Vivo forest tracker esc durability

[Ajsomp]

Full season with my tracker esc’s which includes rucking and preparation for my hunts, coastal deer hunting and colorado mule deer hunt. By far the most comfortable boots I have owned. It was a real testament in the mountains as I felt so much more control when walking. I’ve had several guys ask me about them seeing me wear them and I honestly can’t find anything bad to say other than they aren’t US made (not much is). Paired with the right socks and I feel like with the exception of sitting and glassing in extreme cold, I can go all day on the same pair of socks. I will be looking for deals on BF to get another pair just to have as a back up for when I wear these out

 

[dtrkyman]

Marty mine are the same, though took more miles, haven’t dealt with it yet but will probably try some 3m 5200 since I already have it, repaired some wader boots with it when nothing else worked!


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[Marty]

Marty mine are the same, though took more miles, haven’t dealt with it yet but will probably try some 3m 5200 since I already have it, repaired some wader boots with it when nothing else worked!


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Got ya. You plan to do any surface prep? Plan to build up a rand?

Is the 3M 5200 similar to AquaSeal? I'll have to take a look at it. Thanks!

 

[dtrkyman]

The 3m is a marine adhesive, it is insanely durable, learned about it from the wader company high and dry, you could literally cut waders up and glue them back together with the stuff.

Harder to find in black and there are a couple versions of it, go to their site they have a good description of it, a rand would be a good idea, the toes on those boots take a beating, but I love wearing them!

They recommend the 400uv for the fabric and the 5200 for the rubber boot.

I used the 5200 for the sole and making a rand on a pair of Asolo, worked well!

 

[SouthPaw]

I own an older version of the winter Trackers and while I like them, the sole is different and I prefer the Forest Esc for most conditions. I'm personally happy to own both, but for those looking at these, just know the feel is a bit different compared to the Forest Esc., at least that's my experience with the previous generation.

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I have both as well. The Winter Trackers have a tighter heel cup and different lacing system that required me to lace up tighter like a traditional boot to lock the heel in more. They still have a large flat toe box and minimal feel but must be worn tighter when climbing. The sole is not as grippy as the ESCs on rocks/ice/snow. However, the waterproof liner and heat retaining features definitely work and I find these boots are best for cold and wet conditions. Anything dry, even dry frozen snow, I'm taking the ESCs with thermal insoles. Rainy conditions, or cold and soaked vegetation where shoes will be constantly wet, the winter SG is the choice.

 

[ElPollo]

Wore my Forest ESCs for three days of whitetail hunting recently in the southern MO Ozarks including plenty of dense 3-4 year old “wooly bugger” clearcuts. First day was wet, but the feet stayed dry in a pair of SealSkinz socks. No major damage from all the brush, rose, bramble, and downed logs. Got them pretty bloody (not my blood). No complaints at all. Been wearing these pretty much daily since September and probably have around a 150-200 miles on them. No sole separation and no leather cracking. Very little sole wear compared to other traditional boots.

I spent Friday and Saturday out wandering in the Chihuahuan desert for scaled quail in my Forest ESCs. Plenty of mesquite, prickly pear, cholla, buffalo burr, and long spine sand burr. Pulled out several spines from the sole when I was done, but no penetrations of the sole or upper. Plan to keep this up every weekend until February. Will post if any of my blood is spilled.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I chased elk in these the last 4 days. Covered a total of around 42 miles according to OnX. I had worn them on some scouting trips to break them in, probably around 50 miles total, to test durability and comfort in harsh AZ conditions as mentioned in a post earlier.

The Good: These are by far, one of the best hiking boots I've ever used. Incredibly comfortable, breathe well, didn't wet out during minor stream and creek crossings. Good grip on icy logs and wet rocks, perfect feel going both up and down game trails.

Pack was on the light side for me as access to water was abundant. 37 lbs total, freeze dried meals due to water abundance and shelter-less like I normally do; 0 degree Western Mountaneering GWS bag, with Thermarest Neo-Therm NXT pad straight onto ground (thick layer of alligator Juniper boughs on roughed up dirt underneath the pad). Boots stayed nice and toasty down in the footbox of the bag along with a Nalgene full of boiled water.

