Men's 996 Vioz GT Hiking Boot

This is my first pair of Zamberlans, coming off years of wearing Vasque boots which fit me very well. I love the Vasque fit, but the last two very comfortable pairs of Wasatch GTXs I bought for warm weather use began breaking down after a year of 200+ day use. I was used to the old IT made boots which went several years of similar use, which I expect for a pretty pricey shoe. I bought these as a rotation pair for my Vasque Summits, another full grain boot that I use in cooler temps. After a similar fairly long break in period (about a month of all day everyday) these are very comfortable shoes. I've read reviews elsewhere that these are too stiff, but believe that the parties did not get them fully broken in before using for hard work. I have also seen a few complaints about the laces being too long; as I usually think that hiking boot laces are too short, this was not a problem to me, I like to have enough to double knot and these are good right out of the box. I have also seen complaints about the toe box being too small. I have this complaint about Merrils, but not these. The fit on these boots is similar to Vasque boots, so if you are comfortable in those you will be comfortable in these. One big difference from Summits is that the lace eyelets come down over half an inch lower on the foot and there are 5 eyelets rather than four. What this means is that the shoes are more adjustable (way more than you would think!). It took a while to get used to this and to figure out how to get the best fit, but once you do it is pretty magic, I like this feature. I suspect some who thought the shoe narrow just had them laced too tight. I'm a big guy, over 200lbs, who wears these boots daily for work in rough terrain, often with fairly heavy loads. I like these a lot so far, but will need to revisit this review in a year or so to let you know how these hold up. If they are still good, this will be my new shoe. Already looking at the leather/fabric styles for summer use. Your initial post: Jan 10, 2012 11:32:01 AM PST Last edited by you 14 minutes ago Paul C says: After a year, I bought another pair. Not because there was anything wrong with the first pair, I am using them everyday. These are the most comfortable shoes I've had since a mid '70s pair of Vasques that lasted for almost 10 years of steady use. As I am pushing 60, I expect that these two pairs will be the last I will have to buy. The original pair have gone through pretty heavy usage. After two trips to Mongolia, with its rocky terrain, and two trips to the forests and swamps of Poland, a long stint in the coastal range of California, jobs in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and the panhandle of Oklahoma, swamps in lower Michigan, and western Kansas, these boots have not only held up, but with a wipe of Danner's brown boot conditioner look like new. The leather uppers wear like iron; one tiny scratch, less than a 16th of an inch long- only I know it's there, invisible to everyone else. The Vibram soles not only give exceptional traction and ease of walking, but are not showing much wear compared to my new pair after way more than a thousand miles of walking, a lot of it on concrete and asphalt. The arches have not broken down; these shoes are as comfortable as they were when first broken in, seem to fit better the longer you wear them. These shoes breathe very well. I have comfortably worn them in temps from -5*F to +100*F. In Mongolia this summer I wore them on the hottest days walking across the desert and the liners kept my feet dry. They also kept me dry in the swamps along the Baltic Coast and in Michigan around Albion, so long as the water was not over the tops. The liner is holding up very well, and the boots have been absolutely waterproof up to the top of them. All in all, a great shoe; I would not hesitate to recommend them to any outdoor professional. I liked them enough to buy a second pair.

I am an outdoor educator and I live in my hiking boots. About 18 years ago, I purchased my first Zamberlan's and they lasted 10 years of hard abuse. They finally died after 5 years on an island with sharp granite. No boot can last that much abuse. It was a very very sad day when I retired them, because by then the leather was so supple that they felt like supportive slippers - fantastic! Since then I have gone through multiple other boots - Asolo and Scarpa. I have always chosen to go with full grain leather uppers, for durability and for waterproofing, but neither of those companies (especially Scarpa) lived up to the durability test that I would expect from shoes above the $200 price range. I received these Zamberlan only a week ago, so durability will be found out in a year or so, but comfort wise, they already are breaking in very well. They feel and look like they have much superior build. One thing I really like is the lack of a rubber toe cap. That does initially help against toe scuffs - but a good leather upper can handle the beating. The downsides of rubber toe caps seems to be that the bonding can start to fail and that can and has led to dirt and water inching their way under to slowly degrade the leather out of reach of my ability to polish and care for it. So - well done Zamberlan for avoiding that pitfall. Happy Hiking!

