Merrell Moab Speed Thermo Mid WP Hiking Boots Review

Merrell’s Moab Speed Thermo Mid Waterproof Hiking Boots are 200g insulated waterproof winter boots with aggressively lugged Vibram soles which might be good for chilly climate and winter climbing. They have huge toe packing containers so your toes can splay out naturally and rock plates to guard your ft from beneath. But one of the best factor about these winter boots is that they require no break-in time and are wearable proper out of the field. These boots are a house run. I simply want Merrell would make it in a 400g model for colder climate.

Specs at a Glance

• Type: Mids
• Gender: males’s (girls’s additionally out there)
• Insulation: 200g Primaloft Gold Eco artificial insulation
• Outsole: Vibram IceTrek soles
• Waterproof: Yes
• Rock Plate: Yes
• Wide Sizes: No – Sorry
• Stack Height (heel/toe): 31-21mm
• Drop: 10.0mm
• Lug Depth: 6.0mm

Winter Boot Insulation

The Moab Speed Thermo Mid WP is a 200g insulated waterproof winter boot. What’s that imply? Most winter boots are insulated with 200g or 400g artificial insulation. That’s not a measure of the burden, however of the thickness of the insulation within the boots. A 200g boot will maintain your ft heat all the way down to 0-10 levels F, assuming you’re climbing vigorously and never standing round.

These boots are additionally waterproof with a membrane to forestall water from seeping by way of the leather-based and textile exterior. Merrell doesn’t declare that this membrane is breathable, which I’ve to offer them credit score for since most so-called waterproof/breathable boots aren’t breathable in any respect. Foot sweat will soak your socks whenever you go on lengthy hikes in winter; I’ve by no means owned a pair of waterproof/breathable winter climbing boots the place that wasn’t the case.

Construction

The Moab Speed Thermo Mid has a textile and leather-based higher with wonderful front-toe safety. The toe field is beefy sufficient to face as much as the elastomer harness of microspikes with out squeezing down on the toes and huge sufficient inside, that your toes can splay out naturally. You need quite a lot of room in a winter boot to facilitate blood move as a result of it’ll maintain your toes hotter.

The tongue is closely padded and lined in fleece for added consolation and heat. There is a gaiter ring on the base of the tongue to hook your gaiters too and the tongue is gusseted alongside the perimeters to forestall moisture from leaking inside. The high cuff can be fleece lined with a inflexible leather-based heel counter for stability and safety.

The midsole is a smooth springy foam that cushions the boot so it feels such as you’re carrying a pair of well-padded path runners. These boots even have a rock plate, which is a function normally discovered on path runners. A rock plate is normally a stiff piece of protecting materials, sort of like a defend, positioned beneath the entrance of the foot, that may blunt impacts from sharp pointed objects like rocks or the spikes of your microspikes.

Vibram IceTrek Outsoles

The Moab Speed Thermo Mid has Vibram IceTrek outsoles with actually beefy 6mm lugs.  These outsoles are surprisingly smooth and grippy. They’re made with a rubber compound designed for low to medium temperatures with multidirectional lugs which might be designed to offer traction when climbing throughout rock or snow-covered terrain.

Vibram IceTrek soles are engineered to offer additional grip and traction on icy surfaces, or that’s what Vibram’s advertising claims. I haven’t discovered that to be the case as a result of I slide round like no person’s enterprise once I hit icy patches in these boots, or every other boots for that matter  It’s a moot level anyway as a result of hikers put on microspikes or crampons after they want additional traction on icy terrain and the soles by no means contact the bottom.

But the smooth and grippy soles on these boots are nice for scrambling up and down rocky surfaces and supply traction that’s remarkably just like what you get with a path runner.

Recommendation

Merrell’s Moab Speed Thermo Waterproof Mids are 200g insulated winter boots that really feel rather a lot like path runners, with smooth grippy soles that present wonderful traction on rock or gravel. They have a big toebox with a beefy toe kick that gives wonderful consolation and toe safety. But better of all, you may put on them out of the field with none break-in interval. If you hike a lot of the 12 months carrying path runners however want a pair of winter climbing boots, I feel you’ll like these boots. T

Disclosure: The writer owns these sneakers.

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