
- Not the lightest shoe on the trail, but with comfort and foot
protection I expect a heavier shoe.
- I never did clean them, as I was concerned with ruining the
leather. They stayed pretty clean, just got a little
dusty, but I did not have to walk in deep mud during the test
period. I found it to be a bit of a hassle to have to buy
a specialty product to clean them.
Many thanks to ECCO and BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to
test this product.
Read more reviews of ECCO gear
Read more gear reviews by Kurt Papke
|