Trail Gear Picks
Buying guide

The Best Hiking Boots

Six waterproof mid boots for day hikes and nights out, from $110 to $280, with the widths each one comes in and what buyers said about the size they ordered.

By Alex HartDay trails mostly, a few nights out a year, mountains when the time allows.
Updated Sep 2026·30 compared·Update log

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Feet spread as the day goes on. That is why a boot can pass every check in the shop and still put a hot spot on the joint at the base of the little toe by mid afternoon, and why the number printed on the box matters less than the shape of the last underneath it.

We looked at 30 mid-height waterproof boots and kept six, each one for a different foot, a different load or a different budget. The Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX is where to start if you do not yet know which problem is yours. If your forefoot needs more room than any wide has ever given you, go to the KEEN Targhee IV Mid Waterproof. If $120 is the ceiling, the Columbia Newton Ridge Plus II Waterproof gets you a named membrane and a wide size for it.

Our picks

Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX
Our pick
Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX

The Moab shape almost everyone has tried, in the version whose membrane has a name, and the one boot here that more buyers call wide than narrow.

Check price on Amazon$186.85 as of 9:46 AM ET
KEEN Targhee IV Mid Waterproof
Also great
KEEN Targhee IV Mid Waterproof

KEEN's roomiest last, over a sole bonded to the upper without glue and guaranteed against the two parting company.

Check price on Amazon$178.85 as of 9:46 AM ET
Columbia Newton Ridge Plus II Waterproof
Budget pick
Columbia Newton Ridge Plus II Waterproof

The lightest boot in this guide, the only one under $120, and the one with 1,383 owner reviews behind it.

Check price on Amazon$110.00 as of 9:46 AM ET
LOWA Renegade EVO GTX Mid
Upgrade pick
LOWA Renegade EVO GTX Mid

The only boot here sold on three separate lasts, and the only one its maker will resole rather than replace.

Check price on Amazon$279.95 as of 9:46 AM ET

At a glance

Product names go to Amazon. Rank numbers jump to the full write-up.

BootBest forWeight per shoeUpperWidthsAbout
1Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEXBest overall17.3 ozPigskin leather and meshMedium and wide$190
2KEEN Targhee IV Mid WaterproofWide forefeet20.1 ozNubuck leatherMedium and wide$180
3Columbia Newton Ridge Plus II WaterproofBest under $12015.9 ozCoated leather, suede and meshMedium and wide$110
4Oboz Bridger Mid WaterproofArch support out of the box19 ozNubuck and textileRegular and wide$220
5Salomon Quest 5 GTXMulti-day loads21 ozLeather and syntheticOne width$240
6LOWA Renegade EVO GTX MidWhen medium has never fit20.8 ozTerracare nubuck leatherNarrow, medium and wide$280

The boots, ranked

1Best overall
Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX

Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX

The Moab shape almost everyone has tried, in the version whose membrane has a name, and the one boot here that more buyers call wide than narrow.

$186.85
Price as of 9:46 AM ET
Check price on Amazon
490 g per shoe, as Merrell lists it11.5 mm drop5 mm lugsGore-Tex named on the page
+Read the full write-up

Why we picked it

The half pair weighs 490 g by Merrell's own figure, on 5 mm lugs and an 11.5 mm drop, with pigskin leather over mesh and a Vibram TC5+ sole underneath. None of that is remarkable, and that is the argument for it: no feature here is extreme enough to rule anybody out.

What separates it is the fit record. Among buyers who answered the width question, 15 called it true, four called it wider than marked and two called it narrow. Of the boots here with a width survey behind them, this is the only one where more people found room to spare than found it tight.

Who it is for

A first serious pair, and anyone whose last boots pinched somewhere they never quite located. Maintained trail, day walks, and overnights light enough that you are not leaning on the boot for support.

What owners report

Room across the front is the theme that recurs most in the favorable reviews, often from buyers who tried other brands and sent them back. The size survey agrees with the reputation: 17 of the 23 who answered found it true to the number on the box.

The complaints belong to the Moab family rather than to this version alone, and two of them recur. The rubber toe cap lifts away from the upper, in one case within three months on a second pair. And the collar presses across the top of the foot, which the same owner blames for leaving no room to slip an orthotic underneath.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

  • Three buyers out of 23 needed a full size up, so this is not a boot to order without a return label.
  • The toe cap lifting off the upper turns up across the Moab 3 range.
  • Merrell sells a boot that looks identical for $20 less, and it is not the same boot. See The competition.

