Had to pick between two brands of walking boots for my Colorado trip last spring

The pair I got from a discount outdoor store left me with blisters after 3 miles, but the ones I tried at REI felt perfect right out of the box, has anyone else had a similar luck with trying before buying?

3 comments

3 Comments

avery2192d ago

oh man, that's the worst when you think you're getting a deal and your feet pay for it later. did you break them in at all before the trip? i've learned the hard way that no matter how good a boot looks, if it doesn't feel right in the first 10 minutes, it's probably not gonna get better after 3 miles. sometimes the discount stuff just has weird stitching or padding that rubs wrong.

hugoj122d agoRising Star

yeah @avery219 i totally feel you on that. honestly what worked for me was just wearing them around the house for a few hours every day before actually going on any real walks. i put on thick socks and just did chores or watched tv in them, and if they still pinched after like a week i'd return them. it's not a perfect fix but sometimes the cheap stuff just needs a little extra time to mold to your foot instead of giving you blisters straight away. idk, maybe it's just me but i'd rather spend a little more on boots that feel good from day one than deal with the pain later.

tara6422d agoTop Commenter

My brother once bought a pair of "waterproof" hiking boots from a gas station for twenty bucks. They were bright orange and had a cartoon moose on the tag. He wore them on a two mile walk to test them out and came back with wet socks and a blister shaped like Florida. I think the padding was just loose cotton balls in there. We still joke about the moose boots every time we go to the gas station.