I don’t normally do this, but I gotta vent a little here. Maybe I’ll find some fellow hikers with the same problem so we can create a “support group”.

What the subject line refers to is not the big 4 when considering weight, but what I consider to be the big 4 when considering comfort. It seems to me that the items most difficult to settle on are shelter, sleeping bag (or quilt), pack and boots (or shoes). These are typically somewhat expensive items where most people cannot buy several different versions of them to try them all out at once. So over time one hopefully finds their “holy grail” item in each category.

For me, I am happy with three of the four. Mind you, it took a while, and several tries with all these items. I love my tents (Double Rainbow and Hilleberg Akto), my bags (3 WM bags), and my pack (McHale Popcan). Where the frustration comes in is with the boots. I have several different pairs of shoes and boots from several different manufacturers, and I still am not totally happy with any of them. The closest I ever got to satisfaction was some Nike Tallacs I used to use a few years ago. They were light and fit me like a glove. Unfortunately they wore out pretty quickly, and the newer versions don’t fit me well at all.

So now I have a pair of Salomons (Xpro X40…I think) that are almost perfect except that they don’t feel real stable due to the soft soles when my pack is over about 25 lbs (which is most of the time). I have a pair of Asolos (Fugitives) that are comfortable and stable, but are heavy and beat my feet to death on long days. Not to mention, they are really not good in hot weather. I am also trying out some trail runners that are comfortable, but don’t do real well for me on downhills.

So at any rate, if I could only find the holy grail of boots. Anyone else have this problem with any of their gear that would like to complain about it with me?