Kahtoola MICROspikes Footwear Traction for Winter Trail Hiking & Ice Mountaineering

Love these spikes! This is my second set in the past 18 months because I wore down the first set from extensive mountain climbing in the snow, ice, and rocks here in Colorado. I almost certainly could have had the first pair last significantly longer but a lot of my climbs involve scree and boulder hopping intermixed with ice so its sometimes too much of a bother to keep taking them off and putting them on again as the trail wraps through shady icy areas and then back over rocks. Wish they would include an extra link for a repair. If this is worrying you about durability, I should point out I climbed over 40 mountain peaks with this first set, and it included a lot of boulder hopping and scree, which is tough of spikes.Was told they run slightly small so I selected XLG for my first pair of spikes for my size 12 hiking boots. Fit was good but a hair looser than ideal, albeit very easy to put on and take off. Second round I bought LG and they also fit okay but it takes a lot more effort to put them on so next pair I'll go back to XLG. By the way, I bought some cheap, back-up, spikes on Amazon for 1/3 rd of the price of these and the difference in quality is startling. I don't dare use those in the mountains. in fact, I keep the knock-offs for shoveling my driveway when its icy and my Kahtoola spikes for when life and limb are at real risk.

It's getting towards the end of the season, so I figure I'd give a review. Wore them all winter on popular local trails and never had a single fall (at least due to slipping). They work really well for gripping on ice and packed snow. The rubber part seems a bit too snug when you initially get them, but it loosens up a bit after a few hours of wear so that they are easier to get on and off while still remaining firmly attached to your boots. The size guide on the Kahtoola website was accurate for me. Didn't notice any defects and have worn them for maybe 50 hours total. Would recommend.

Do you live in an area where you get tons of snow and ice and need to just make it out to clear the driveway without breaking your neck? Does it snow once a year and you want to hit the trail so you can have an amazing hiking/backpacking experience in the snow? This is one of those purchases where you don’t want to go cheap. There will be times you are pounding pavement and rock under that snow and ice, so you need quality gear that will hold up. This is a solid brand with quality material and design. Size chart is on point. Easy to take on and off. Will say for backpacking they are a little heavier than I had hoped, but the weight is worth the quality. Be safe out there!

Each winter my sloping driveway will develop an icy surface on occasion. One time, just wearing boots,I took a header. Luckily my head was harder than the ice-coated driveway. Time to buy spikes.I've been using these MicroSpikes for 6-years now. The first set lasted three or four seasons before the points wore-down. The earlier version had a much thicker (robust) silicone strapping than the new ones.The thinner silicone has held-up fine, regardless, for two seasons now. So all is well.

Bought these to manage local packed down, icy hiking trails.Received my package a few days ago and fit them on my hiking boots. Fit was snug, but only took a few minutes to fit correctly.Tried these out today for the first time and they worked fantastically. Without them I'd have otherwise been picking my way along the trail, hopping from side to side at some points, trying to avoid the slick ice. And one short paved stretch that had been visited by a large snowblower several days ago was covered with sheet ice - these spikes handled everything perfectly. No slipping, no sliding, no concerns about taking an unnecessary spill. Now Kahtoola just needs to invent a version that includes retractable snowshoes for those stretches of trail that are still covered with powder and they'll have the perfect product!

Below is the response from Kahtoola after writing them about my concerns about what appeared to me to be poor craftsmanship. I will have an open mind on this product after this very nice response."Hi Randy,I would like to thank you for taking time out of your day to express your concerns about the updated MICROspikes. Here at Kahtoola we strive to continue to produce the best products on the market, and thoroughly stand behind our products. I know it was a bit of a change from previous models of MICROspikes to the current version but I can absolutely tell you it wasn't a change for profit nor do we feel like we've put out a lesser quality product - rather quite the opposite. In previous models, we had to make the elastomer band thick to retain eyelet durability. Despite that, we still received MICROspikes back with failed or torn eyelets. At that time our failure rate was still well below one percent, which is great and far beyond the industry standard but we knew we wanted to somehow prevent future eyelet failures. What we were able to do for the current model was integrate a TPU reinforcement disc into each eyelet. (I can't include an image in this email from the back end of our website to show you but if you respond, I can respond from my email address and I can copy it on there.) And with the eyelet reinforcement, we didn't need to have the incredibly bulky elastomer so we were able to rework the TPE elastomer band to where it just as durable as the old band, just with less weight and significantly less bulk. The chains on the spikes are now welded whereas before they were just twisted into position. The former metal toe bale up front is now an integrated TPU piece in the band as well. Our stretch tests on our elastomers go several hundred percent beyond static before breaking from overstretch. The chain length prevent that stretch from ever occurring. The toe bales previously were bending, breaking, or being caught out on the trail so streamlining that portion of the MICROspikes was also a necessary change, in our minds. This new model of MICROspikes was in R&D for several years before we decided to more forward with it. As a business, it generally doesn't make much sense to change a good selling product, especially when you're as small as we are here. But we saw areas that we needed to improve and enhance in our product to keep it functioning above all others. Here at Kahtoola, I'm our shipping and logistics manager as well as overseeing all warranties. I can tell you that we've seen a VERY significant decrease in warranty claims from last season with the new model. Any and all products can fail and we understand that. Imperfections happen in production runs during the injection molding process and that's why we have a 2 year warranty covering defects in materials and workmanship. Even outside the warranty time frame we do what we can to get of customers taken care of. Our customer speaks for itself and we always do what we can to take care of our customers. I would like for you to try out your MICROspikes with an open mind and see how they perform. This is my second season with this model (I helped test this model last season for fit and sizing) and I love them even more than my first pair. When I have time, I do a lot of winter time backpacking in the Grand Canyon and up in Zion where you can't safely hike without footwear traction. I fully understand how in this world, the vast majority of companies out there are solely trying to cheapen products to increase their gross revenue. I'm a consumer myself and I see it far too often so generally when you see a change like this, it's for the worse. However, we're not one of those companies because if Kahtoola was, I wouldn't be an employee. I'm certainly available by phone if you would like to chat. Again, thanks for your concern as definitely feel free to let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.Best wishes,Stew NeibertShipping and LogisticsI have owned a pair of these previously and loved them. These now appear to be cheaply made (thinner rubber) and I do not expect them to last very long. (takeing them on and off will probably result in rubber failure; I may have to install these on a pair of shoes and leave them on instead of taking them on and off different pairs of shoes if I want longevity). I am disappointed in the craftsmanship of this item compared to my older version and will more than likely search for an alternate brand when these fail (rubber breaks). See picture. The newer version is a couple of MM smaller in thickness.