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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Gear Forum :: Chota Hybrid High Top Reviews?
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| KarlBAndersen1 |
I am totally satisfied. In the environments we often find ourselves in the B'dub, no equipment is going to work perfectly for every situation or every person. I have worn many different types of foot wear over the years and these beat everything I have used up to this point. I am glad I got them. (I had no issue with the "slipping" of the insoles mentioned above, and I actually like the laces. I wear wool socks with really think silk liners for friction reduction.) |
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| EddyTurn |
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| unshavenman |
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| mpeebles |
Yeah, I tried the hippie without the insole and it was really tight and uncomfortable . In my 20/20 hindsight I would have bought the boot in the next larger size and put a little thicker after market insole in it. Safe travels.......Mike |
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| Exo |
I have to say I was disappointed. Yes, they drain fast and are synthetic uppers. But the tread and tread material was terrible even in dry conditions. Lots of slips and the shoe is fairly large inside causing your foot to not be absolutely secure. These are not Vibram soles of a quality hiker. The two insoles slip loose from under your foot and work their way up your ankle. Portage or no portage, they slide loose on you. I ditched the elastic cord prior to the trip in favor of some hiking boot laces which made things a little more secure. The upside is I'm sure they work well with hippies or neoprene boots if you want to try to keep your feet dry. There is lots of room in the toe area. The boot seems better suited for use with waders down a trout stream. Not BWCA/Quetico portaging. |
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| Birdknowsbest |
campnfish: "They look more like a hiking boot then a wader, does the instep seem high or aggressive on them?" It doesnt seem anymore more high than a regular hiking boot. They feel a lot like a regular hiking boot but are much lighter. The lacing system is different but once you get used to it, I think it is faster than lacing up normal boots. They also have 2 removable liners to allow for better sizing and to allow more room for wading socks that are used with Chota Hippies. |
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| KarlBAndersen1 |
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| portagedog09 |
Unfortunately, when it came to durability, they let me down fantastically too. I questioned the Chota guy at 'Copia about the side mesh and he claimed they tested them out thoroughly in scree fields and held up fine. In less than 30 trail days in Quetico, I wore holes in the mesh sides on that Canadian shield granite. Another failure was the rubber sole that wraps up on the toe started pulling away. The real issue was the stitching. On both boots, the stitching at the instep at the inside bottom of the piece framing the lacing/tongue opening was pulling out/failing. This is not even in a high wear spot. After the first trip, I contacted Chota and sent them some pics. Great customer service. They said this was something they'd not seen and were happy to replace them and asked me to send mine back so they could check them out. Unfortunately, they were out of my size (10) and would not be in stock before my second summer trip. I was able to 'stitch' the failing threads back together with some nylon thread, but it was a bear going through the material back out from the inside, even trying to use the factory holes. It worked and they held up for the second trip, but at considerable additional wear/tear. To Chota's credit, as soon as they were restocked, I got the new pair. Unfortunately the first trip of 2019 was repeat performance, so I've called it quits with the Hybrid. For the price of the boots, I expect you should get 4-5 seasons out of them without having to call customer service, even if they will replace them. The Replacement. I have the Astral Rassler and used it for Quetico and really like that shoe. However, it has a relatively thin sole, flat tread and low cut. The GSS rubber sole grips like a gecko and they held up very well to the terrain, but they are just not fortified to be a good Quetico/BW shoe. (they do make for a great/lightweight camp shoe) Enter the Astral TR1 Merge. I used these in 2020 on two 12 day trips and really like them. They are super light quick dry canvas, fit true to size, have a good insole, drain well, dry quickly, have an aggressive tread, a higher ankle cuff, a thick sole with a top shank and standard boot lacing. These ended up being lighter than the Hybrid and stood up to more abuse. They are $10 more than the Chotas, but I feel like they are going to last that 4-5 seasons I expect to get out of them. Check out the TR1 Merge. It's definitely a good option and in my experience, the more durable shoe and a better value. |
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| deerfoot |
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| dogwoodgirl |
