hey guys Dan Pickar here with Eastmans' bowhunting journal and we're gonna take
a look at the Lowa Z-8S GTX
so this is a mid-weight hiker can be used for many
different applications from backcountry backpacking day hikes in town tactical
you name it this boot will do it now Lowa has been around for just about a
hundred years built in Europe designed in Europe and as you know any boot from
Europe is good quality if you look at the paneling and the stitching you'll
see every stitch is placed with precision
there's just nothing sloppy about this boot design or Lowa's in general so this
boot is constructed of leather and Cordura you can see the Cordura on the
top a lot of backpacks are made out of it it's very durable easy to waterproof
and it lasts a long time now this is the rough side out on this leather so it
makes it very breathable and it has the perforated panels to help it be even
more breathable so keep that in mind when you do treat your boots don't rub
wax or any sort of treatment and plug up these holes because that's a big part of
this system is to be really breathable the first thing I noticed is the fit
with Lowas I'm usually a nine and a half to ten and this seemed to be right at
nine and a half now when I test a boot I want to test it for comfort
lightweightness and just overall hiking and support you can see these have a
pretty stiff sole so they're gonna work just fine for any sort of backpack
application or backcountry hunt if I can get a blister that's what I want because
I want to see if this boot is going to give me a blister or not especially when
I first tested in it or preseason so the first thing I do is wear a cotton sock
now you might say well what are you wearing i cotton sock for when you're
hiking now cotton will hold moisture into your foot your feet will get more
soft and really vulnerable to blisters so that's why I like to wear cotton
because if a boot is going to give me blister it's gonna be with cotton socks
so I wear my cotton socks strap on a backpack and hike five miles now the
first thing I noticed is the support in these they have kind of a Rand system
around the side obviously it's not like a rubber rand like you'll see in a lot
of boots it's a nylon a thick nylon rubber and it kind of gives you that
support down low as well as the high-top laces all the way up to the top so
support is really really superior with this boot and easy to really cruise fast
on mountain trails with a backpack on so basically I went into the mountains I
hiked as fast as I could tried to get a sweat build up in this
boot I went fishing I did five miles that day and I gained about 1200 feet I
didn't have any problems I was I literally took him out of the box
strapped him on and went hiking when I got back to the truck I expected to take
the boot off and have a wet cotton sock because that's what you expect out of
cotton socks and I couldn't believe it I took my foot out and my feet were dry
now one of the big main features of this GTX boot is that it's breathable that's
what they tout with his boot have the climate control foot bed and the
perforated leather and the gore-tex liner it allows the water to escape out
of the boot but not let water come in and like I said I got back to the truck
and I took my foot out of these boots and my cotton socks were completely dry
it was actually kind of shocking really this upper lacing system is a closed
hook design so they see a lot of boots that have an open hook but this is
closed hook design so all your laces stay where they belong and it's easy to
loosen them there's no completely unlacing it with an open hook design
where you can just take the laces out but I found it pretty handy because all
you have to do is literally put your foot in there and tighten the laces up
there's no actually lacing up your boots I think we're just over three pounds for
the pair which is about right it's in the middle it's not heavy it's not light
but you don't when you're hiking with these you don't notice any sort of extra
weight on these they're right in the ballpark where they should be all right
guys that's the Lowa Z-8S GTX boot new offering from Lowa it's an all-around
multi-purpose boot great stability great breathability to me as a backcountry
hunter check these lower boots out and subscribe to our Youtube channel