Fit and sizing

Take your usual size. Merrell charges the same $195 for the wide, so there is no reason to squeeze into a regular out of habit. If even a wide has come up short before, the KEEN Targhee IV Mid Waterproof sits on a broader last again.

2
KEEN Targhee IV Mid Waterproof
Wide forefeet

KEEN Targhee IV Mid Waterproof

KEEN's roomiest last, over a sole bonded to the upper without glue and guaranteed against the two parting company.

$178.85
Price as of 9:46 AM ET
See it on Amazon
20.11 oz / 570 g, as listed12 mm heel to toe drop28 mm stack heightKEEN.FUSION bonded construction
+Read the full write-up

Why we picked it

KEEN publishes 20.11 oz per shoe, a 28 mm stack and a 12 mm drop. The weight goes into the construction. KEEN.FUSION bonds the upper to the sole without glue or solvents, and KEEN puts a guarantee behind it against the two separating. The same page says the KEEN.RUGGED outsole is twice as abrasion resistant as rubber, and that the air injected Luftcell midsole resists packing down flat over time.

The last is the other reason to look. KEEN calls it Original Fit and gives it deliberate room across the toes, which is what the owner reports below keep returning to.

Who it is for

Feet that are wide at the toes and ordinary at the heel, and anyone who has worn a pair out at the sole seam rather than at the leather.

What owners report

The phrase that keeps coming back is a spacious toe box, followed by how little breaking in it asks for. One owner describes a year of daily wear for walking, hiking and fishing, with visible scuffing on the leather and light wear at the heel, and nothing structural gone.

One sizing note is easy to miss. A buyer who takes an 11.5 elsewhere buys KEENs in a 10, and says to size down when ordering a wide. That is a single report rather than a pattern, so treat it as a reason to measure.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

  • 2.8 oz heavier per foot than the Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX, which you notice in the last hour of a long day.
  • The 12 mm drop is steep, and coming off a low drop shoe it tips you forward until you get used to it.
  • Stock on the general listing runs thin, so colors and sizes come and go.

Fit and sizing

True to size in the regular width. The wide is the one to be careful with, on the strength of that single report. Anyone who needs a broad forefoot and a narrow heel at the same time should look at the Oboz Bridger Mid Waterproof instead.

3
Columbia Newton Ridge Plus II Waterproof
Best under $120

Columbia Newton Ridge Plus II Waterproof

The lightest boot in this guide, the only one under $120, and the one with 1,383 owner reviews behind it.

$110.00
Price as of 9:46 AM ET
See it on Amazon
15.9 oz per shoe at a men's 95 mm lug heightOmni-Tech membraneTechlite midsole
+Read the full write-up

Why we picked it

At $110 it is the only boot in this guide under $120, and Columbia has not cut the membrane to get there: Omni-Tech, over a Techlite midsole and 5 mm lug height. It is also the lightest thing here at 15.9 oz per shoe for a men's 9, which is 1.4 oz a foot less than our top pick.

It carries the longest owner record of the six by a wide margin, 1,383 reviews, which is why its faults are documented instead of guessed at.

Who it is for

Day walks on ground that is already a path, and the cheapest honest way to find out whether you will keep hiking before the money gets serious.

What owners report

Three faults come up often enough to plan around. The sole is slick on wet rock, and one buyer describes several near falls on the first day out. Water gets in: another came out of a storm with dry trousers and dry gaiters and soaked socks, with barely an inch of the boot exposed. And it wears fast under daily use, with tread gone in two months for one owner and holes worn at the toes in four months for another, who had a previous pair last a year.

Against that, the praise is about how little it asks before it is comfortable, including a twelve mile hike straight out of the box, from buyers in sizes as wide as a 14 EE.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

  • The sole is the weak point owners return to, and wet rock is where it shows.
  • 40 of the buyers who answered on width called it narrower than marked, against 160 who called it true, so the wide behaves closer to a regular.
  • It is built to a price, and the reports show where: tread and uppers go first.

Fit and sizing

174 of the 211 buyers who answered called it true to size, so length is rarely the issue. Width is. Buy the wide, and if you need a genuine EE, the Oboz Bridger Mid Waterproof publishes its forefoot width as a separate measurement.

4
Oboz Bridger Mid Waterproof
Arch support out of the box

Oboz Bridger Mid Waterproof

It ships with the molded arch insole most hikers go out and buy separately, and its maker gives the wide as two measurements instead of one letter.

