Lowa  Locarno GTX Lo Hiking Shoes - Men's

I've long wanted a shoe that was rugged enough for light hiking & scrambling on unpaved trails and terrain, but that could be worn in a restaurant and to the airport. This is it. All of the competing shoes I've seen look far more like a hiking shoe; this looks more like a understated sneaker. It strikes the right balance between sure footing off road and comfortable walking on concrete. It's not super comfortable or super sure footed or super stylish. What it is super at is being good enough at all of those, so you can go on a trip with one shoe. For comparison, Ecco's Track II Low, which I've also owned, is a bit more comfortable to walk in, but less stable off road and, to my eye, clunkier.

I've loved Lowa shoes in the past. With the old Tempest Lo, the high quality and rugged construction, along with excellent support, were worth any trade tradeoffs. But the Locarno GTX are a strange compromise. For me, they fit badly and perform terribly off road. I thought they'd be 'office to trail' shoes, but they can't cut it on trails, and they're overbuilt and too expensive for around town. I bought these in late fall and wore them around the city. They didn't grip well on wet streets, but they were great against rain and puddles. I didn't wear them much because they're too much shoe for casual wear, and the liner + leather make them get hot easily. In spring, I tried them on a casual hike (3 miles, easy/moderate trails with sand, gravel, rock, roots) and was surprised by how terribly they did. The grip is really bad, and the ankle support is non-existent because of the casual oxford shoe-style lacing. I didn't expect them to perform like hiking boots, but they were worse than sneakers or other outdoor shoes. My ankles were hurting after an easy hike that I do about once a week with no problems. If you try them on, check how the toe fits compared to the heel. On my feet, the toe box is narrow but about right (although the GTX liner sort of sags into it, strangely), but the heel is too wide and the ankle too open. I thought they'd soften up once they broke in, so I could snug them a bit with the laces, but the rigid leather and casual lacing prevent any meaningful adjustment. The boot-style model might not have this problem. In short, they are way too overbuilt for around-town use, but surprisingly bad on even slightly rugged terrain.