User Review: Vasque Sundowner

Vasque Sundowner
Above: The current Sundowner, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed July 19, 2003 by Megan

Rating:
Materials: leather, w/ gor-tex liner
Use: field work, hiking
Break-in Period: 2 months or more
Price Paid: $75 at STP

For the first two month (despite a somewhat long-break in period) these boots were great. I was doing field work in the San Gabriel mountains after a huge fire followed by heavy rains (read very wet and muddy). Then they went with me to a rainy winter in central california. From there to the Mojave desert. I stayed dry and happy. I've been doing field work in North Carolina, during one of the wettest summers in history. Not only are my feet soaked after five minutes of walking through wet grass, the soles have separated from the boots. If I was treating them unusually roughly, I wouldn't be surprised, but I've only had them for 6 months. I clean them after use, and waterproof them regularly. I contacted Vasque about the problem and they told my to talk to STP. I have yet to contact them, but hopefully they will replace them. If it weren't for this, I would be very happy with the boots. This may just be a fluke, but that seems like somewhat shoddy craftmanship to me. Other people seem very happy, so I hope to straighten this out.