| |
Gear Reviews
Documents
Tools
|
| Biographical Information |
Name:
|
Mark
Wood
|
A Brief
Introduction
I grew up camping with my
parents and had taken a few short backpacking trips, as well as a
couple of 10-day trips before I got married. While my wife and I have
enjoyed car camping and day hiking for close to 6 years, this year we
have decided to make backpacking a permanent part of our lives. Our
trips are generally shorter (2 - 5 days) over rocky, hilly terrain. My
general pack weight for a 3 day trip is around 25 lb (11.4 kg) including
food
and water. |
| Age
/ Sex: |
26 / Male |
| Height: |
5' 11" (1.8 m) |
| Weight: |
250 lb (113 kg) |
| Email
Address: |
mwood_bgt at frontiernet dot net |
| Shoe Size: |
Mens US 11.5 |
Web page:
|
http://www.markandkc.net
|
| Location: |
Chenango County, NY, U.S.A. |
| Product
Information |
|
| Manufacturer: |
Keen Footwear |
| Year of Manufacture: |
2006 |
| URL of Manufacturer: |
http://www.keenfootwear.com
|
| MSRP: |
None Specified |
| Listed Weight: |
12.6 oz (357 g) (Presumably per shoe) |
| Weight as Delivered: |
Left: 14.4 oz (408 g) Right: 14.7 oz (417 g) |
| Sizes: |
Available: Mens 7 - 14 US (half sizes available thru 12)
As Tested: Mens 11.5 US |
| Colors: |
Available: Grey/Green, Black/Burnt Orange, Dark Grey/Navy
As Tested: Dark Grey/Navy |
Materials:
(From Web page) |
Uppers: Synthetic, Webbing, Mesh
Lining: Woven Synthetic
Sole: Carbon (non-marking)
|
The Keen Humboldt shoes are part
of Keen's Trailhead series of shoes. From the website, the shoes
are described as an all terrain shoe with a "stretch mesh bootie" and
"secure-fit lacing system".
For more information, please see my Initial Report.
|
| Field Report |
Over the last two months, I have
used the Keen Humboldt Trailhead Shoes extensively. My testing
has been a varied mix of soft grass, packed dirt, pavement and rock.
I have generally found the shoes to perform well. I will
discuss performance characteristics in the following paragraphs.
Comfort
The Humboldt shoes are very light. As I discussed in my
Initial Report, they are almost like a mesh sandal with a sturdy sole.
While I was initially unsure how this type of shoe would perform,
I am pleased to say that they met and exceeded my expectations.
While I would not consider these shoes to be appropriate for
heavy loads, for day hiking, trail running and lightweight backpacking,
I found these shoes quite adequate.
I was also quite happy with the breathability of these shoes. For
a person with perpetually sweaty feet, the Keen Humboldts have been
wonderful. The mesh construction actually allows me to feel a
breeze on my feet. Very welcome during the warmer summer months.
The only downside to this mesh construction is that when I would
hike through even slightly damp grass, my feet became quite wet.
The shoes do dry quickly and don't seem to become excessively
"squishy" when wet, but starting a morning of hiking with damp
feet is somewhat disheartening.
So long as I wore socks with these shoes, I have had no problems with
blisters. I did try wearing them without socks, but found that
blisters formed on my heels. Not a big deal for me as I much
prefer hiking with socks. I also usually find myself swapping out
standard insoles for a custom insole to reduce foot strain.
Happily, the Humboldts come with a very comfortable insole so I
have found this to be unnecessary thus far.
Performance
I have used the Keen Humboldt Trailhead Shoes in a vast
array of different situations. I have yet to find a surface where
the Humboldts didn't provide at least acceptable traction. Much
of the hiking in my region is on rocky dirt trails. Having had an
excessively wet summer, I have had the opportunity to experience
everything from very dry dirt to quite deep mud. While the
Humboldts excel in even moderate mud, I have found that the lugs on the
soles simply don't provide enough lateral traction in very slippery
mud. However, I have yet to find a shoe or boot which does this
well, so I really don't feel that this is an isolated problem with the
Humboldts.
The other issue that I have had concerns their traction on smooth wet
rock. While they do grip, care must be taken. On more than
one occasion, I found their lateral grip to fail, causing a small
sideways slide. This never occurred when walking straight uphill
in the same circumstances.
In all other circumstances, I have found the traction very good.
Durability
While I have found little to criticize with these shoes, I
do have a few concerns regarding durability. There are numerous
loose threads where the laces attach to the webbing. These loose
threads do not appear to be the stitches coming loose, but I cannot
explain where they are coming from. The photo below shoes a
couple of these loose threads. They are all over the shoes and if
you look closely at the New vs. 2 Months of use picture at the
beginning of the report, you can see more examples.
The second durability question I have with the Humboldts is with regard
to the foam used around the heel cup of the shoe. I'm not sure
how, but I have managed to inflict a series of small cuts in this foam.
While they do not appear to be causing any problems at this time,
I will be careful to watch them during the final two months of testing.
