Vivo forest tracker esc durability

[HighUintas]

I just wing it when mixing so when it looks right? It probably doubles the time you have to work with it. Straight out of the tube you’ve got a minute or two if you’re trying to brush it? Thinned you have long enough you don’t feel too rushed. Being thinner and doing thinner coats it goes pretty quick. You could do a full pass around the boot fairly fast.

Any idea if lacquer thinner, acetone, or paint thinner will thin it without affecting the performance? My store doesn't have toluene

 

[Split toe]

Anybody know of the latest discount?

 

[ElPollo]

I wore the trackers on my first off trail mountain hike with them this weekend and thought I would give my observations. Background first. I’ve been a wildlife biologist for 30 years and have been struggling with what we started out thinking was a partial Achilles tear for over a year that was actually an injury to my sural nerve. Basically every time I wore a pair of shoes with a solid heel cup it would cause the nerve to fire, make part of my foot numb, make my Achilles swell up hurt like the dickens, and give me the worst Charlie horse I’ve ever experienced in my calf. So I’ve been wearing crocs for over a year and have been doing extensive PT for about 4 months.

We did a roughly 5 mile off trail hike ranging from 8600-8900 feet with about 900’ of vertical climb this weekend. About a mile and a half was side hilling on 25-40 degree slopes. I am using an oak-tanned leather insole in my tracker ESCs. Other than a few flat 1-4 mile hikes, this was my first field test of them.

First thought was that I did not have issues with sharp stones or sticks. The last quarter mile was a pretty steep, rocky downhill. I could definitely feel the rocks, but nothing was hurting. My heels weren’t sore or bruised either. This is likely due to doing dumb shit in crocs for the last several months. The rocks do hurt in cheap croc knock-off and you can certainly ram a stick through a croc into your foot. But I had none of those issues with the trackers and frankly felt like I was wearing armor again.

Second, I had no issues with rolling ankles. This is hard to explain unless you’ve worn them, but they are super stable. Part of that is having a low height sole and the other part is that it’s not flat, but curved like the sole of your foot. I’ve also been doing a lot of ankle and calf PT, but I’ve never had anything feel as stable on a steep, rocky side hill.

The one issue I has was having my feet sliding forward and my toes hitting the end of the toe box on downhills. This may be due the fact that I’m using a thick and slick leather insole (to hopefully stop mesquite spines in the desert). It also may be due to the fact that I was lacing them loosely due to my nerve issue. I tried lacing tighter, but still had my toes hitting the front of the boot. But it’s not like a hard toe box, so it didn’t cause me any pain or blackened toe nails. I also did not have any hotspots on heels, soles, or anywhere else.

Ultimately, I find myself liking them. As a guy who used to wear Whites and Nicks fire boots, Kenetreks, and all other sorts of stuff mountain boots, I never thought I would like these. But getting out of those boots has resolved a lot of the other foot issues I was having (big toe pain and occasional planters facitis problems). The shape of the toe box on these things is what all shoes should be, and I frankly don’t understand why anyone makes shoes that have an outward angle from the ball to the tip of the big toe. The trackers were super comfortable when I first put them on. They are a lot like an Apache or Navajo hardsole moccasin, but have a grippy rubber sole that helps smooth out the sharp pointy rocks.

They don’t totally solve my nerve issue. Although, on the upside, my ankle and my feet weren’t the sorest part of me after this hike. After a few days of regular wear the nerve starts getting grumpy again. But my doc says to keep on the PT and that intermittently pissing off my nerve isn’t a bad thing. These boots are my current plan for fall hunting which I haven’t really been able to do for a couple seasons now. I didn’t draw any western big game tags this year, but I’m going to wear them to whack a few does back east in November and for regular desert quail hunting from November to February. I will report back on that if I end up poking any holes in them.

And finally on the issue of sole separations that is also being discussed in this thread. I have not had any issues with these yet, but I’ve never had a boot with a rand that didn’t have some separation. These are both glued and stitched, which is about as good a connection as you’ll find. If they start to seriously come loose, slap some shoe goo or other flexible glue on there and rock on. They don’t need to look pretty.

