Inov8 and Timberland Delerion Shoes

[Craig Shelley]

The Delerion shoe performed even better than the TechAmphibian Pro water shoe and better than any other shoe tested.

Timberland Delerion 14.6% Weight Gain
Salomon TechAmphibian Pro 15.6% Weight Gain
Inov8 Flyroc 18.7% Weight Gain
North Face Ultra 102 23.5% Weight Gain

Conditions:
Temp 70 degrees F
Humidity 20%
Wind 4 MPH
Partly Cloudy
Smartwool RBX Ultra Light Socks
1 minute submersion with shoes on feet
Kept pant legs dry (so they wouldn’t drip on shoes)
About 10 minute walk (no running) for each pair. 2/3 mile according to GPS
Walked on sidewalks so shoes wouldn’t have dirt cling to them and interfere with measurements

[Andrew Browne]

Thank you and well done Craig, your results posted in less than the week you thought it would take!!
I’m keen to purchase the Delerion Low Pros
One question you could answer for me please. The Tevas have a very open mesh upper. In SW Tasmania where my next walk is planned it is very very muddy. An open mesh as per the Tevas would allow the ingress of this fine mud. The Timberland Delerions are not available in Australia..so I cannot view them prior to purchase… will their upper inhibit or stop the inflow of fine mud or are they an open mesh like the Tevas?
Again many thanks for your test results..greatly appreciated.

[Craig Shelley]

Andrew, on Monday I hiked about 17 miles with the Delerions with a full backpack (About 20 lbs, desert hiking, refilled water with purifier but carrying about 1 gal at start because of dry conditions). About 12 miles of this hike was off trail. The remaining five on abandoned jeep roads and a short section of trail.

The TechAmphibian Pros have a mesh that let in lots of dirt. Even my North Face Ultra 102s under similar conditions, my feet would have looked pretty dirty after so much hiking without a trail. With the Delerions and the gaiters that come with them my feet were much cleaner! My feet also keep much drier than with other shoes, like the North Face Ultra.

There is a mesh on the Delerion but the “holes” are so fine that I didn’t pick up any cheat grass in these panels. I was shocked. It normally clings to and penetrates the various lightweight shoes I use with ease.

Tomorrow I’ll be going on an 11 mile hike in the desert near here. I will collect dirt, sand, and the bentonite clay that is common in the desert in this area. I will then experiment with trying to push these substances through the Delerion wall, using dry and wet soil. It probably won’t be the same as the test you would like, but it should be informative.

Another comment: After returning from the 17 mile hike I normally take my trail running shoes off in the bathtub, dump out the sand and dirt, and knock the shoes against the side of the bathtub to “clean” them. The Delerion’s left almost nothing in the bathtub. The North Face Ultras practically creates a sand/dust pile in my bathtub.

There is no doubt that at least for me, the Timberland Delerion, is now my favorite shoe for the broadest variety of trail conditions.

I’ll report back on the mud, dirt, sand, test on the shoe wall within a week if at all possible.

Craig

[Craig Shelley]

By the way, I decided it was important to do the water test reported above on the same day and at the same time as far as possible so the same humidty, temperature, etc would be used.

I used the Delerions first, Inov8 next, TechAmphibians third, and North Face Ultra last. The temperatures would have warmed during this time period and therefore if any shoe was at a disadvantage, the Delerions were tested at the lowest temperature – they did not have an advantage.

[Craig Shelley]

I haven’t been able to do the mud/dirt/sand test yet because I’ve been too busy hiking and didn’t want to mess up the shoes I was wearing.

I used the Timberland Delerion’s on many hikes recently. I have two negatives to report. First, I’ve used the gaiters on all hikes. One of the gaiters is already becoming unstitched from the bar that connects it to the shoe. I’ve hiked about 57 miles in them recently and less than 100 miles since buying them.

The bar that holds the gaiter on stiffens the shoe and despite saying that this didn’t bother me, after hiking day after day with these shoes, it definitely does bother my right ankle area. In fact my foot bothered me enough that I just returned from an overnight Colorado river canoeing/hiking trip that they would have been perfect for. Since weight wasn’t an issue, I chose to take the Tech Amphibian Pros and Inov8 Flyrocs rather than just one pair of Delerions.

[Craig Shelley]

Sorry about the slow test results. I’ve been too busy with trips.

I collected three samples of dust/sand from three widely different areas in the Black Ridge Wilderness near where I live.

I pushed and rubbed with my thumb on the outside of the shoe each of the dry samples. An extremely fine dust came through the shoe side where the mesh is open. Not much came through though. In contrast, the dirt just poors through something like the Tech Amphibian shoes.

Next I mixed a sample with water and rubbed it again. I was able to get a small amount of fine mud through the shoe with substanstial rubbing.

Overall, the Delerion held up very well to this test. The mesh in the Delerion is very fine, but not fine enough to stop all penetration when I rubbed the fine dirt/sand into the shoe side.

Craig

[Craig Shelley]

I saw a good sale on Teva X-1s and couldn’t resist. They are exceptionally light as the table below shows. As stated before, the weights are for a pair. All sizes are for a men’s shoe. If readers are interested, I will do some of the tests previously performed and post them here.

580g Teva X-1 10.5

661g Salomon Pro TechAmphibian 10.5
745g Inov8 Flyroc 10.5
760g Timberland Delerion Size 10.5
766g Salomon XA Comp Size 11
802g North Face Ultra 102 Size 11
884g Salomon XA Comp XCR Size 11

[Andrew Browne]

Hi Craig
Firsly how many treking shoes do you have? Looking for interest in the Teva x-1, an excuse to buy another set?
I received my Delerion Low Pro’s last week,via gentleman Ron at http://www.mountainlaurel.com because Timberland, and Zappos, and other US outlets wouldn’t ship them internationally and because Timberland’s Australian distributor decided to only import the GTX lined variety. Thanks to Ron at Mountain Laurel.
I purchased them with a view to using them on my upcoming Xmas 2005 trek in SW Tasmania (Australia) on the Port Davey and South Coast tracks…140km of well defined track but many creek crossings and heaps of mud…knee deep for me as I’m tall…thigh deep for others. The ethic here is that you must stay on the track and not deviate to it’s edges causing the bog/mud holes to become wider & wider & wider..otherwise it keeps going wider & wider & wider…..
My current shoe is the Merrel Mesa Ventilator 11…much heavier than the Delerion.
Am time poor at present will get back with my thughts/experiences’s on the low pro within the next week

[Craig Shelley]

I have too many shoes. The ones I’ve listed the weight for are mainly the shoes I’ve used over the past year. However, shoes are a key component of hiking gear and I can afford to try different stuff.

There was a separate posting on the X-1. This is my response to it.

I’m going to use the Teva X-1s this week on short hikes and maybe an overnight backpack.

The Flyrocs and Delerions flex very well. X-1s are very stiff, much like the Salomon TechAmp Pros. Also, the Flyrocs have a very agressive tread compared with the X-1s. Without doing anything more than examining the X-1s, I believe they are strong competition to the TechAmp Pros and I would choose the Flyrocs over the X-1s for most hikes/backpacks. If you can purchase just one pair for the broadest range of conditions, the Flyrocs are definitely my choice right now.

[Tom Holbrook]

I have found a great place to pick up Inov8 shoes. It is Running warehouse, near San Luis Obispo, Ca. I live in the area, and use their sister store tennis warehouse.

http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-I8FROCS.html

they are listed at $79.95… seems to be a great price.

Z.

[Author]

Posts