Salomon  Quest 4 GORE-TEX Hiking Boots - Men's

These are still the best boots I have found in the 200 range, hence I will keep buying them. I know some people tend to have issues with glue and different parts, but I think people also need to be reasonable. This happened to all the older versions as well, and people acting like the older versions, which I still wear to work as they fall apart slowly after 8 years, are some kind of steel diamond are not being truthful. Anybody wearing these 5-8 hours a day is going to see significant wear over a year or two. I have been working at FedEx, and these types of shifts 5 days a week for a year basically took my older pair from looking still decent to fairly grubby, e.g., seams bursting, rubber separating, et cetera. What I CAN say about these new ones is that they have been redesigned and are now much more fit for hiking. The toe box is nearly perfect compared to the horrible box in my original pair from 8 years back. The sole has been completely redesigned with a ton of computer data, and it shows, as they are more grippy and resemble soft spikes more than the older soles. The beefier cut also helps prevent water flow in certain areas. I cannot comment on waterproofing yet, but I will update the review as I go on a couple hikes this Winter. I can't say my old pair were all that waterproof either, but they got the job done. If you are looking for purely waterproof boots, you need to start looking into mountaineering boots people. Don't expect any boot like this to keep you completely dry in rainstorms. It's not going to happen. Outside of that, you can try various sprays that will also help keep the boots dryer in times of need. I must the Olive coloring here is gorgeous! Comparing these side by side with my older boots, which were size 11 compared to size 11.5 for these, and you really can see all the various adjustments that have been made for the better to basically every portion of the boot. They are lighter as well, and the overall frame to me seems more solid with a lot more room yet still perfectly contoured to my foot. I usually wear these with larger Thorlo or Darn Tough, and the extra toe box room coupled with the half size up from my normal 11 is perfect. Could not ask for more there. I love the treads on these, and the overall design aesthetic is definitely a step up. As far as craftsmanship I cannot totally comment on this, but nothing seems out of the ordinary here. Nothing cheaper or less valuable about the boots. I think they switched to a tough plastic instead of metal on the laces, and that could be a small issue, but not unless you are doing something extremely out of the ordinary with them. The tongue now is closed in more by the top sides of the boot, so the tongue no longer tilts to one side or moves outside of the general top ankle of your foot. That has been an annoying issue with my older pair working at FedEx. And let me tell you FedEx has really shown me how easily a shoe can be ruined and torn apart. I won't even set foot in there with this pair right now. Any job like that is going to show you how well a pair of boots are made, and honestly I doubt these would hold up much past a couple years there either. But that is not the point. Salomon's warranty service is pretty good, and if you do see any issues you can easily get a new pair from them. If they don't live up to what you want, then by all means there is hardly anything better out there without going up to 500+ mountaineering boots. You get what you pay for here. After my dividend, these were around 165 bucks with the 20% annual coupon applied. You can't beat that for these type of boots.

Comfort is a standard that most companies achieve easily. These are comfortable. Quality is what separates cheap from expensive shoes. These are priced as quality boots, but they are not. I patrol power lines in forested areas. That requires hiking all day up and down hill mostly all off trail. These boots did not last 3 weeks before the toe cap started peeling off on both boots.Then a shoelace broke. The plastic eyelet for the third hole doesn't sit flush with the boot, causing it to collect dirt and rocks in between it all day. I would not recommend driving in this boot. The third eyelet from the top bites the lace into place, and requires a good deal of force to get it to release the lace when trying to remove the boots after a long day. I chose to believe website reviews instead of user reviews. The bad reviews are true yall.