 

[HighUintas]

I wore the trackers on my first off trail mountain hike with them this weekend and thought I would give my observations. Background first. I’ve been a wildlife biologist for 30 years and have been struggling with what we started out thinking was a partial Achilles tear for over a year that was actually an injury to my sural nerve. Basically every time I wore a pair of shoes with a solid heel cup it would cause the nerve to fire, make part of my foot numb, make my Achilles swell up hurt like the dickens, and give me the worst Charlie horse I’ve ever experienced in my calf. So I’ve been wearing crocs for over a year and have been doing extensive PT for about 4 months.

We did a roughly 5 mile off trail hike ranging from 8600-8900 feet with about 900’ of vertical climb this weekend. About a mile and a half was side hilling on 25-40 degree slopes. I am using an oak-tanned leather insole in my tracker ESCs. Other than a few flat 1-4 mile hikes, this was my first field test of them.

First thought was that I did not have issues with sharp stones or sticks. The last quarter mile was a pretty steep, rocky downhill. I could definitely feel the rocks, but nothing was hurting. My heels weren’t sore or bruised either. This is likely due to doing dumb shit in crocs for the last several months. The rocks do hurt in cheap croc knock-off and you can certainly ram a stick through a croc into your foot. But I had none of those issues with the trackers and frankly felt like I was wearing armor again.

Second, I had no issues with rolling ankles. This is hard to explain unless you’ve worn them, but they are super stable. Part of that is having a low height sole and the other part is that it’s not flat, but curved like the sole of your foot. I’ve also been doing a lot of ankle and calf PT, but I’ve never had anything feel as stable on a steep, rocky side hill.

The one issue I has was having my feet sliding forward and my toes hitting the end of the toe box on downhills. This may be due the fact that I’m using a thick and slick leather insole (to hopefully stop mesquite spines in the desert). It also may be due to the fact that I was lacing them loosely due to my nerve issue. I tried lacing tighter, but still had my toes hitting the front of the boot. But it’s not like a hard toe box, so it didn’t cause me any pain or blackened toe nails. I also did not have any hotspots on heels, soles, or anywhere else.

Ultimately, I find myself liking them. As a guy who used to wear Whites and Nicks fire boots, Kenetreks, and all other sorts of stuff mountain boots, I never thought I would like these. But getting out of those boots has resolved a lot of the other foot issues I was having (big toe pain and occasional planters facitis problems). The shape of the toe box on these things is what all shoes should be, and I frankly don’t understand why anyone makes shoes that have an outward angle from the ball to the tip of the big toe. The trackers were super comfortable when I first put them on. They are a lot like an Apache or Navajo hardsole moccasin, but have a grippy rubber sole that helps smooth out the sharp pointy rocks.

They don’t totally solve my nerve issue. Although, on the upside, my ankle and my feet weren’t the sorest part of me after this hike. After a few days of regular wear the nerve starts getting grumpy again. But my doc says to keep on the PT and that intermittently pissing off my nerve isn’t a bad thing. These boots are my current plan for fall hunting which I haven’t really been able to do for a couple seasons now. I didn’t draw any western big game tags this year, but I’m going to wear them to whack a few does back east in November and for regular desert quail hunting from November to February. I will report back on that if I end up poking any holes in them.

And finally on the issue of sole separations that is also being discussed in this thread. I have not had any issues with these yet, but I’ve never had a boot with a rand that didn’t have some separation. These are both glued and stitched, which is about as good a connection as you’ll find. If they start to seriously come loose, slap some shoe goo or other flexible glue on there and rock on. They don’t need to look pretty.

Part of the reason I decided to try these was also Achilles issues. I believe mine was just Achilles tendonitis, but it never fails to flare up badly if I put a good number of consecutive days in with stiffer boots that have a significant heel counter. I love my scarpa revolution boots for their durability and water proofing durability, but they cause that issue.

I've currently got one of my trackers curing with a bead of aquaseal SR all around the leather/sole connection. The stuff seems to turn into really solid rubber... So if it holds them that will be awesome and I'll probably be putting a full protective low height rand on them with the stuff before testing.

 

[ElPollo]

Part of the reason I decided to try these was also Achilles issues. I believe mine was just Achilles tendonitis, but it never fails to flare up badly if I put a good number of consecutive days in with stiffer boots that have a significant heel counter. I love my scarpa revolution boots for their durability and water proofing durability, but they cause that issue.

I've currently got one of my trackers curing with a bead of aquaseal SR all around the leather/sole connection. The stuff seems to turn into really solid rubber... So if it holds them that will be awesome and I'll probably be putting a full protective low height rand on them with the stuff before testing.