My review advice is intended to help anyone new to wearing hiking boots. REI carries Zamberlan 996 Viox GT hiking boots in-store. Before buying them here via Amazon - merely guessing which size to order - visit REI and wear an actual pair late in the day (after a full day of standing and walking... while your feet are fully-expanded). Pull the sole insert out of one of the boots (after carefully examining how it fits inside the the boot so you can re-insert it properly), and stand on the insert. Does the end of the insert extend one-half inch beyond the end of your longest toe? The boot will likely fit you then. Is the width of your foot mostly contained within the width of the insert? Then this is likely the right width for you. If your little toe obviously sticks out waaay past the edge of the insert, or your bunion does, or if your wide Fred Flintstone foot extends waaay past the insert on both sides, try the same size's wide version. If your foot is still too wide... this boot is not for you. My feet are narrow, I typically wear a US men's size 9.5 (EU men's size 42.5). That's what I tried on for these Zamberlan 996 Vioz boots, and they fit my feet perfectly. If there isn't an REI or other boot outfitter near you, you may have to experiment with fit via returns and exchanges here on Amazon. When you try them on, first lace them up tight, just to see if you could lace them tighter if need be. If they're too loose while tightened all the way... they're too big. Now loosen them back up. This time lace them up fairly loosely (watch a video or three on different lacing techniques). Only tighten the laces to the point of being comfortably snug. And keep the ankle area laced fairly loose. If you're new to wearing boots anything gripping (or even snuggly touching) your ankles is going to feel odd. Walk in them. Other than feeling the new 'odd ankle-hugging' sensation - do the boots feel pretty comfortable? If so, the boots likely do fit you. Try on a couple more pairs (a half-size up and a half size down) if you'd like, just to be sure. If your final selected size feels good overall, you've likely picked the correct size for you. Now, here's the important part: your FEET are accustomed to wearing shoes, so if the 'shoe' part of the boot feels good now, great. That's mainly all you can judge by - since you are new to wearing boots. Again, if the shoe part of the boot feels good, you've likely picked the right size for you. You won't be able to judge yet whether the material surrounding your ankles is too tight or not - because your ANKLES are accustomed to moving freely. Your ankles aren't accustomed to having their movement hindered or inhibited in any way. They aren't used to having anything gripping them tighter than socks do. So the material surrounding your ankles might feel tight... when it actually isn't. Keep your boot ankle-lacing VERY LOOSE while breaking them in. And only wear the boots for short periods of time initially. One hour at most. Imagine if someone were to massage your ankles using very light pressure. Initially it'd feel nice. But after an hour you'd likely want that gentle massage to stop. After two hours, even if the ankle massage was gentle, it wouldn't feel so good any more. After three hours... you get the picture. Your ankles would get bothered. An hour more and they'd become tender. Another hour still and your ankle tissues would release cytokines, and then they'd get downright sore. If the massage continued your ankles would then get painful. At that point, if the massage continued, certain areas of your ankles would shoot out occasional sharp pain signals - like bee stings. All this from a mere gentle massage - but a continuous 6 or 8 hour one. So sitting in your boots without moving - yeah, even if performed for many hours - there'd be no problem. But gentle strolling - if done for hours initially - that might cause you problems. Your ankles might think something's wrong. Something's out of order. Something's different. Something's rubbing! So your ankle tissues will kick out cytokines. Cytokines that alert other immune system cells to assess the area for damage. The cytokines will make the ankles become tender or painful. And swell. And you'll think something's wrong with your boots. That they don't fit. Nope. You're just not used to wearing them. They likely actually DO fit. You're just experiencing the immune system in your ankle tissues over-reacting... and kicking out cytokines. [Later that night, while you sleep, your immune system will examine your ankle tissues, and if they find no tissue damage, they'll turn off the cytokine signals... and you'll awaken to find that your ankles no longer hurt. If damage IS discovered, they'll begin the repair process... and keep the cytokine signals going until all the damage is repaired.] Breaking-in boots is partly forming creases and bends and a bit of stretching in your boot materials, but it's mostly adapting your feet and ankle tissues to the feeling and sensations of the boot. You've got to wear them minimally initially - and take lots of breaks from them - if you haven't worn boots before - so as not to alarm your immune system (triggering tenderness, soreness, pain, and blisters). Eventually, your immune system will begin to understand that you are only wearing boots, and will stop over-reacting. ("Meh. It's just those boot-things again.") Then your immune system will only engage if you hike farther or more strenuously than normal, or if you actually injure yourself. After a couple of weeks of minimal daily wear time (maybe including wearing them only every other day for no more than an hour at a time if tenderness recurs), you can start tightening the laces a bit more, and try wearing them for progressively longer periods. Keep comfortable shoes with you to change into immediately if the boots become uncomfortable at all during the first month. Eventually you'll become accustomed to something gripping your ankles. After that initial potentially immunologically problematic period, as you start wearing them more your feet and ankles