LOWA Men's Baltoro Hiking Boots

Lowa Quality???
May 22, 2012

I purchased these boots because I had heard great things about Lowa and wanted a mid-weight trekking boot. Upon receiving the boots, I took the right boot out of the box and tried it on. My first thought was that these were great boots. Upon taking the left boot out of the box, I noticed that where the sole comes up over the rand on the toe it had not been glued properly and there was a gap which looked like it would separate further upon use. I took a picture and sent it to Christopher at Lowa customer service. His response was not to worry about it and put some "shoe goo" on it if it was bothering me! I don't believe anyone would want to spend this much on new boots and have to put show goo on them. After my disappointing response from Lowa I decided to return the boots to Altrec, who was great about the whole thing by the way. As I was on the phone with Altrec processing my return, I was looking closer at the boots and noticed that the eyelets on the left boot were not properly installed either. The spacing was not consistent so it made the laces crooked. At that point I wondered if Lowa had any "quality control" procedures in place. I appreciate German quality and have had many great products from Germany, Deuter packs to name one. However, I will never purchase anything from Lowa again. They seem to have great designs and technologies incorporated into their boots but if they are not properly manufactured those things mean nothing!

Excellent boot
May 11, 2012

Lowa makes high quality boots and this is no exception. The baltoro can be used for rugged hiking and light backpacking. The boot has a medium flex. The fit is normal through the heel, but a little wider than normal through the forefoot and toebox. The quality is outstanding. The leather used on the boot is high quality. The leather lining is unique among all the goretex boots these days, but it really holds the foot securely. The boot is not waterproof, but with proper treatment it will be near waterproof due to the one piece construction. It will also breath much better than goretex boots, and therefore keep your feet drier if you tend to sweat alot. You can't go wrong with the baltoro (or any other Lowa boots) if they fit your feet.