I had a buddy who tore his Achilles about the same time this happened to me. He is still having issues with his too. But if you think pressure (eg different shoes) is more the cause of your flare ups than just activity, ask your dr about potential issues with your sural nerve in your heel. This has been a real bugger to deal with. I had to return the only tag I drew last year because I couldn’t hike. But I’m a year in now and am finally starting to make positive progress.

Wish you the best on this and post pics of your ugly modified trackers with a homemade rand.

 

[fwafwow]

…
The one issue I has was having my feet sliding forward and my toes hitting the end of the toe box on downhills. This may be due the fact that I’m using a thick and slick leather insole (to hopefully stop mesquite spines in the desert). It also may be due to the fact that I was lacing them loosely due to my nerve issue. I tried lacing tighter, but still had my toes hitting the front of the boot. But it’s not like a hard toe box, so it didn’t cause me any pain or blackened toe nails.

I’m glad these are working and thanks for the post.

As to the above, others with more experience can chime in, but I think your feet sliding forward will reduce as you change your gait. I was so used to heel strikes that it took some time to reduce that and plant my feet differently.

 

[ElPollo]

I’m glad these are working and thanks for the post.

As to the above, others with more experience can chime in, but I think your feet sliding forward will reduce as you change your gait. I was so used to heel strikes that it took some time to reduce that and plant my feet differently.

Maybe so. I was zigzagging down probably a 50-60% south side slope in rocks, bunchgrasses, gray oak and ponderosa pine. Not sure how I could change my gait to keep that from happening in those conditions. But like I said, it may have been my slick saddle leather insoles that caused it. It also was not painful like in a stiff pair of boots. It’s like your toes are hitting the end of a soft pair of moccasins. I actually don’t see it causing a problem like it would in normal boots.

 

[ElPollo]

I’m glad these are working and thanks for the post.

As to the above, others with more experience can chime in, but I think your feet sliding forward will reduce as you change your gait. I was so used to heel strikes that it took some time to reduce that and plant my feet differently.

I want to follow up on what @fwafwow said about changing your gait because it’s really no joke. These are not boots you can expect to jump right into and do what I did without crippling yourself even further. If you are dumb enough or desperate enough to make crocs that are smashed down to 0-degree by an old, fat, crippled biologist or flipflops or no shoes at all your primary foot gear for a year, these Vivobarefoot trackers will be cake. If not you need to move into them slowly and carefully. I’ll also say that hiking in crocs or using them as tracking shoes is not recommended. I drilled yet another hole in one of my feet this morning with a sharp stick while wearing them to break camp. It also really hurts to step on a tent stake in crocs. But… Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

[HighUintas]

I had a buddy who tore his Achilles about the same time this happened to me. He is still having issues with his too. But if you think pressure (eg different shoes) is more the cause of your flare ups than just activity, ask your dr about potential issues with your sural nerve in your heel. This has been a real bugger to deal with. I had to return the only tag I drew last year because I couldn’t hike. But I’m a year in now and am finally starting to make positive progress.

Wish you the best on this and post pics of your ugly modified trackers with a homemade rand.

I forgot to mention that my feet slide and hit the end of the toe going steep downhill too. There's no avoiding it for me. Yea the Achilles issue is just from constant contact/pressure and when it really gets aggravated, I can't even run in sandals and I'm out of commission on hiking/running for at least a month with the exception of occasional light stuff. The tracker nearly completely eliminates it.

Here's my amateur job at regluing the sole to the leather. The aquaseal SR stuff is super gooey and stringy and a little bit goes a long long way. So after I got started and realized that, I kept going so at least they'd be uniformly crappy looking.

I would definitely thin it with solvent and brush it on for visible areas. For regluing the sole to leather I'm not sure if I'd want to thin it in case that weakens the bond strength at all.

Next, I'll tape a border off, thin the cement (waiting to hear back from them if lacquer thinner, acetone, or isopropyl will work), then brush it on in multiple thin coats.

And.... You probably shouldn't use it in your kitchen. The VOC content is extremely high, or at least it smells like it.

 

[BBob]

Thin Aquaseal with toluene if you can find it. That’s what it’s made with. Gearaid sells “Cotol” as a thinner accelerator, its toluene. Acetone will work. I highly doubt any form of alcohol will work. I think I tried mineral spirits once and I think it didn’t mix well. Not for sure but I think that’s what happened.

