I review 4 Leather Hiking Boots: Oboz Yellowstone II which I've owned for 2 years and potential replacements: Merrell Phaser Peak Merrell Chamelion Shift Mid Vasque Taku GTX)
Enjoyed your review. You & I have similar tastes in boots. I just ordered the Vasque Taku and the Lowa Renegade LL (leather lined). Are you still happy with the Taku? Have you ever tried the Lowa Renegade? Thanks :)
+Mike Wright Thanks for watching and commenting, Mike. I do still like the Vasque Taku GTX. Honestly, I haven't gone far in them since the review, but I did backpack with about a 40 lb pack on very rough terrain on the Appalachian Trail. Grip was was very good on the rocks, although they were dry. I had not broken them in very much but they were very comfortable nonetheless. I'm not familiar with the Lowa Renegade. Beyond a good sole, fit is really a very personal thing. What works for one might be terrible for another. The Taku is the right mix of light enough for day hikes and heavy enough for some backpacking. Vasques seem to fit well on me. The Taku's provide for me a nice fit as described by an REI sales person: a little room in the toes and held firm at the ankle and the heal. I used to think the toes needed to be snug in order not to slide forward on descents but it's not true. The Taku's fit me as she desribed and I liked it. If I wanted the next notch up in terms of heavier duty, I might have purchased the Vasque St. Elias GTX. They fit similarly to the Taku but are just a bit heavier. Pricing came into play for me a too since the Taku's were running at a nice price online. Hope this helps.
Thanks for watching and commenting. It was painful for me to watch one of my first reviews again to follow up here. I try to get to the point faster now. I had used a UA-cam caption feature to list those weights and UA-cam turned off that feature for new videos but it appears the data went away for this one too. Anyway, these are all old boots now and not available in my market. I more recently reviewed the Vasque Saga GTX and compared it to a couple of other boots. ua-cam.com/video/OxaADrkQPA4/v-deo.html Watching that might give you some more modern perspective. The laces that come with the Saga are junk we found post-review but otherwise, my son really likes them. I recently got a pair of low Salomon X Ultra 3 GTX to go lighter for day hikes. I was hesitant to try a non-Vibram sole but they are quite good. I will now consider both Vasque and Salomon for a backpacking boot to replace the Taku's I selected in this video.
Enjoyed your review. You & I have similar tastes in boots. I just ordered the Vasque Taku and the Lowa Renegade LL (leather lined). Are you still happy with the Taku? Have you ever tried the Lowa Renegade? Thanks :)
+Mike Wright Thanks for watching and commenting, Mike. I do still like the Vasque Taku GTX. Honestly, I haven't gone far in them since the review, but I did backpack with about a 40 lb pack on very rough terrain on the Appalachian Trail. Grip was was very good on the rocks, although they were dry. I had not broken them in very much but they were very comfortable nonetheless. I'm not familiar with the Lowa Renegade. Beyond a good sole, fit is really a very personal thing. What works for one might be terrible for another. The Taku is the right mix of light enough for day hikes and heavy enough for some backpacking.
Vasques seem to fit well on me. The Taku's provide for me a nice fit as described by an REI sales person: a little room in the toes and held firm at the ankle and the heal. I used to think the toes needed to be snug in order not to slide forward on descents but it's not true. The Taku's fit me as she desribed and I liked it. If I wanted the next notch up in terms of heavier duty, I might have purchased the Vasque St. Elias GTX. They fit similarly to the Taku but are just a bit heavier. Pricing came into play for me a too since the Taku's were running at a nice price online. Hope this helps.
You forgot to mention the weight of each boot...no biggie
Thanks for watching and commenting. It was painful for me to watch one of my first reviews again to follow up here. I try to get to the point faster now. I had used a UA-cam caption feature to list those weights and UA-cam turned off that feature for new videos but it appears the data went away for this one too. Anyway, these are all old boots now and not available in my market. I more recently reviewed the Vasque Saga GTX and compared it to a couple of other boots. ua-cam.com/video/OxaADrkQPA4/v-deo.html
Watching that might give you some more modern perspective. The laces that come with the Saga are junk we found post-review but otherwise, my son really likes them. I recently got a pair of low Salomon X Ultra 3 GTX to go lighter for day hikes. I was hesitant to try a non-Vibram sole but they are quite good. I will now consider both Vasque and Salomon for a backpacking boot to replace the Taku's I selected in this video.