Advice for my Lowa Hunters

[Vitals]

So I have been fiddling around with various tying techniques with my Hunters and have concluded that while minor improvements with heel slip are made with it, the only real thing that is helping is putting on a super thick socks along with thicker insoles and tying the boots so tight and I have to pull the piss out of the laces to get it there. It feels like the boot might just be to big.

I feel like what I should do is exchange them at REI for a size 12 and see if that works. However, when I tried on size 12 Lowas in the store (not hunters, they had to special order those for me), the 12s felt to small, especially with a nice wool sock on.

My other thought is that maybe I should just ask for a refund and pick up a pair of some nice Danners. While Danners quality has been highly scrutinized lately, they always fit me well and the ones I had before lasted me a very long time. I also hunt 90 percent of the time in dry dry conditions where water isn't a huge concern. They are also significantly less expensive. On the other hand, there are a lot of other boots out there that are less expensive than the Hunters that would likely be of higher quality.

As you can see, I am torn here. All advice would be greatly greatly appreciated....

 

[Shrek]

I'm trying to work with my Lowa Tibets since nobody seems to want to buy them. I wore them a little yesterday and today I think I made progress. The lacing techniques seem to have more impact as I break in the uppers. I'm hoping to break mine in some and toughen up my feet at the same time . I'm going to wear them at work this week and see how it goes. It's really hot here in Florida so wearing them with my new darn tough socks is going to cook my poor feet ! The things we do to hunt.

 

[Curtis C]

I use Lowa Caminos and had trouble with heel blisters when I had the blue sole insoles. I switched to green super feet and have been very happy. Of all my various boots this is the only one that the blue insoles would not work with. What I found was the thick blue soles would raise my heel slightly so it didn't drop into the boot far enough.. The super feet insole is a little thinner in the heel so my foot gets into the heel pocket much better. Sounds like you have already been working on that some..

 

[Lawnboi]

I would highly suggest you return them and get the pair of lowa hunters in the size your talking about.

Not all the lowa boots are similar. If you think a slightly smaller size would fit you well then id give them a try. Especially if you purchased at rei and have no problem returning them.

 

[a3dhunter]

I use Lowa Caminos and had trouble with heel blisters when I had the blue sole insoles. I switched to green super feet and have been very happy. Of all my various boots this is the only one that the blue insoles would not work with. What I found was the thick blue soles would raise my heel slightly so it didn't drop into the boot far enough.. The super feet insole is a little thinner in the heel so my foot gets into the heel pocket much better. Sounds like you have already been working on that some..

Curtis makes a very good point, and I have had this problem with boots as well.

I am currently trying to get my Zamberlan Vioz 1006 dialed in, and blistered both heels last night on a 2600 foot ascent. I have to figure out what will work with them as well.

 

[Lawnboi]

Ill echo what has been mentioned already as well.

Insoles. The stock ones are garbage. Find a pair that cups your heel and holds it in place. I prefer superfeet because I love their heel cup. It helps not only with heel slip going up, but also helps with any rubbing from compression of the heel.

 

[Vitals]

Yeah thats what I did. They will be calling tomorrow to see if they have 12 wides available. I want to try the wides because when I put on other size 12 Lowas, my toes seemed slightly cramped. The wides seemed to have more room in the toe box. Does anyone know if a wide boot is wider throughout the whole boot or just the toe box?

I'm hoping these will work for me......

I would highly suggest you return them and get the pair of lowa hunters in the size your talking about.

Not all the lowa boots are similar. If you think a slightly smaller size would fit you well then id give them a try. Especially if you purchased at rei and have no problem returning them.

 

[gelton]

Bingo. I have a pair of lowa hunters and I had to go with a wide. Drop a 1/2 size and go with a wide and I bet it'll work out fine. Those Europeans have narrow feet. To be honest I normally wear a wide and the lowas feel like a normal U.S. shoe (non wide) and are still slightly cramped for me but it works.

 

[Vitals]

What size shoe do you usually wear and what size did you go with in the Lowas? I seem to be more on the 12 side of a boot so i took back the 13s. I wish they made half sizes after 11.5.

Bingo. I have a pair of lowa hunters and I had to go with a wide. Drop a 1/2 size and go with a wide and I bet it'll work out fine. Those Europeans have narrow feet. To be honest I normally wear a wide and the lowas feel like a normal U.S. shoe (non wide) and are still slightly cramped for me but it works.

 

[bowinhand]

What insoles are you running?

 

[Vitals]

Spenco Cross Trainers

 

[bowinhand]

Take a look at the lathrop and sons footbeds. They don't take up as much room and the batwings help with heel slip

 

[gelton]

Did everything work out for you? I found on mine when I get a little heel slip to tighten everything down use this method, it works to keep my heel in place:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lHbsE89ces#t=75

 

[TheHardWay]

What I do with my Lowa Hunters is to skip the ankle hooks first by going to the second set of hooks, then back down to the ankle hooks. Then skip the next set, then back down. It is kind of hard to explain. If you are looking at the front of the boot and number the pairs of hooks 1 through 5 with 1 being the ankle hooks, and 5 being the upper most ones, I go: 2,1,4,3,5. Looks like this when done.

With that being said, any lacing technique will not fix the problem of a boot that doesn't fit correctly.