Shoe buying frustration

For some reason, I can't copy and paste.

I had quite the experience with finding trail runners for myself. But, I did find the store to buy them at. Now, with a few years of experience, I know that New Balance fits my foot perfectly, and I know the exact size of theirs that fits... 11 4E. It is long enough that my toes don't crunch at the front when on a long downhill section, and they are wide enough to be comfortable. If I get 2Es, then they are too long. With that being said, I recently wanted to see if other companies had something to offer. I started at REI. I have never had good success with the. All their offerings are always too narrow. This was the case this time as well. I went to Sportsmans Warehouse and found some Keens that were wide, but the heels are too loose. Their sandals work, but I wanted Trail Runners. i went to another local store here that is similar to REI with no luck. Then I went to a big box store (I think Sports Authority). I was able to try on the Merrill Ventilators in Wide, and they fit...yay. I had been looking at them and had wanted to get them for a while, but after trying them on... I think they have too much padding. That means too much stuff inside that would take a long time to dry out if they get wet. They are also kinda heavy for a TR. At this point I decided that New Balance was for me.... so I go to the New Balance store. They only had 4 models of TRs and none were in my size. I went to their store because I figured they would have the largest selection. I will never go back..what good are they. Now, I live in a small town 30 minutes west of Salt Lake City. All these places are more than an hour from my house. I took a couple lunch breaks and visited them because my office is closer. I finally decided to go to the small Big 5 a mile from my house. Because we are in a small town, this store is pretty small. But, they had at least 5 New Balance options that were TRs and in my 11 4E. $50 later, I walk out with the 531s. Now, why did I wander all over the city looking for shoes?

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This is going to be a problem until Packlite can upgrade the software--see Packlite's post in "Support Requests and Suggestions." I've had a number of posts disappear when I hit "Submit," too.

In the meantime, copy the post before hitting "Submit." I've been able to restore the text (most of the time) by doing Edit.

OM
I wrote it in Word and then copy and pasted it. It showed up in the edit box, but when I posted to the forum..it disappeared. I tried again...same problem. I copied it to notepad (in hopes of dropping some hanging code) and then copied it to the edit box...same problem...it disappeared. Then I posted it on another forum...worked there.. copy/paste to the edit box..copied fine...try to post...disappeared.

When I typed it out...it worked. frustrating.

Guess what…..

Anyway, I have found that when you find the ideal shoes, buy several pair before the manufacturers change the last once again (I've found that even New Balance isn't immune). At least you'll have several years between searches.

There are several online shoe firms (Zappos and Shoes.com are two) that have free two-way shipping, and insist that you be satisfied, so there's no limit on how many returns. I've used both firms and been quite happy with the results (once I ordered three pair; none fit but they paid return shipping on all three). So if you have some idea of what you want, this is the way to go.

There's a glitch in the software as we have all found out, so patience will be required for the time being. I hate buying shoes. Fortunately, there is a Big 5 near me with a good selection of shoes and a really good salesman, which is really rare. Just bought a pair of Saucony running shoes, not a brand I would usually buy, but he suggested I try them and they not only fit well, but were cheaper than my other choices.

At least I am not the only one.

I hate to say it, but I think you got off relatively easy. I'm always worried that ASIC will change the shoe 'last' on their Gel Kahana shoes, my current choice. I bought something like 10 pairs of one year's version, jumped ahead two years when those ran out and am coasting off of several pairs of those.

The last time I had to jump shoe models (and manufacturers) it was a great pain to find something that would work for certain. Local shoe stores don't offer enough selection, so I look very carefully at sites that show views from several perspectives of a shoe in question. Being able to look at the shoe from the bottom (sole) side helps a lot in eliminating those that either don't have a big enough toe box, or where the toe box is clearly not shaped closely enough to what my foot looks like.

The other two pieces to the puzzle are (a) an online retailer that will accept returns from shoes you've only tried on indoors, and (b) a lot of patience and some time to try out various options.

OK, let's try again!

I won't go into my shoe history, except to say that I bought up a bunch of pre-Columbia Sportswear Montrail Hardrocks (Columbia immediately changed the last when they bought out Montrail) and have one pair left. So probably next year I'll be looking.

There are a number of online shoe retailers that feature free shipping and free return shipping, have a wide selection, and insist that you be satisfied. Zappos and Shoes.com are two that I've ordered from. On one occasion I ordered three pair and sent them all back! No questions were asked!

I swear by the Merrill Ventilators. I just bought a new pair, my last pair died several years back. The prior pairs were my 'jungle shoes,' the guy who sold them to me actually told me they were waterproof. Imagine my surprise when I found out I'd spent $70 on shoes that were precisely the opposite of waterproof! But I found them so comfortable that I decided to hang on to them, and I never found them to take that long to dry. Usually they dry out overnight, as long as I have a reasonably dry place to put them. Nothing ever actually dries out in the Amazon.

I don't have my old pairs to compare in real time, but I feel like the current iteration seems a little heavier and takes a little longer to dry. Still very reasonable in my mind.

But I also don't go running.



I did learn my lesson on buying shoes in-store, years ago. A year after the mix-up with my "waterproof" Merrill Ventilators, I walked into a different store to request some hiking boots with good ankle support, for use in a temperate rainforest. I specifically explained that I would be working as a tour guide on wet boardwalks and in an unimproved cave. Lots of wet surfaces. The boots they recommended were reasonably lightweight and very comfortable, so I bought them.
Those boots are brilliant on dry surfaces. I still use them near home or if I travel somewhere dry.
... AND... they have exactly zero traction on wet wood. Wet rock is a crap-shoot, too, but it was the boardwalk that did me in. I ended up wearing my Ventilators most of the time.