$220.00
Price as of 9:46 AM ET
See it on Amazon
19.0 oz / 538 g, as listed12 mm heel dropTriple density O Fit insoleTPU chassis and nylon shank
+Read the full write-up

Why we picked it

Oboz builds this at 19.0 oz with a 12 mm heel drop, over a TPU chassis and a nylon shank, and puts a triple density O Fit insole inside it: cushioned pods at heel and forefoot, a firm molded shell, a deep heel cup and a shaped arch. Most boots ship on something flatter than that.

Oboz is also the only maker here that gives its wide as two measurements rather than one letter. It calls the men's wide a C at the heel and an EE at the forefoot, so a foot that stays narrow behind and spreads in front has somewhere to go.

Who it is for

High arches, and feet that are one width at the heel and another at the toes. Also weekends under a loaded pack on rough ground.

What owners report

The insole is what owners name when they explain why they switched, and several describe a heel that settles into its cup and holds, on the condition that the laces are not hauled tight.

Sizing is the catch. Of the buyers who answered, 13 called it a full size small and seven a half size small, against 51 who called it true. One who takes a 12.5 or 13 in everything ended up in a 14. Another moved from an 11 EE to an 11.5 EE before it fit. Width reads tight too, to 16 of the 68 who answered.

Two or three outings of stiffness come up repeatedly, followed by all day comfort. One owner spent a weekend in the Adirondacks in mud and roots without a blister.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

  • Roughly one buyer in four finds it smaller than the label, the sharpest sizing gap of the boots here with a survey behind them.
  • Stiff for the first few outings before it settles.
  • One owner calls it clunky, and at 19 oz over a chassis and a shank that is a fair description.

Fit and sizing

Order half a size up, and a full size up if you already sit between sizes. Take the wide if your forefoot spreads, because 16 of 68 buyers found the regular narrow.

5
Salomon Quest 5 GTX
Multi-day loads

Salomon Quest 5 GTX

A plastic chassis inside the sole and the highest collar here, for the weeks when the pack is heavy and the ground moves.

$240.00
Price as of 9:46 AM ET
See it on Amazon
1 lb 5 oz per unit, as listed4D advancedCHASSISGore-TexNo drop published
+Read the full write-up

Why we picked it

Only one boot in this guide is built around a multi-day pack, and it is this one. Salomon sets a 4D advancedCHASSIS inside the sole, a plastic frame meant to hold the foot straight when the ground rolls under it, and wraps the foot with sensiFIT from the midsole up into the lacing. At 1 lb 5 oz per unit it is the heaviest thing here, which is what the frame weighs.

Salomon files it under multi-day hikes and backpacking on rocky and technical terrain. That is the scope, and it is more boot than an afternoon on a groomed trail asks for.

Who it is for

Trips of several nights, ground that is loose or off camber, and the pack weights that come with both.

What owners report

The record is short, 19 reviews, so there is no proportion here worth quoting. What is in it points one way. Several describe no break in period at all, among them an owner who took the boot for three nights in the High Peaks Wilderness with 35 lb on his back, finished with his feet intact, and mentions having wide feet. Another moved across from the Quest 4 after several years and a thousand miles a year in them, and rates the 5 the more comfortable of the two.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

  • The heaviest boot here, at 1 lb 5 oz per unit.
  • One width only, where every other boot in this guide offers a wide.
  • Salomon publishes neither drop nor stack height for it, so it cannot be lined up against the rest on those.

Fit and sizing

Men's 7 through 14, in a single width. Take your usual size, and know that if it comes up narrow there is no second option inside this model.

6
LOWA Renegade EVO GTX Mid
When medium has never fit

LOWA Renegade EVO GTX Mid

The only boot here sold on three separate lasts, and the only one its maker will resole rather than replace.

$279.95
Price as of 9:46 AM ET
See it on Amazon
590 g per single shoe, as listedVibram Rene Trac outsoleMonowrap PU frameThree lasts, C, D and E/EE
+Read the full write-up

Why we picked it

Lowa sells this boot on three lasts: C for narrow, D for medium, E or EE for wide. Nobody else here does that, and for some feet that is the difference between a boot that fits and no boot at all.

The rest is what $280 buys. Heinen Terracare nubuck with the seams cut back to reduce friction points, a Gore-Tex lining, a double injection DuraPU and DynaPU midsole held in Lowa's Monowrap frame, and a Vibram Rene Trac sole with self cleaning lugs. Lacing runs in two zones, so forefoot and ankle tension are set independently. It weighs 590 g for a single shoe. Lowa, which dates its European boot making to 1923, also runs a resoling service, so the price buys a boot you can send back rather than replace.

Buy it if

You already know your width, you hike often enough to wear a sole through, and $280 is a number you would rather pay once than twice.

Skip it if

This is your first pair of boots. Learn what your feet want on something cheaper.

