I'm on my 7th pair of Terraventures and they consistently last me 700 miles and I generally retire them due to a hole in the side. I don't think I've ever experienced more than an inch tear though. To be honest I don't take anyone who refers to things as bombproof seriously.
I had 5 pairs of the 3s and then 2 pairs of the 4s. I just get the current model, but I went through 4 pairs on the PCT and Topo hasn't been updating them yearly.
This is my experience with Topo as well. I have tried the Terraventure 3, Ultraventure 4, and MTN Racer 2. The Terraventure held up the best but are a very low cushion shoe compared to the others. But the others both fell apart too quickly.
Hiking shoes will not be BIFL but as the old saying goes, spend good money on anything that goes between you and the ground.
I just bought my second pair of Topo Athletics after putting on IDK how many hundreds of miles over three years on my Terraventure 3's. The only reason I replaced them was that the sole was starting to lose its grippiness and I wanted a model with a little more cushion, so I got the UltraVenture 4.
I would give the Topos a try. I've had two pairs of Trailventure 2 (and several pairs of Altras) and have found them to be similar in width to Altras. I think Altra are slightly longer in length especially the Lone Peaks. As mentioned previously by other posters - you really need to try them on. In my experience the Topos are a bit more rigid than the Altras, which I find more reassuring in use. As with all hiking gear decisions, it depends on what fits you best and what makes you feel good on the trail!
Any_Trail
