DannerMen's Mountain Light II Boot, Brown Full-grain Leather, 8 Narrow

Love it. One of my best shoe.

I wanted so badly to love these boots. I wear work boots everyday for work but I wanted a hiking boot for backpacking and hiking that would last a lifetime. I love the idea of the full leather construction, the Gore-Tex, the re-buildability, the vibram outsoles. They’re a good looking boot, they feel like they’ll last forever and they’re MADE IN THE USA!!!I have two beefs with these boots! First, The narrow toe box! That’s probably on me since I chose the width when I bought the boots. I wear steel-toe Keen boots everyday for work that have the PERFECT amount of space in the toe region but these were too cramped for me. I wore them for a while hoping they would stretch out but no luck.Second, the more legit reason, THE TONGUE!!! These boots have a folding tongue that folds over in three connected flaps under the laces. They didn’t lay flat the same way on both boots which was aesthically disappointing. Then after wearing them for any amount of time the thick portion of folded leather would dig into the top of my foot. The tighter the laces the worse the pain. I tried to endure hoping these things would mold to my feet. I wore them past the amazon return policy then they sat in my closet for over a year.Pulled them out last November for a trip to Seattle and finally realized these boots were not for me. I know what it’s like to break in a pair of boots but they’re not supposed to break you. Sold them on eBay for $190.

I wear these boots everyday for work and they aren't that comfortable for me. I've used them on several long hiking/backpacking trips and my feet always ended up raw. I think the plastic arch insert that comes with them caused much of my pain. I will be using some other type of boot inserts even though Danner doesn't suggest it. After wearing them for the first time I noticed the leather gets scuffed very easily. My boots are supposed to look good and be polished for my job, it makes it hard when I have to tip toe around to ensure I don't scuff them.

Quality is superb, i think my son will wear this boot after me. One cons is bed laces, very short live period, and wear out quickly. Another cons is strange sizing. EE wide is ok in width but to high, for very fat feet, ankle support is bad in EE, and ok in D. D is a little bit narrow. I wear 9 W in Timberland, 9D in Broken Homme, 8,5 in wolverine 1000 mile, 9D in eastland made in Maine, 9,5D in quoddy, 9,5D in sperry top siders. I purchase two different sizes in different times(9,5 EE, 9D) and 9d fits me ok, especially with wool socks, but with normal dress socks its fit good too, not so snug and not so narrow. I also purchase danner light II boots in 9EE for winter, and they is bigger than this one, they fit 0,5 size big in length.Im a little bit disappointed with quality of my 9D, it is like factory seconds with many goldbrown painting defects, but amazon send me another pair, and now i waiting it. First purchased pair 9,5EE was pretty good, with no defects.

Had these for about a month. Price was better than anywhere else I looked.Break-in was fairly easy and short (x2 all-day wears). Leather is high-quality. Gore-Tex liner serves well (if a bit warm). Boots come with a footbed (heel and arch only) which worked out for me. I usually use superfeet, but these crowded the toebox a bit too much, so the ones they came with are working really well.Tread is good, soft but not wearing too quickly.Laces fray quickly at hook points, so I advise picking up an extra pair.