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| MidwestFirecraft |
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| boonie |
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| andym |
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| portagedog09 |
The TR1 Merge does have a grippy rubber compound Astral calls G1.5 and it is listed in their Trail shoes - the Rassler is under Water shoes (that should tell you something). It won't let you walk up that same wall, as it is lugged aggressively, but it grips rough terrain much better. Think of it as comparing a drag slick tire to an off-road tire. Both excel in their intended environment - the TR1 is just more appropriate in BW/Quetico's environment. A few additional notes. Both shoes have toe drain holes, which is awesome getting into a canoe where you pick your feet up, toe down - keeping more water out of the canoe. I also noted when checking the website that the soles on both shoes have been updated since I got mine - probably as of this season. It looks like just a few tweaks and not a major re-do. |
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| Wick |
andym: "Are they fully synthetic uppers? I couldn’t quite tell from the pics if some panels might be leather. I’ll be hoping for some comments after canoecopia. If they really don’t absorb water that would be nice." the ad says,,,, "The synthetic uppers won’t hold water keeping the boots feeling light even on the long days" |
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| Wick |
They told me the trekkers and the caney forks fit wide feet. Since the trekkers are made for Piragis only,,and I will not be going to Minnesota for shoes, i guess i will try on some of the caney forks,,although he admitted they do not drain as fast as the new hybrids. |
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| Wayouttroy |
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| tombo131 |
Was looking for a new pair of portaging boots for my wife, and came across the Chota Hybrid boots. They look like they would have even better drainage than the popular Quetico Trekkers. Anyone try these yet? Chota Hybrids Thanks, Tom |
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| Birdknowsbest |
As for sizing. I wear a 12 boot and the guy said to buy a size 12 bc there are 2 inserts you can remove for more room. He said it would fit my sock from my hippies no problem. |
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| pswith5 |
Wick: "I talked to Chota 3 minutes ago. The hybrids are the fastest draining shoes they have. The bad part for me,,they are very narrow shoes, running true to a D width. I wear EE at least. Yeah, I can say they don't run real wide. I tried them on and they were a little disappointing. Looked like a great shoe, |
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| Jackfish |
Before we went to checkout, I took them back to the Chota booth and didn't buy them. I'm not looking for super heavyweight boots, but I just thought these were a little too light for my liking. The search goes on. |
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| tombo131 |
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| old_salt |
Too bad Jackfish got cold feet. |
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| Birdknowsbest |
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| campnfish |
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| yknpdlr |
Trekkers are no longer available, so I looked at the Chota hybrids. it seems like with so many other items, it has been a busy summer, as no vendor, not even at Chota, have any of the larger sizes in stock. Since I have another work trip coming up in October, I may be forced to look for another boot manufacturer, maybe something that LLBean has available. |
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| Jackfish |
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| KarlBAndersen1 |
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| Wick |
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| tombo131 |
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| TomT |
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| mpeebles |
Some minuses.... The inserts do move around and tend to bunch up. I just took them out although I'm considering lightly gluing them in or I think I could get away with an after market insert. The soles are not real good on slippery rocks. I'm debating whether or not to glue some felt on the soles. Some pluses...... Easy on/off. I use the provided elastic strings as I'm OK with the way they tighten up. Good drainage and they dry fairly fast. Good ankle protection. Soles are aggressive enough that you don't "feel" every rock you step on. Nice and light. Notes: We also do some hiking while on canoe trips and these boots work good for that as well. I wear smart wool socks with mine and they fit well. I bought a pair of Chota hippies this year and the boot is too tight. I would have to buy a larger size boot to accommodate the hippies which I'll do at Canoecopia next March. Safe travels.......Mike |
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| TipsyPaddler |
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| Paochow |
The only thing I didn’t like were the inserts- they bunched up on my first trip and I ended up swapping them with Polysorb inserts. |