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Reviews > Footwear > Overshoes > N.E.O.S. Trekker Overshoes > Tim Coughlin > Initial Report
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Tester Biographical Information
Backpacking Background: I have been an active backpacker for 28 years, with experience hiking in many parts of the continental United States and Canada. Most of my time is spent in the Northeast, especially the Adirondack region of New York. I am a seasoned veteran to 3-season backpacking, and I’m expanding my resume to include winter backpacking. I would classify myself as a "lightweight" backpacker, but always working towards the "ultralight" title. I am an avid four-season dayhiker. Along with my two sons – ages eleven and thirteen, I am very active with our local Boy Scout troop. I’ve been involved with Scouting as an adult for the past ten years. Besides being the Committee Chairman, I’m also the High Adventure Leader. As such, one of my responsibilities is to teach the young people about the "Great Outdoors". I especially love to teach them about hiking, backpacking and canoeing.
" [T]he Trekker™ is the perfect product to wear over running shoes when snowshoeing, over hiking boots for river crossings and for boat landings when visiting remote locations...[e]ssential for adventure travel!" - from NEOS to BackpackGearTest on the new Trekkers. Product Arrival: The NEOS Trekkers arrived packed in a standard boot or shoe-type box within a larger plain, brown shipping box. Inside the box, the boots were stored together along with two small packets of desiccant The NEOS Trekkers Overshoes arrived in perfect condition. As far as I can tell, their construction is flawless. Attached to the right overshoe was a small hangtag describing the product warranty. No hangtags were attached to the left overshoe. Although the Trekker is not yet available on the NEOS website, the overshoes are what I expected, based on information provided by New England Overshoe Company (NEOS) to BackpackGearTest. There were also instructions to register the overshoes online to activate the warranty. I was directed to obtain the boot ID from the inside of the right boot. Sure enough, sewn into the top of the overshoe is a small tag containing the NEOS identification number, along with a style number, size, and URL and telephone numbers to contact NEOS if there were any questions or comments. I attempted to register the test overshoes, but the Trekker style is not yet a valid option. This is not surprising, as the Trekkers are not yet listed under the "Products" either. Impressive Boots: These overshoes are really cool. Each overshoe weighs about 19 oz (~.5 kg). From the picture, it can be see that on its own, each overshoe has a rather ill defined shape. But, once they're on your feet, they can be adjusted to a variety footwear and sizes.
Starting at the bottom of the overshoe, here is a picture of the Perma sole. According to NEOS, its unique tread pattern is designed to provide plenty of traction, yet clean up easily. It is composed of a soft, pliable rubber. I found it to be surprisingly thin. It's very light as well.
Across the toe of the overshoe is a toe bumper, or toe
guard. It extends up from the rubb The nylon strap with quick disconnects and strap clip can be seen as well. This strap allows plenty of adjustment around the footbox, depending on footwear worn. The strap was long enough to adjust from my leather hiking boots down to my sandals.
The flap is secured at the top of the gaiter by a choice of three Velcro patches on the outward side of the overshoe. Also visible in the picture is the adjustable elastic located at the top of the gaiter. Immediately below the tension adjustment for the gaiter is located a finger hold to aid in pulling the boots on. Beginning Tests - How They Fit I was a little concerned at first with the overall lack of shape of the overshoes. Yet, after trying them on and adjusting them for a variety of shoes, I found that they conform very nicely to whatever footwear I wore. I tried them with a pair of Dunham Paramount hiking boots, a pair of Merrel Utralight hikers, New Balance 806 trail runners as well as sandals. The NEOS Trekkers fit perfectly with the larger Dunham and Merrel hikers, but were a little sloppy with the trail runners and sandals. NEOS sells an optional foot insert for just such an occasion, and I plan on ordering a pair for field-testing. I should also mention that my normal footsize is somewhere between a size 10.5 and 11, depending on width. Because I wanted the Trekkers to fit over my hiking boots, NEOS recommends going up a size in their overshoes, if you are close to the maximum a given size - as defined on their website. Since my footsize was at the maximum for the size "Large", I opted for the "XLarge" size in the Trekkers. Test Plan The test period will include spring, summer and early winter conditions. I plan to test these overshoes extensively. I will be testing them dayhiking, as well as on longer multi-day treks. The areas I will be concentrating my testing on include fit, comfort, waterproofness and durability . I will be evaluating these parameters initially, and again throughout the test period. I will also be evaluating how well the boots work with my Crescent Moon snowshoes. I'm really interested to see if they offer enough lateral stability when scrambling over rocks and transversing up and down switchbacks. Since the Trekkers are not breathable, I shall monitor how well they perform in the heat and humidity of an Adirondack summer. Summary of Initial ImpressionsThe NEOS trekkers are really cool! They are a combination of boot and gaiter rolled into one, lightweight package. The Perma soles look to offer decent traction and the overshoe height provides "gaiter-like" protection for my legs. They fit nicely over everything I've tried them on with, and adjust down to a nice fit. With the really small stuff - like my trail runners and sandals, they are a bit sloppy. I plan on ordering a pair of optional inserts from NEOS to correct this problem and will report on those results as well in future reports. Field Testing InformationThere are three primary areas I frequent for my gear testing. They include Western New York, Northwestern Pennsylvania and the Adirondack Mountain region. Currently, local conditions in Western New York are classified as early spring. Due to an early thaw, most of the remnants of the winter snow are gone. Temperatures during the initial part of the test run will be mostly in the 35F (2C) range during the day and down to 20F (-7C) at night. Early spring is a mess with rain, sleet, slush, and snow. It doesn’t get decent until sometime towards mid-June, when summer truly arrives. Temperatures for July and August will be around 80F (27C). Weather again cools down in September, and by the end of the test series winter conditions will prevail. The terrain is a mixed bag, starting out close to the shores of Lake Erie as a flat plateau and changing to rolling hills further away from the lake. The flat land is around a 700 ft (213 m) elevation with the hills steadily increasing to close to 2000 ft (610 m). Northern Pennsylvania tends to experience temperatures similar to Western New York, although the terrain is considerably more hilly and steep. This is the home of the Allegheny Mountains, with elevations typically around 2000 ft (610 m). The Adirondack region is much cooler, where it is still experiencing late winter conditions. Spring comes in May, with a lot of snow melt. Water runs fast and high during the spring and early summer. Summer months are July and August, with daily temperatures fluctuating anywhere between freezing to 80F (27C). The leaves are changing in September and on the ground by early October. Snow is possible any time, with excellent chances from September onward. This mountainous region has elevations starting at 3000 ft (914 m) and upwards of 5000 ft (1524 m). Tim
Read more reviews of NEOS gear Read more gear reviews by Tim Coughlin Reviews > Footwear > Overshoes > N.E.O.S. Trekker Overshoes > Tim Coughlin > Initial Report | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
er base
of the Perma sole, encapsulating the entire toe box. The toe guard is made
of a high-density nylon fabric. I could not find documentation on
its exact composition.