 

[HighUintas]

Thin Aquaseal with toluene if you can find it. That’s what it’s made with. Gearaid sells “Cotol” as a thinner accelerator, its toluene. Acetone will work. I highly doubt any form of alcohol will work. I think I tried mineral spirits once and I think it didn’t mix well. Not for sure but I think that’s what happened.

Ahh I have that cotol from a different aquaseal product my wife used on an inflatable kayak. Thanks

 

[ElPollo]

I forgot to mention that my feet slide and hit the end of the toe going steep downhill too. There's no avoiding it for me. Yea the Achilles issue is just from constant contact/pressure and when it really gets aggravated, I can't even run in sandals and I'm out of commission on hiking/running for at least a month with the exception of occasional light stuff. The tracker nearly completely eliminates it.

Here's my amateur job at regluing the sole to the leather. The aquaseal SR stuff is super gooey and stringy and a little bit goes a long long way. So after I got started and realized that, I kept going so at least they'd be uniformly crappy looking.

I would definitely thin it with solvent and brush it on for visible areas. For regluing the sole to leather I'm not sure if I'd want to thin it in case that weakens the bond strength at all.

Next, I'll tape a border off, thin the cement (waiting to hear back from them if lacquer thinner, acetone, or isopropyl will work), then brush it on in multiple thin coats.

And.... You probably shouldn't use it in your kitchen. The VOC content is extremely high, or at least it smells like it.

View attachment 743119View attachment 743120

I’m glad to hear the Trackers are working for you. So far they are about the only thing I’ve found that don’t immediately piss my nerve off and cripple me.

Didn’t read all the previous posts on the delamination. Did you reach out to Vivo about that? I would have no issues wearing those, but would be a little annoyed as well. Sticking leather to synthetics is always difficult.

 

[HighUintas]

I’m glad to hear the Trackers are working for you. So far they are about the only thing I’ve found that don’t immediately piss my nerve off and cripple me.

Didn’t read all the previous posts on the delamination. Did you reach out to Vivo about that? I would have no issues wearing those, but would be a little annoyed as well. Sticking leather to synthetics is always difficult.

Yeah, I still wear them. My main issue with that is that they went from being very water resistant to not water resistant at all. After the delamination started. I did reach out to them but they would not warranty it because I did not purchase them directly through vivo.

 

[ElPollo]

Yeah, I still wear them. My main issue with that is that they went from being very water resistant to not water resistant at all. After the delamination started. I did reach out to them but they would not warranty it because I did not purchase them directly through vivo.

I see. I heard the same from Vivo when I called them about their 100 day return offer. Buy them from us. I certainly get it in the current world where Amazon takes a cut out of everyone’s pie, but it sucks for you. I have no expectation that these Trackers would be waterproof. I mostly live and hunt in the desert. My biggest concern was mesquite spines and other sharps.

 

[ArmyAg97]

Anybody know of the latest discount?

We have a thread devoted to Vivo discounts: https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/the-vivo-barefoot-discount-code-thread.356043/

 

[dtrkyman]

Been wearing the Magna leather FG just about every day, loving them.

Wore them to several 3D shoots, covered some miles, mostly on trail but some side hilling and off trails to get to targets.

Zero discomfort, my feet were a bit sore one day but I was basically standing or walking for 7 hrs or so.

Shot 40 target course one day with minimal break between rounds and never an issue, lot of questions from others about them, most think they are a moccasin.

Very slight separation in front between sole and leather, might use some 5200 around the seem?

Looking forward to seeing what they come up with next, an ESC with gore Tex would be sweet!

May have to try the Xero waterproof hiker?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brhillman]

I wore the trackers on my first off trail mountain hike with them this weekend and thought I would give my observations. Background first. I’ve been a wildlife biologist for 30 years and have been struggling with what we started out thinking was a partial Achilles tear for over a year that was actually an injury to my sural nerve. Basically every time I wore a pair of shoes with a solid heel cup it would cause the nerve to fire, make part of my foot numb, make my Achilles swell up hurt like the dickens, and give me the worst Charlie horse I’ve ever experienced in my calf. So I’ve been wearing crocs for over a year and have been doing extensive PT for about 4 months.

We did a roughly 5 mile off trail hike ranging from 8600-8900 feet with about 900’ of vertical climb this weekend. About a mile and a half was side hilling on 25-40 degree slopes. I am using an oak-tanned leather insole in my tracker ESCs. Other than a few flat 1-4 mile hikes, this was my first field test of them.

