PRODUCT INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Danalco, Inc.
Year Manufactured: 2004
Manufacturer's Link: http://www.danalco.com
MSRP: US$49.95
Size: Large
Color: Black
Listed Weight: NA
Measured Weight:  4.8 oz (135 gm) for the pair

PERSONAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Rick Allnutt
51 Year old male
6' 0'' (183 cm) in height
198 lb (90 kg) in weight
Shoe size: 11 US
Email address: rick (at) BackpackGearTest (dot) org
I live in Dayton, Ohio

BACKPACKING BACKGROUND
Over the last several years, I have become an ultralight camper with a three-season base pack weight of about 15 lb (7 kg) and skin out weight of 23 lb (10 1/2 kg). I have completed many section hikes on the Appalachian Trail (AT) in all four seasons, with a total mileage of about 525 miles (850 km). I am a gearhead, a hammock camper, and make much of my own equipment.

REVIEW
My Initial Report contains a detailed description of the socks.  My Field Report describes the results I had with the socks during my first couple months using the socks.  

By the time I filed the Field Report I had two failed pairs of socks, with delamination of the lining and leaks on the bottom of both pairs.  I determined not to use the socks with sandals for the next set of tests and also to use the socks inside shoes instead of sandals.

The third pair of socks I received were also waterproof when I tested them in a bucket of water.  I have worn them exclusively with liner socks inside shoes and the lining has not come loose from the outer portion of the sock like it did when I wore sandals.  No leaks have developed.  

They work as advertised in allowing sweat from my feet to pass through their material.  I have worn them while working around the house and while eating out.  I have worn them to church.  I have worn them for 12 hours stretches in warm conditions.  The whole time, my feet have remained reasonably dry.  Occasionally, I have had a bit of a moist sensation in the sock, but never has either of my feet felt wet.  Enough moisture escapes through the sock to keep a liner sock or the felt lining dry to the touch.

Unfortunately, the last replacement socks did not arrive in time for a two week hike in May.  I was able to wear them in my hiking shoes around town in warm weather, but not in soaking wet weather during the summer.  I carried them on a two day hike I took in July, but I had no rain and thus no need to wear them on the trip.  

I have just finished a 5 day AT hike in North Carolina and carried them with me.  I changed out my hiking shoes for a new pair of hiking boots at the last moment on this trip.  I did not check to see if the SealSkinz fit inside the boots.  Despite having obtained the boots on the large side, the boots seemed to shrink almost a size when they became soaked while walking through wet grass.  When the time came to put on the ChillBlockers, I was horrified to find that I could not fit my SealSkinz clad feet inside the boots without crumpling my toes!

Lesson: The ChillBlocker socks take up more room than bulky hiking socks with a liner sock.  Even when I removed the shoes' insoles, the socks jammed my toes uncomfortably.  I was not able to wear them inside the boots.  No fault of the socks, just fault of the tester for not verifying fit beforehand.

As my test conditions for a winter weight sock have been limited since May, I will attempt to post an addendum to this long term report as the weather gets colder this fall.    

TEST PLAN RESULTS
The items important to me for evaluation were:

How is overall comfort -  Does it feel good to my skin
The socks were very comfortable with and without liner socks.
What is the feel of the socks in shoes and in sandals
The socks feel good in sandals but begin to leak and also delaminate.  Inside boots, they made the boot feel much too small.
Do they keep me warm?
These socks retain much less sweat than neoprene foam socks and are just as warm.
Do they keep me dry?
Until they leak in sandals.
Do they breathe and let moisture escape?
Excellent properties of breathability.
What kind of socks (if any) works best inside the SealSkinz socks?
I used nylon liner socks without problem.

UPDATE
I used the ChillBlockers in a pair of Jungle Boots during a 45 mi (72 km) hike on the AT near Erwin, Tennessee.  Fortunately, I was able to do this hike during the aftermath of Hurricane Jeanne which had slammed into the East Coast of Florida a couple days before. During the rainy portion of the hike, I wore the ChillBlockers for four hours on one day and eight hours on the following day. I spent a good deal of time walking in puddles and along trails about an inch (3 cm) deep with water.

The Jungle Boots are designed to allow water to be "pumped" out the arch of the shoe through two filter holes in the instep of each of the boots.  This also allows water to enter the boot at the same spot, under the shoe insert when walking in puddles.  During the first day and a half of my hike, my boots often had a small amount of water squishing around over the shoe insert.

I had obtained this new pair of boots so that the ChillBlockers would fit inside them (as opposed to my experience in August). This worked well and the boots were comfortable with the ChillBlockers and a thin nylon liner sock.  I used a pair of gaiters to cover the top of the socks so that water could not run down my leg into the sock.

Unfortunately, the SealSkinz socks were not waterproof. Both socks began leaking within an hour of when I started walking in puddles. Before long there was a water squishing between my toes and my feet started looking like prunes.  The lining did not separate from the sock in the boots, like it had done in sandals. 

I also had difficulty drying the socks once wet.  Even though the weather cleared up for the last 2 days of my hike, I was never able to adequately dry the inside and the outside of the SealSkinz on the trail.  I tied them to the outside of my pack, changing them from right-side-out to inside-out every few hours.  This was not enough while I walked under the forest canopy to dry them. It took about a day of turning them inside-out and right-side-out in a dry room at home to finally dry them completely.