Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Salomon shoe sole durability

I have been thinking for a while that i would like to get a pair of Salomon Quest GTX for hiking. My wife bought me Salomon Speedcross shoes for school this year and in 3 months the soles are almost gone and I only really walk on tile and carpet most of the day. My questions is how durable are the GTX soles?

Mine wore out sooner than I would have liked. The outsole started to delaminate from the midsole before anything else was worn out. Shoe goo bought me a little time but I replaced them with a pair of Asolos. I ran Asolos for about 15 years. I like the Salomons better but they were nearly twice the price and wore fairly fast. I may go back to them after this pair of Asolo boots wear our.

I just got some here earlier this summer and after working construction in them for 2 months and hunting 2nd season and putting on quite a few miles they are showing wear. I am a little disappointed myself. I do however love the boots and thing that I will exchange them at rei for another pair and save them just for hiking and hunting

I love mine. They are mid light and the uppers/soles are properly designed for a mid light boot. Good compromise between grip, flex and durability. You want tough uppers, and sole durability you get heavy and stiffer. For hunting all but the gnasties of big mtn slopes in CO, the soles on these are GTG.

I used to run stiff full leather boots forever, too heavy. Too expensive. Then switched to Salomon X-ultra mid (very light) and found it doesn't provide enough support with a heavy pack. These have been my Goldilocks.

I love mine- they are my 90% boots.

The speedcross soles do wear out really fast, the Quest soles are far more durable in my experience.

Mine just finished their 4th or 5th elk season. No idea how many miles, but the soles are fine.

I'm on my 3rd pair of Salomon Quest 4D GTX. Generally, the rest of the boot is failing by the time the sole is worn down. However, I find the GTX membrane doesn't last very long, particularly if used in fine dust conditions as this seems to work it's way through the boot and chews up the membrane.
Overall they are a great boot, they typically last me about three years of moderate use. I figure I hike about 100 km a year or so.
The reason I've bought three pairs is they fit me excellent and they are better than my heavy and stiff Scarpa boots when the load carrying ability isn't needed. I also find the flexibility nice for finding traction. The light weight is very nice too. And more support than an ankle height trail shoe.
Specific to the Salomon Speedcross shoes, don't use them on any non-loose surface as this just eats the soles. They are made for dirt, mud and the like. Rocks, pavement or in your case, tile are too grippy and tear or abrade the lugs off the soles.

Pretty much the shoe of choice for AT thru hikers, 5 pairs from Georgia to Maine.

16bore, Is it normal to go through 5 pairs of any shoes while hiking the AT? The reason I ask is a buddy of mine is going to do it in the near future when he retires and I was just curious.

I'm not sure what "normal" is, but based on the shop in my locale and some of the folks I've talked too, that's about it. They were wearing the XA Pro 3D or something like that. More a running type shoe than a boot, but they all swear by them.

Some people think we have a seasonal homeless problem, but it's just the thru's....

Everything I've read says about 2, sometimes 3 pairs of boots/shoes to finish the AT. The lower cut hiking shoes are becoming more popular than even light weight boots.

I've been wearing minimal/trail shoes going on 15 years.l for everything including packing extremely heavy weight in very rugged terrain. My mates and I did a bit over 60 miles in the Frank Church on a 7 day backpack hunt this year, with packs between 60-85 lbs and the "heaviest" shoe was La Sportiva trail shoe.... No one wanted more boot.

Great shoes and boots, SUPER comfortable, but they wear quicker than I'm happy with, especially for the price. Typical pair last about 6 months of 3 mile daily dog walks and general use in the Arizona hardpan.