Excellent boot, soles wear out a bit fast. - Danner 453 GTX 5.5in Hiking Shoes - Men's

I've owned these boots for several years. They fit well, are comfortable, uppers and footbeds last a long time, and they provide great support. They are well constructed. I have one nit and one thing I do not like. The nit is just that. One eye hook, on my right shoe, has a very slight edge that wears out laces. I ended up polishing it with emery paper, which solved the problem, but time and a worn out pair of laces was the cost. No big deal.

What bugs me about these boots are the soles. The sole is 2 parts, one part is solidly attached to the shoe. The tread or outsole is bonded to to the bottom of the shoe. The problem is the tread is not very deep and tends to wear out a bit faster as a result. It would be an easy fix to have a new outsole bonded when they wear out, but no better outsoles are offered and the cost to have the work done is 1/2 the cost of a new boot. In my opinion, it's just not worth the cost.

The end result is you will initially spend 1/2 the cost of a great boot, but that savings disappears the moment they wear out, which is twice as fast. It's really too bad because I have sensitive feet and these are great boots otherwise. I've done 50 & 90 mile backpacking trips, Alaska hikes, Colorado mountain hunts, and some rock climbing with these. If Danner would make a more robust sole, with a deeper, more aggressive tread, and offer thermobonding outsole replacements, they could be some of the best boots in their price range...by far.