NORTIV 8 Men’s Low Top Waterproof Hiking Shoes Armadillo Series

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The NORTIV 8 Men’s Low Top Waterproof Hiking Shoes from their Armadillo Series are incredibly versatile, waterproof, with a great padding, and a price that is hard to match.

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Key features & benefits

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What this is about

These Nortiv 8 Armadillo Series Men’s Water-Resistant Hiking Shoes have been on the market for at least 5 years already. This has resulted in thousands of reports on Amazon and they are generally very positive, so the overall rating is also very high.

In other words, all is known about these shoes, so there can be no surprises when you buy such a product that has been tried and tested by many people.

This also means that there is not much new that I can add myself. Nevertheless, I own these shoes and I shall present them from my own perspective. 

Materials and construction

The shoes are low-cut or low-top, which means there is no ankle support as expected from shoes. This is a very elegant design. They use synthetic in the construction, so the body is with a fabric and overlays, but the profile is very smooth, and it simply looks great.

The picture below shows the details mentioned above, so you realize that the overlays are thin and low profile. You can also see the lacing system that includes four pairs of eyelets, and one pair of hooks on the top, so this adds to functionality and comfort.

By this I mean the following. When you are on a steep uphill motion, you can skip the hooks and tie laces at the last eyelets. This may allow for a better ankle movement on an uphill walk, and it may reduce pressure on the top of the foot from the tongue and lacing system.

But on descent, the hook are useful to additionally stabilize the foot in the shoe, and to prevent its forward sliding that can develop blisters and also cause pain under the toe nails.

Note that they provide also one extra pair of laces, so this is something one must appreciate. I have never had this with any of my shoes and boots in the past, and those were 3-4 times more expensive.

Additional protection is added on the front and on the heels, some sort of rubber that protects these exposed areas from sharp objects. You can see this in the picture above.

You have a gusseted tongue, see the picture below, so the shafts are deep and you can step quite deep in the water without leaks. This is useful if you have to cross some streams and puddles.

Note that these are not my first pair of footwear from the brand, you can see my Nortiv 8 mid-cut boots that I also own. I mentioned them on purpose because the materials used in the construction of both of them is the same. It is just about the difference in the collar height.

When I put these shoes on for the first time, I immediately noticed how soft and pleasant the removable insole was. Also the padding is very generous and I could compare it with my Merrel Moab shoes where there is far less padding.

My testing

I wish to stress that this is a preliminary review, I shall add more later. So far I have performed my usual tests that include wet test (literally putting the shoes in the water), and easy walks around the area where I live.

The shoes were kept in the water for several minutes, see the picture, and they were completely dry inside. So I can confirm that they passed this initial test and they are indeed fully waterproof.

Out-of-box comfort

After walking around 25 kilometers in total, on several shorter walks, I can say that these shoes do not really need any break-in time assuming that you start using them carefully.

This means thick socks of course. In fact, in my hiking and mountaineering tours, I always add a pair of thin socks underneath as well, so friction is mainly between the socks. This reduces chances for blisters, and this is what I did with them in the process of testing.

Who are these Armadillo Series Nortiv 8 shoes for

Regarding the best use, I myself shall use them for daily life, I live in an area with lots of rain and I need such shoes year-round. I also plan to take them with me to the mountains to use as approach shoes on tours where I need heavy mountaineering boots.

But these nicely padded shoes can be used for hiking, hunting, and also for general outdoor works. 

The heels are moderately prominent, around half a centimeters or so in the arch areas as you can see in the picture below. This adds to comfort, and also to traction and stability on wet and muddy terrain and on gravel.

Regarding the size, I would describe them as true to the size yet slightly wide. But if you go to Amazon, you will see totally opposite statements (as usual). So some people claim the fit is snug, while some other claim they run wide.

Clearly, we are all differently built, and this is why you see such statements. It is best to try them yourself, only then you will know for sure. 

Regarding the weight, the shoes are a bit on the heavy side. I could realize this when I compared them with my mentioned Merrel Moab shoes.

I already mentioned massive padding so this is one of the reason for the weight. There is also that wide midsole, you have seen it in one of the pictures above. But see also the outsole in the picture:

Regarding the price, I can not stress enough how incredible the price is. But you can easily realize this if you go to Amazon and compare with some big names in this industry, which you will have to pay several times more, and this without reason.

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Final thoughts & rating

Below you can see how I rate these shoes against my usual rating criteria, so that you can easily compare them with other product of this type presented here in the site:

 

BEST PLACEs TO BUY

Nortiv8

Amazon

Walmart

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