Description
Date Arrived	August 1, 2005
Manufacturer	Spenco
Year of Manufacturer	2005
Website	http://www.Spenco.com
MSRP	None listed
Warranty	One Year, Unconditional
Size	#3 (Mens US 8-9, Womens US 9-10)
Specifications	This series is recommended for Light Hiking / Trail Walking, this being defined by Spenco as a 1-Day trip carrying 0-25 lbs (11 kgs).

Personal Information
Name	Mike Lipay
Age	50
Gender	Male
Height	5 ft 8 in / 173 cm
Weight	185 lbs / 83.9 kg
Email	hikingATwesternpaDOTus
City, State	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Background	I started hiking back in the '60s and have spent most of my life in the outdoors. I prefer to hike solo, or with my kids, but also work as a volunteer trail guide for local clubs, and teach hiking and LNT skills through our local community college. I am, by no means, an ultralight backpacker (my external frame pack weighs in at 29-33 lbs / 13-15 kgs); I prefer primitive to tech (hiking staff to trekking poles, compass to GPS, film to digital, fire to fuel). My backpacking is pretty much limited to weekends, and one full-week per year (usually in the summer), with assorted canoe, caving, and rafting trips to round things out. I spend most of my time hiking the Allegheny Mountains (Pennsylvania and West Virginia) where there are more trails than you could walk in a lifetime, and conditions range from easy to strenuous.

Dates of test:	08/08/2005 thru 10/08/2005
Length of Trip:	2 months. Unlike a regular field test I wore these every day in Merrel Low Hikers to determine their comfort and wear through extended use.
Location:	Urban setting
Field Test:	In my Initial Report one of my chief concerns was regarding the comfort of the arch, higher and harder than what came in my Low Hikers. For this reason, and to test the long-term ware, I chose to use them on a daily basis. This decision paid off, it took about two weeks for my feet to become accustomed to the different arch style, dealing with a great deal of discomfort over the first few days. But, by the end of the second week I found my feet had adapted and I could concentrate on the overall comfort of the Spenco Day Hikers. I have been impressed with the comfort of the Spenco Day Hikers, especially after long days. While my typical day at work entails more sitting than walking the test period also covered several days of working fairs where I rarely got a chance to sit for 10 hours. Even after the end of several days of working the fairs my feet still felt good, not something I would have expected. I worked a similar fair back in June with the original insoles that came with the Merrel Low Hikers and remember coming home with very sore feet; this comparison alone speaks a great deal about the difference between the Spenco Day Hikers and the standard insoles which the manufacturers supply with their shoes.While I don't really feel a difference between the six different comfort zones (see photo), the overall effect is that no part of my feet were sore at the end of the day.

Dates of test:	08/27/2005
Length of Trip:	1 day
Weather:	85°F (29°C) dry, sunny
Location:	Montour Run 4 mile linear (8 miles in/out), a rails-to-trails path.
Field Test:	The first hike was on a rails-to-trails path composed of a limestone chip bed; the terrain was flat with only mild inclinations over its 4-mile length. On a typical hike of this type I would have expected no significant hot spots to develop, and no real soreness by the end of the hike, and the Spenco Day Hikers proved no different. This was a concern since it came near the end of the two-week break-in period when my feet had just become accustomed to the new arches. At this point, I was satisfied that I could wear them on more traditional hikes without concern.

Dates of test:	09/17/2005
Length of Trip:	1 day
Weather:	83°F (28°C) dry, sunny, humid
Location:	Boyce Park, Allegheny County, Pa.
Terrain:	The trails in Boyce Park offer a good introductory hiking experience since the elevation and terrain mimic those along the Allegheny Ridge, though not as challenging. The elevation changes several times over a 6-mile distance from 1100-1320 ft (335-402 m) over a hard, impacted soil.
Field Test:	With changes in elevation, especially a few steep changes, I anticipated some difference in the feel, and some slippage of the feet against the insoles. Again, I was pleased with the performance of the Spenco Day Hikers, slippage was minimal (probably due to the cloth uppers of the insoles), and while my feet didn't feel as fresh as when I started the hike, they weren't uncomfortable either. Any difference on this hike between the Spenco Day Hikers and the standard was unnoticeable.

Dates of test:	10/08/2005
Length of Trip:	1 day
Weather:	54°F (12°C), rainy
Location:	Crooked Creek State Park, Armstrong County, Pa.
Terrain:	The terrain here varies from a hard soil to trails cushioned by a bed of pine needles. Elevation changes are mild, with no more than 100 ft (30.5 m), occurring fewer than a dozen times.
Field Test:	This was not a typical hike in the sense of going directly from point-A to point-B, it was a Leave-No-Trace training session consisting of a number of stops and starts, side trails, and short, steep climbs and descents. While I felt comfortable with the Spenco Day Hikers being able to handle the general terrain by now, my concerns on this hike were the steep climbs and the shifting path (pine needles tend to slip underfoot on climbs, especially when wet). The climbs involved steep ascents where only the toes were grabbing onto the path, this puts a lot of strain on that portion of the foot and can easily result in hot spots if there is any slippage at all. Fortunately, the Spenco Day Hikers did not allow my feet to slip, providing a good connection between the socks and the insoles. Also, the insoles themselves did not slip against the bed of the shoes, but stayed put; this was an additional concern due to the design of the bottom of the insoles, each of the sections of cushioning sits at a different height and I was not comfortable that they would not slip against the bed of the shoe under such steep climbs. As it happens, they performed admirably, with no noticeable shifting. The pine needles on the trail introduce their own unique strains on the foot. As the needles shift I find myself constantly changing the way my feet contact the ground, which moves my body weight over different parts of the foot. This puts strain on the sides of the feet (inside and out), as well as shifting between the heel and the ball of the foot. Standard insoles are not able to deal with this type of shifting, and my feet are always sore in one spot or another by the end of the day. While I did feel some discomfort on my arch, probably due to the harder, less forgiving, arch construction, my feet still felt better than I thought they would, though this is the one area where my feet did not feel comfortable.

General Impressions:	I am quite satisfied with the performance of the Spenco Day Hikers to-date. My feet adjusted to the higher, harder, arch support in a short time, and the only time I felt discomfort from the arches was during the last hike. This final hike does bring up concerns on future hikes where more impact will occur on the arched side of my feet. But, over all, I find that I like the Spenco Day Hikers better than the standard insoles.
Future Plans:	After this I will be changing the Spenco Day Hikers over to my standard hiking shoe, a pair of Dolomite mid-height hikers. The purpose of this changeover is due to the change in hiking terrain for the upcoming tests. Now that I have developed a comfort level over easy terrains my tests will shift to rockier, steeper paths, eventually carrying heavier loads (little more than lunches have been carried to-date).

General Impressions:

I am quite satisfied with the performance of the Spenco Day Hikers to-date. My feet adjusted to the higher, harder, arch support in a short time, and the only time I felt discomfort from the arches was during the last hike. This final hike does bring up concerns on future hikes where more impact will occur on the arched side of my feet. But, over all, I find that I like the Spenco Day Hikers better than the standard insoles.

Future Plans:

After this I will be changing the Spenco Day Hikers over to my standard hiking shoe, a pair of Dolomite mid-height hikers. The purpose of this changeover is due to the change in hiking terrain for the upcoming tests. Now that I have developed a comfort level over easy terrains my tests will shift to rockier, steeper paths, eventually carrying heavier loads (little more than lunches have been carried to-date).

Read more reviews of Spenco gear
Read more gear reviews by Mike Lipay

Field Report

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