First thought was that I did not have issues with sharp stones or sticks. The last quarter mile was a pretty steep, rocky downhill. I could definitely feel the rocks, but nothing was hurting. My heels weren’t sore or bruised either. This is likely due to doing dumb shit in crocs for the last several months. The rocks do hurt in cheap croc knock-off and you can certainly ram a stick through a croc into your foot. But I had none of those issues with the trackers and frankly felt like I was wearing armor again.

Second, I had no issues with rolling ankles. This is hard to explain unless you’ve worn them, but they are super stable. Part of that is having a low height sole and the other part is that it’s not flat, but curved like the sole of your foot. I’ve also been doing a lot of ankle and calf PT, but I’ve never had anything feel as stable on a steep, rocky side hill.

The one issue I has was having my feet sliding forward and my toes hitting the end of the toe box on downhills. This may be due the fact that I’m using a thick and slick leather insole (to hopefully stop mesquite spines in the desert). It also may be due to the fact that I was lacing them loosely due to my nerve issue. I tried lacing tighter, but still had my toes hitting the front of the boot. But it’s not like a hard toe box, so it didn’t cause me any pain or blackened toe nails. I also did not have any hotspots on heels, soles, or anywhere else.

Ultimately, I find myself liking them. As a guy who used to wear Whites and Nicks fire boots, Kenetreks, and all other sorts of stuff mountain boots, I never thought I would like these. But getting out of those boots has resolved a lot of the other foot issues I was having (big toe pain and occasional planters facitis problems). The shape of the toe box on these things is what all shoes should be, and I frankly don’t understand why anyone makes shoes that have an outward angle from the ball to the tip of the big toe. The trackers were super comfortable when I first put them on. They are a lot like an Apache or Navajo hardsole moccasin, but have a grippy rubber sole that helps smooth out the sharp pointy rocks.

They don’t totally solve my nerve issue. Although, on the upside, my ankle and my feet weren’t the sorest part of me after this hike. After a few days of regular wear the nerve starts getting grumpy again. But my doc says to keep on the PT and that intermittently pissing off my nerve isn’t a bad thing. These boots are my current plan for fall hunting which I haven’t really been able to do for a couple seasons now. I didn’t draw any western big game tags this year, but I’m going to wear them to whack a few does back east in November and for regular desert quail hunting from November to February. I will report back on that if I end up poking any holes in them.

And finally on the issue of sole separations that is also being discussed in this thread. I have not had any issues with these yet, but I’ve never had a boot with a rand that didn’t have some separation. These are both glued and stitched, which is about as good a connection as you’ll find. If they start to seriously come loose, slap some shoe goo or other flexible glue on there and rock on. They don’t need to look pretty.

I tried a leather insole with these as well, which I really liked on flat ground but I had the same experience as you with my feet feeling like they were sliding a bit more on descents and my toes hitting the front of the toe box. I took them out and put the original insoles back in and it was a lot better.

 

[ElPollo]

I tried a leather insole with these as well, which I really liked on flat ground but I had the same experience as you with my feet feeling like they were sliding a bit more on descents and my toes hitting the front of the toe box. I took them out and put the original insoles back in and it was a lot better.

Thanks for your input on this. I’m still experimenting with these. Back in the day, I regularly wore Whites and Nicks fire boots in the mountains with nothing but a flat leather midsole. Those you could lace to prevent your foot from sliding around. The trackers don’t seem to have the structure to allow for that. But that lack of structure also may prevent injuries like blackened toenails. I need a few more miles on steep stuff with them to see how it shakes out. That said, more of my hiking these days is in desert country that is less steep, so the leather insoles may stay in there to help prevent foot punctures. One thing I have noticed on these was that with the factory insoles, I could feel the tread pattern of the sole on the bottoms of my feet and heels. With the leather insoles, not so much.

 

[HighUintas]

1 coat for the rand and stitching with aquaseal SR. They said they don't recommend thinning the product for best performance, so I just brushed it on out of the tube. It seemed to spread and level just fine going inch by inch. It is 24 hrs in now, but this stuff continues to appear wet even though it's cured. It needs to be scuffed up a bit. I'll probably do another coat because it seems a little thin in areas where the grain was more roughed up. I think it will work well.

 

[HighUintas]

Did the second boot rand. I put this one on very liberally and I think it turned out better.