I have always been a fan of
Hi-Tec boots; my first pair of hiking boots were a pair of suede & nylon ankle boots which didn't keep my feet dry for very long. A pair of Goretex liners sovled the problem of wet feet but the boots didn't last much longer as the nylon got ripped on boulders and scree.
Since then I have had four different pairs of Hi-Tec's all leather, with the last two being the EuroTrek and the Seirra V-Lite.
The EuroTrek's are my every day work boots; they take quite a fair bit of abuse getting kicked against machinery and chemicals spilt on they.
The V-Lite's have been my main walking boot for the past couple of years, and have covered easily over 250 miles.
Looking long term I knew that these boots wouldn't get me far on a particular long distance walk across Scotland, so I started looking for some new footwear.
I have quite a wide foot (I think it's an E on a Clark's measuring chart), so a lot of boots don't fit particlarly comfortably. That's one of the reason's with Hi-Tec as the boots are normally wide enough to fit my feet.
After having a look around; I decided that instead of a boot, I would try a shoe/tariner type and contacted Hi-Tec about a pair of
V-Lite Radar II.
I have been wearing these on and off over the last couple of months; and unfortantely I have found them to very uncomfortable.
I usally wear a hiking boot/shoe that is either 1/2 or 1 size bigger than my normal shoe. This gives me room incase my feet swell; it also stops my toes from hitting the front of the boot when going downhill. If the fit is a little bit loose; I will wear a liner sock with my thick walking socks.
The Radar are a size 12; which is plenty of room from heel to toe but the problem is in the width. I can't wear they with a normal Bridgedale walking sock, the only socks I can wear with them are thin liner socks and even then they are still tight.
If I remove the footbeds I can wear the Bridgedales but then I have no cushioning under my feet.
I've mainly been wearing them around town and trips to the local park with the kids; because of the narrowness of the shoes after about an hour, my feet start to cramp up and make it impossible to wear for any real length of time.
I've usually been lucky with boots that I haven't had to really 'break them in'. I thought that these shoes may need to be worn and broken in but this hasn't been the case, they still feel the same as on the first first day and have not given in anyway.
The boots; I got at the same time don't seem to suffer the same problems, so maybe this is only a problem with this particular shoe.
I would like to think it is; as I wouldn't want to add Hi-Tec to the list of manufacturers I can't wear.
