User Review: Limmer Standard

Reviewed June 26, 2001 by Greg Girard

Rating: rated 5 of 5 stars
Materials: Full Grain Smooth-Out Leather
Use: Backpacking/Light Mountaineering
Break-in Period: 50 Miles
Weight: 4lb 12oz
Price Paid: $290

Hi Matthew,

This comment is a review written as a response to comments about Limmer delamination in a prior review.

I read your review of the Limmer boots. I've been in Limmer stds for years and have tried all different kinds of boots. For a number of reasons, I always end up back in my Limmers. I could go on and on about my affection for the materials, design, and fit, and they would echo the highest praise of others. I have purchased an additional pair of Limmers for future use in case my unusual (10.5 W) size is not available.

Limmer's are truly outstanding -- clearly best in class -- but they are not perfect. The lower hook laces bend if used for really rough terrain and/or technical climbing and mountaineering. The solution is simple: to have Limmer or the local shoe guy put D-Rings for the lower eight hooks.

Overall, I think I'm a Limmer fan for life - though more a result of having worn at least a dozen other brands than as a matter of blind allegiance. They just work better, look better, and feel better. They are a premium product that can relied upon to function perfectly for very long periods of time under very adverse condition. From a sheer technical/design perspective, they are in my opinion the most effective general-purpose backpacking/mountaineering boot available. From a planning perspective, when you choose Limmers as mountain footwear, then your footwear becomes one less issue to worry about.

And given recent surges in the prices of comparable boots, they are hardly more costly, thus making them a superb value for the money. And aside for all that, they are works of art that say something about the wearer in terms of being elegant and distinctive.

As far as your comments about delamination issues, I cannot say for sure, but it *seems* like yours were not in fact delaminating from your description. You did not mention the vibram sole physically falling off from the rubber midsole, but simply said:

"...my big gripe is that they began to delaminate after only... get this, 200 miles. The delamination occurred in the sandwhiches of leather and rubber below the welt."

In a Norwegian welted boot, those "sandwiches" are THROUGH-STICHTED together and do not rely on glue. The leather edges of virtually 100% of this type of boot in field use (particulary in the wet) will appear to "delaminate" when small cracks appear between the layers. I fretted about the years ago with several other boots until I studied boot construction a bit.

The rubber midsole is the layer used to attach the outer vibram sole using a lamination process. The vibram sole is "laminated" to the rubber midsole only. And the rubber midsole is THROUGH-STICHTED as part of that "sandwich" you described. Thus, for the vibram sole to fall off, they would have to delaminate from the rubber midsole, not from crack in the sandwich. The sandwich is really a sewn stack of layers that could only separate by physically cutting the welt stitching away between the layers with knife.

In 25 years of hiking, I've seen hundreds if not thousands of Limmer boots and never seen a single sole falling off or even looking like it was starting to. Perhaps your issue was more one of misunderstanding the construction of the boot, thereby leading you to believe that the minute fissures between the leather in the midsoles were in any way a problem. Prior to Limmers, I had 2 pairs of Fabiano Mountain boots. I purchased the second pair when the vibram sole worn down to nil on the first set rather than resole a beat up old boot (that I loved). They developed these cracks in the first 200 miles too. And I wore the soles off both pairs over years with never the slightest delamination of the other sole. My Habler/Kastinger Superlight and Galibier Superguide moutaineering boots all did the same thing and never delaminated at the outer sole.

In summary, what I believe you were seeing was inconsequential delamination of through-stiched midsoles, as is common to most every boot of this construction. This not a problem. On the other hand, maybe the soles were physically falling off, in which case you have a real legitimate gripe and I support you.

One more point....Limmer boots are not particularly heavy compared to similar models. Unless you have a size 18 foot, they do not weigh 3.5 pounds each. Size 9 of the Limmer standard weighs 4 lbs and 12oz. Go to the REI boot section on their web page and you will find that Limmers are within ounces of similar boots designed for backpacking and light mountaineering. For example, the Asolo 650 weighs 4 lbs and 3 ozs, and is full of light padding and and made of very mediocre suede leather. Asolo's are a good product, but they are not Limmers!

Save & Share

Where to Buy

Retailers: Do you sell the Limmer Standard? List your site here.

Similar Footwear

Compare
See how the Limmer Standard stacks up against the competition: read more footwear reviews or more about Limmer.

Contribute
Have you used a Limmer Standard or a similar product? Write a gear review.

Discuss
Still have questions? Answers? Opinions? Join the converstation in the Trailspace Forums.