Tester Information:
Name: Jason Boyle
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 6"/ 1.68 m
Weight: 170 lb/ 77 kg
Email address: c4jc "at" hotmail "dot" com
City, State, Country: Snoqualmie, Washington, U. S.

Backpacking Background:
I have been camping and backpacking for about 18 years. My introduction to the outdoors started with the Boy Scouts of America and has continued as an adult. I have hiked mostly in the Southeastern and Northeastern United States. I am generally a lightweight hiker, but will carry extras to keep me comfortable. I have recently relocated to the Pacific Northwest and spend most of my time hiking and backpacking in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, but I can be found exploring the other wild areas of Washington!

Product Information:

Manufacturer: Eastern Mountain Sports
Model: Scrambler

Size: One size available length 7.5 in (19 cm)

height 8 in (20 cm)

ankle circumference 9.5 in (24 cm)

Color: Black
Year of Manufacture: 2003
URL: www.ems.com
Listed weight: none listed
Measured weight: 1.75 oz (50 g) each
Fabric Content: CoolMax®/Lycra®/Cordura® blend
MSRP: $29 U.S.

Product Description:
These gaiters are what I would call an ankle or shortie gaiter. They are meant to cover just a few inches above the opening of the shoe or boot and are mostly used to keep out scree, twigs, rocks, dirt, mud and so forth out of the user’s footwear. They are not waterproof or meant for use in heavy rain or snow.

The gaiters consist of a small metal hook that is slid under the front laces of my shoes. The main body of the gaiter is secured by a hook and loop closure around my shoes and legs and with a small snap near the metal hook. Finally there are reinforced grommets on each side of the gaiter that allow a cord to be attached that runs from one side of the gaiter to the other under the sole shoe.

Summary:
I have used these gaiters for over 3 years and they are still holding up well. From trail runs to backpacking trips, anytime I am wearing low cut footwear they are an essential piece of my gear to keep out all of the little forest stuff that gets into my shoes.

Field Information:
I have used these gaiters on backpacking, hiking and trails runs in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington. Most of the trails have featured rocks, mud, typical forest duff and stream crossings. Use has been in mostly three season conditions, where temperatures have ranged from 90 F to 40 F (32 C to 4 C), and precipitation was mostly in the form of rain. Elevation varied from sea level to 5000’ (1524 m) or so. I wore the gaiters with the following trail runners: Nike Teocalli XCR, Saucony Grid, and Nike Air Cascades.

Review:
While living in Maryland, I ventured into trail running and found that I could not only run but backpack in trail runner type of shoes. However there was one problem, I was constantly getting twigs and dirt into my shoes causing me to stop often to get the stuff out of my shoes. I had seen people wear shortie gaiters before so I went in search of my own pair.

I really like the Scramble gaiters. I was impressed with how stretchy they are. The fabric easily stretches around my footwear and because it stretches I found it to be very comfortable around my ankle. In addition to being comfortable, I found them to be breathable and happily put them on in the morning and left them on for the entire day. . The hook and loop closure runs down the front center of the gaiter allowing them to be put on and taken off easily.

The gaiters have also proven to be very durable. I have worn them for the past three years and the fabric shows no signs of wear. Other than the dirt and paint that has been scraped off of the small snap the gaiters look new. One piece of the gaiter that does wear is the cord that runs underneath the arch of the shoe to hold the gaiter in place. Usually this piece of cord lasts several trips before finally being cut by rocks or whatever else is on the trail. One thing I used to keep from having to replace this cord so often is duct tape. I wrap the cord in duct tape and this seems to extend the life of the cord and as I notice the duct tape wearing through I add an extra layer.

The gaiters do a great job of keeping things out of my trail shoes. I also found that they are fairly water resistant. I had no problems with rain water getting into my shoes or with water coming in if I happened to slip while crossing streams. I would not submerge my feet though and expect the gaiters to keep water out.

In conclusion these gaiters are super comfortable, easy to put on and take off, very durable and continue to be an integral part of my gear list.

Read more reviews of EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) gear
Read more gear reviews by Jason Boyle

Owner Review by Jason Boyle

All material on this site is the exclusive property of BackpackGearTest.org.
BackpackGearTest software copyright David Anderson