Jumping in. I’ve had the Norvan LD 2’s, LD 3’s, & now the LD 4’s. They are great shoes. Honestly some of the most comfortable running shoes I’ve owned. I was rather surprised given arcteryx isn’t the first company I would think of when it came to footwear. They’ve changed the most recent model (LD4’s) in such a way that your foot kind of slides into an elasticized sock. Rather than a classic tongue situation. If that makes sense. It takes longer to put them on now. I found the LD3s the most comfortable but I’m still breaking on my LD4s so we will see.
Quality is meh decent. The LD2s split at the edges where the upper toe fabric bends. The sole eventually wore right through as well. I felt I got a decent life span considering what they went through. But I’ve also got merril approach shoes that are 20 years old, saw much worse, and are still going strong.
Very poor lateral stability and a bad tread pattern that’s actually very slippery on mixed trails. Durability is also lacking and I only get about 350km out of a pair of Norvan LDs. Whereas my Nordas and Speedlands I can get 1200km and 700km out of a pair
I have wide toe box. So I’m wearing brands like Salomon (ultra, ultra glide)
Norda work great, as do arcteryx norvan ld.
Anyway injinji toe socks seemed like a gimmick to me. Difficult to put on. Just different.
But I got a pair on super sale at REI. Holy cow!!
Toes feel amazing, the sock has less torsional rotation and is in the same place on my foot after 10+ hours hiking.
Usually in NH white mountains. So no climbing ever going on but it’s pretty rugged terrain everywhere. Has helped with general foot comfort. I was not battling blisters before.
I did have waterproof footwear for the start (2 seasons) of my hiking activities. Salomon xmid ultra. I used to get lots of hot spots and some minor blisters. It’s because my feet were getting too sweaty in those. God forbid you plunk a water crossing. Then your wet all day.
Anyway light weight mesh trail runners, good toe box width and frontal protection, mega grip soles, runners loop, toe socks or ultra light DTs and a sock change at the 10ish mile mark usually does me real solid now.
As a counterargument, I've been scrambling in all conditions, in Poland and various European alps, across summer and winter, in Arc'Teryx Norvan for 5 years and if i wasn't for the outer sole being worn out and me being too lazy to replace only that, they'd still be my main hiking shoe. I'm also lousy when it comes to pulling my feet high and hit rocks, roots and branches all the time. The reinforcements are placed exactly where they should be. Even the mesh part, of which I recall being worried about when buying those, survives thousands of thorns and branches trying to pull it apart.
With all honesty I could not be happier with a hiking shoe. I might purchase another pair this winter. In spring I've gotten Dachstein X-Trail as they have similar attributes to Arcteryx ones and I loved the design and fit. I can't vouch for their quality yet though, other than the fact that they look and feel very well made.
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GainerCity