Thankfully, I have had zero
problems with the soles of the shoes. They show some wear, but
nothing out of the ordinary for the amount of use these shoes have
seen.
|
| Field
Conditions |
I try to get out in nature at least twice a month
either car camping or backpacking. Most of the trips involve two nights
of camping. The Keen Humboldt shoes have accompanied me on all such
excursions and will continue to be used as my primary footwear source
during the remainder of the testing time frame.
Most of my hiking and backpacking trips center around the Adirondack
and Catskill regions of New York as well as numerous overnight trips
along the Finger Lakes Trail which passes within 10 miles (16 km) of my
home.
Due to the timing of this test, the shoes have been exposed to a
wide range of weather conditions from cool spring to warm summer
months. Precipitation is very common in this region and our fair share
of rain has been seen thus far during the testing timeframe. Average
elevation for the areas surrounding my
house is 500 - 2500 ft (150 - 750 m). Average temperatures during the
testing time frame will range from 50 - 90 F (10 - 32 C).
Also, the Keen Humboldt shoes have seen almost daily use around town and
on my evening walks with my dog. Since I seem to destroy footwear
in around 4 months (the testing time frame), I will attempt to put
many more miles on these shoes to give an accurate portrayal as to their
durability.
|
| Testing Results |
In my initial report, I proposed to test the Humboldt
shoes in the following ways. I will attempt to comment on their
performance to date after each of the given questions.
Fit and Comfort:
- Can I lace the shoes tight enough to properly secure my heel? Does doing so place too much pressure on other parts of my feet? My
initial worries regarding how tight I could get these shoes while still
maintaining comfort were mainly unfounded. While my heel isn't
locked in extremely tight, I have had no blisters or annoying slippage.
- Do the shoes have any break in period? If so, how long? It
seems to me that the shoes broke in very quickly. After a few
days of normal wear, I found that I forgot I was wearing them.
- Do I get any hot spots or blisters from the shoes? What about when they are wet? Thus
far, I have only managed to get blisters if I don't wear socks with the
shoes. When wet, there is a bit more friction, but I have not
gotten a blister yet while wearing socks!
- Does the included insole comfortably support my feet? Will
I find that I will have to switch to my more supportive insoles during
the testing time frame? This item was a bit of a surprise. I found that I actually didn't need to switch insoles at all.
Functionality:
- Do the Humboldt offer good traction on all common types of terrain encountered? (Wet rocks, loose sand, mud, etc.) I
would classify the traction from the Humboldts as very good in all
situations except when traversing a sideways sloping section of trail.
- Do I find that the shoes retain unnecessary amounts of water? How fast do they dry? The
mesh actually retains very little water from my experience. I
never timed the dry time of these shoes, but I never noticed it to be
excessive.
- Does the stretch mesh bootie keep all forest duff and debris out of the shoes as advertised? I
have had no more problems than normal with getting duff in my shoes.
While not necessarily better than a standard shoe, they are
definitely not worse.
- My feet tend to sweat a lot. Do these shoes offer
sufficient ventilation to keep my feet comfortable? Does the Aegis
Microbe Shield Treated mesh lining help keep foot odors down? This
has been one of the highlights of these shoes. I have found that
the Humboldts offer exceptional ventilation and my feet tend to stay
much cooler than with a traditional shoe. While my shoes don't
smell great, they are not excessively smelly which leads me to believe
that the Aegis Microbe Shield treatment is doing something.
- Do the shoes offer enough support for my feet while carrying a pack? Since
my pack weight is much lower this year than in years past, I find that
I can comfortably wear the Humboldts with a pack. For
exceptionally rocky trails, I feel that boots are a better option --
however, this is more a personal preference than anything to do with
the Humboldts.
Durability:
- How well does the shoe wear over time? Does the synthetic
material on the upper of the shoe crack or scuff with repeated exposure
to the elements? Does the mesh begin to fray or tear? While
the synthetic materials on the upper of the shoe as well as the mesh
have fared well, there are numerous loose threads which have become
visible over time. I'm not sure if the shoes are becoming
un-stitched, but I will keep an eye on it. I have also noticed
some scuffing of the foam type material around the heel cup.
Nothing serious, but again, I will keep an eye on it.
- Does the sole hold up well during testing? I expect some
wear as I expect to use the shoes quite a lot, but is the wear
consistent and steady or do the shoes suddenly give out? After two months, I have noticed no unusual wear on the soles of the shoes.
|
| Summary |
Overall, I am very pleased with these shoes. I
think they are a great mix of lightweight and comfortable while
providing quite acceptable traction.
Likes:
- Comfortable and light.
- Breathe quite well
- Great traction on dry ground
Dislikes:
- Some minor durability issues
- Lateral traction not as good as I would like
- Feet get quite wet just walking through damp grass.
|
I
would like to thank Keen and
BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to participate in this test!
Read more reviews of Keen gear
Read more gear reviews by Mark Wood
|