will go through a new (second) problematic break-in period. Stiff-soled boots impart more impact force into the feet than soft-soled sneakers do. On soft ground this doesn't matter, but if you're breaking-in your boots by walking mostly on cement sidewalks and asphalt roads, tiny micro-fractures will occur in the heads of the metatarsal bones of your feet, etc. In response to that, your immune system will kick out cytokines, and your feet and ankles may become tender again. [The cytokines signal the body to examine the area, and the body responds by remodeling the involved bones, ligaments and tendons progressively stronger (IF given adequate rest periods between boot wearing sessions, and IF the amount of inflammation is kept at reasonable levels).] This tenderness DOES NOT mean that your boots are the wrong size. It means you are not used to walking in shoes with stiff soles that transfer greater impact forces into your feet and ankles. Yet. So go slow during this second part of the boot break-in period, and your stiff boots will eventually start feeling comfortable. After a few months. Once those bones, ligaments, and tendons are remodeled and now stronger. There may be a third painful aspect of wearing hiking boots. Because of ankle mobility suppression, your gait may change, and your KNEES may begin aching. Plus, your legs, unused to wearing heavier footwear, may need to adapt to THAT as well. You'll have to adapt from wearing shoes weighing ounces to shoes weighing pounds. Doesn't sound like much of a difference. But do that over a hike of 10,000, 20,000, 40,000, or 60,000 steps and it makes a difference. Again, this does not mean that your boots do not fit. It has nothing to do with fit. It DOES mean that you're going to have to adapt to all of this before they'll begin feeling comfortable. You'll also have to adapt to any change in the heel to toe drop of your shoe. These stiff-soled boots don't relay as much 'ground feel' as soft-soled shoes do. Your proprioception may be affected. So pay continual attention to where you're stepping while on uneven ground - especially if you start getting tired. You'll be more likely to turn an ankle while distracted or bushed. And don't walk in boots on uneven ground in the dark. Don't lace your boots too tight - especially the ankles - or your boots will become uncomfortable and painful tout de suite. Only lace the ankle part of the boot tightly before hiking descents (to keep your toes from hitting the front toe box). As soon as you reach bottom, loosen the ankle lacing immediately. Keep the lacing no tighter than snug while ascending or while crossing level areas. These Zamberlan boots are great. But you may not agree until your body is adapted to them. Or if you do unfortunately happen to buy a pair that is too big or small or narrow or wide for you. You'll need to break Zamberlan boots in 'dry', which is a slow process. Zamberlan states that if you fill them with water and then wear them in order to break them in, the leather may shrink or warp, and pull away from the soles. So soaking them in water to break them in is not advised. [Videos are available on how to wash them inside and out and air dry them - when that becomes necessary. Be sure to wash them after hiking through acidic swamps and moorlands.] If you store them near a heat source, their leather may dry out and crack. If you intend to hike in really scrubby areas, or intend to kick the toes of your boots into rock crevices as you climb, or if you have a tendency to drag your feet along and trip over and kick rocks and stumps and scuff up the toes of your shoes... consider a Zamberland boot with a toe rand or a full boot rand instead of this particular model. Don't use mink oil or bee waxes (like SnoSeal) on these Zamberlan boots to waterproof their leather (or to 'soften them up'). If you do, the leather won't breathe properly or release perspiration from inside the boots, and their inner Gortex lining won't work well.. if at all. Follow Zamberlan's advice and use only WATER-BASED conditioners on the leather. Zamberlan hydroboc waterproofing cream is safe to use. Nikwax Fabric and Leather Proofer is a water-based alternative (if you can't find hydrobloc). [Zamberlan says silicone-based waterproofers (like SCARPA HS12 cream) will block the Gortex membrane pores - and void the Gortex warranty.] Plus, Zamberlan says mink-oil and silicone sealers might lead to sole separation (and rand separation in their other models). Wetting the inside of your boots with '10 seconds Shoe Disinfectant and Deodorizer' after each wearing will inhibit mold growth, plus kill boot fungii, bacteria and viruses. 'Rocket Pure natural Shoe Deodorizer Spray' after each wearing will keep them smelling nice. Hope this'll help you out. (My own feet were used to wearing boots, and I'd already been hiking 12 to 20 miles daily for decades, so these boots felt great after four days of walking. They were already beginning to crease after 40 miles in, and felt super after the 50 mile mark. So before the end of my first week of wearing them, they felt fantastic. This won't be the case for you if you are new to hiking, or if you are new to wearing boots, or if you've never broken in boots (or if your feet and ankles have never been broken-in to regular hiking before). Final note: if this is your first boot, you'll likely have to move on to a larger size boot eventually. Feet get bigger after they've put in many years of hiking miles. After they've grown, your next pair may last you decades. Mine never do, because no sole has ever lasted longer than 2 to 3 years tops for me. Final final thought: if you are buying these boots for an upcoming big event hike, try purchasing them 6 months in advance, if possible, to allow yourself time for a lot of break time, and time for plenty of 'body adapting' short hikes. Your feet, ankles, ligaments, tendons, bones, knees, hips, and back will all thank you for your wise decision to give yourself plenty of time for remodeling. Final final finalest note: best wishes to you in your hiking endeavors! :) )