Highly recommend!
I have had 3 pairs of Oboz hiking sneakers so far and while 1 pair was a miss, Oboz has gone above and beyond to make me a lifelong customer.
First off, let me just say that I prefer to support the 'little guy', especially when they make a superior product vs. the bigger name brands. The personal touches however, also go a long way in liking Oboz - customer service, technical help and the fact that they plant a tree for every shoe they sell is pretty cool.
My first pair was from the now discontinued Contour line. 3 years later I still rock these sneaks on a daily basis. They have been fantastic on the trail, in the city and just a great all around durable hiker. From rock scrambling in the NY Gunks to the hills of San Francisco, these have been my all time favorite shoes.
So when my Merrell hiking boots literally started falling apart while on vacation I decided to go back to a new set of Oboz hikers and ordered the Valhalla (also no longer available). These sneakers were my everyday wear through a 5 month excursion from Vietnam, through SE Asia and eventually through 8 countries in Africa. During that time they were great. Lots of city walking, lots of multi-mile hikes with a heavy pack, etc. However what let me down about the Valhallas were just how quickly they wore out. After 5 months, the exterior of the shoe was still in great shape, but the interior was causing me tons of discomfort in the toe-box (something I've never had happen) and the heel.
I wrote to Oboz about this, mainly just trying to get some reasoning behind the accelerated wear. They couldn't have been more helpful. An engineer gave me a couple of possible reasons why they wore so fast vs. my perfect Contours and the customer service rep was a gem.
I ended up ordering another pair of sneakers from them that just arrived, the Gallatin...which is based on the same platform as the Contours that I love so much. Out of the box they feel fantastic and if the experience is anything like my first pair, I'm sure I'll be ordering again and passing on the good word that is Oboz.
Highly, highly, highly recommend for anyone looking for a new hiker. read more