Temps were down to 17 degrees warming up to mid 40's during the day. I ended up wearing smart wools thickest sock offering in the morning and evenings and when static, switching to a lighter weight smart wool sock during the daytime warms. I purposely bought them a size large, one due to my arches making me a "size 12" when my actual foot measurement is size 10.5; and two, so I can wear the thicker socks or double up if needed for extreme cold.

For this hunt, the Smartwool "Hunt" thick merino socks combined with the regular weight merino socks, worked great for a mix of chasing and glassing and temps swings.

In general, these boots perform excellent, feel excellent, and kept my feet and legs happy backpacking around. The heavy pack out loads (very short trip as I was able to get the Jeep in to about 500 yards from the kill) felt good with well over 100 lb pack per trip.

The Bad: The boots are already starting to separate at the big toe area, especially on my strong leg (right side). Is there anything I can do to keep this from getting worse? Or wait until it gets a bit worse and then glue them?

 

[HighUintas]

I chased elk in these the last 4 days. Covered a total of around 42 miles according to OnX. I had worn them on some scouting trips to break them in, probably around 50 miles total, to test durability and comfort in harsh AZ conditions as mentioned in a post earlier.

The Good: These are by far, one of the best hiking boots I've ever used. Incredibly comfortable, breathe well, didn't wet out during minor stream and creek crossings. Good grip on icy logs and wet rocks, perfect feel going both up and down game trails.

Pack was on the light side for me as access to water was abundant. 37 lbs total, freeze dried meals due to water abundance and shelter-less like I normally do; 0 degree Western Mountaneering GWS bag, with Thermarest Neo-Therm NXT pad straight onto ground (thick layer of alligator Juniper boughs on roughed up dirt underneath the pad). Boots stayed nice and toasty down in the footbox of the bag along with a Nalgene full of boiled water.

Temps were down to 17 degrees warming up to mid 40's during the day. I ended up wearing smart wools thickest sock offering in the morning and evenings and when static, switching to a lighter weight smart wool sock during the daytime warms. I purposely bought them a size large, one due to my arches making me a "size 12" when my actual foot measurement is size 10.5; and two, so I can wear the thicker socks or double up if needed for extreme cold.

For this hunt, the Smartwool "Hunt" thick merino socks combined with the regular weight merino socks, worked great for a mix of chasing and glassing and temps swings.

In general, these boots perform excellent, feel excellent, and kept my feet and legs happy backpacking around. The heavy pack out loads (very short trip as I was able to get the Jeep in to about 500 yards from the kill) felt good with well over 100 lb pack per trip.

The Bad: The boots are already starting to separate at the big toe area, especially on my strong leg (right side). Is there anything I can do to keep this from getting worse? Or wait until it gets a bit worse and then glue them?

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There's nothing I know of to prevent it from getting worse, other than glueing it before it starts. I'd do it now before more dirt gets worked further in to the crack, making it harder to clean out before glueing.

The prep for glueing is a pain, but I think it's absolutely worth it unless you plan on sending them back to vivo for warranty or revivo/reconditioning. Once you put that DIY rand on there, I think they're forever yours and not able to be reconditioned.

Mine got a new lease on life after making the rand.

If I buy more, I'll likely do that straight out of the box.

Also, you mentioned size 12. Here you go: https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/black-vivo-tracker-esc-like-new.373127/

 

[Braaap]

The aqua seal rand is the solution I think. Mine is holding up well so far this season and I applied it to boots that already had two seasons of use. I did buy a new(ish) pair on revivo and I applied the aqua seal before wearing them for the first time.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

I wore mine on a hunt for the first time this last month, after about a year of regular use.
Sitka Blacktail on a steep island in Alaska. The ground was frozen hard down to about 200ft above sea level, along with areas of hard snow and ice.

I wore them in combination with Microspikes and APE Equipment Ultra/Neoshell gaiters.
My partner just wore standard leather hunting boots (Zamberlan) with no microspikes. While I had excellent traction with this combination, I did notice that when I was not wearing microspikes on the hard ground, the Zamberlan's were able to 'edge' in to the slope and grip alot easier than the Forest Tracker's, which need to conform to the ground to grip.

Durability: Mine are holding up quite well with regular leather treatment and have not seperated at the rand at all.