What owners report

Reports on this version are few, so these are counts and not proportions. Of the buyers who answered on size, one called it true and one called it half a size large. On width, one called it true and one called it narrower than marked, and that second buyer says medium fits him everywhere else and that the wide was not made in his size. One praises the ankle support. One who owned the previous Renegade describes blisters where the third eyelet down now sits.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

  • $280, which is $170 more than the Columbia Newton Ridge Plus II Waterproof for the same category of membrane.
  • Lowa redesigned the upper for this version, and it does not sit the way the old Renegade did on every foot.

Fit and sizing

Lowa's own advice is to take your usual street shoe size and check it in a shop, in the afternoon, when your feet have already swollen. Choose the last first and the length second.

Who this is for

Everything above is a waterproof boot that comes up over the ankle, meant for walks of a day or nights of a few, on trail. Every one weighs between 15.9 and 21 oz a shoe and carries a membrane its maker is willing to name.

If ounces matter to you more than anything else does, our lightweight boots guide draws its line at 17.6 oz a shoe, and four of these would not clear it. Desert heat in July argues the opposite case, for a low shoe with no membrane in it at all.

How to choose

Width first, then length

A boot half a size long is a nuisance. A boot too narrow ends the day, and no amount of lacing fixes it. So work out your width, pick the last that matches it, and argue about length afterwards. Draw round both feet on paper in the evening, when they have already spread, and measure across the widest point.

The $20 membrane question

Merrell sells two boots that sit side by side on the shelf. The Moab 3 Mid Waterproof lists at $175 and its page says only that a membrane is in there somewhere. The Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX lists at $195 and says Gore-Tex. What the extra twenty dollars buys is a name, and on the cheaper one wet feet are the complaint its owners raise most. The name does not have to be Gore-Tex. Oboz calls its membrane B-DRY and Columbia calls its own Omni-Tech, and both are prepared to put those names on the page.

How much boot the pack needs

For day walks and light overnights, a mid boot on a nylon shank is enough, and the Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX or the KEEN Targhee IV Mid Waterproof will carry it. Once the pack is heavy enough to change where you put your feet, or the ground turns to scree, the chassis in the Salomon Quest 5 GTX is what stops the foot rolling. One owner puts a figure on the load he trusted it with, 35 lb for three nights. Do not buy a frame you have no use for, because you lift what is on your feet with every step. On the descents, our trekking pole guide covers the thing that actually spares your knees.

Whether the insole comes with it

Most boots ship on a footbed thinner and flatter than the one in the Oboz Bridger Mid Waterproof. Oboz puts a molded shell, a deep heel cup and a shaped arch in the box, and its owners name that insole when they say why they switched. For high arches, that is a part you do not buy twice.

The competition

Known boots that did not make the six, and why each one fell away.

Merrell Moab 3 Mid Waterproof

$20 less, and identical to our pick on every published number except 5 g of weight. The difference is a word: this page never names its membrane, where the Gore-Tex version does. Across its 766 owner reviews, water getting in is the theme that collects, which is what sends the money to the other one.

Salomon X Ultra 5 Mid GTX

16 oz a shoe and the top pick of our lightweight guide. It clears every criterion set here and is out anyway, because this guide sorts on fit and the X Ultra runs narrow, with owners of the wide version saying so too.

KEEN Targhee Apex Waterproof

KEEN lists it at 375 g against 570 g for the Targhee IV, at the same $190 list price, which makes it the interesting one on paper. It is too new to have built up the kind of owner record this guide is sorted on.

Hoka Anacapa 2 Mid GTX

Hoka's high stack answer to a hiking boot, listed at 18 oz, and the one to try if hard landings are what hurt. The men's version is thin at sellers right now, showing restock dates rather than stock.

Asolo Fugitive GTX

About $325, which is over the ceiling we set, and the LOWA Renegade EVO GTX Mid covers the same ground in European leather for roughly $45 less and on three lasts instead of one.

Oboz Bridger Ridge Mid GTX

$240 for the same shape as the Bridger we picked, with Gore-Tex in place of Oboz's own B-DRY. Both membranes have a maker's name on them, so what the extra $20 buys is the better known logo, and the O Fit insole is already in the cheaper one.

How we picked

Mid height or tallerA membrane the maker names21 oz a shoe or underCurrent modelUnder $290Owner reports read

Thirty mid and high cut boots sold to American hikers went into the first list. For every one of them we took the figures its own maker prints: weight in the maker's exact wording, drop, stack height, lug depth, membrane, upper material and the widths on the size chart. The six that survived gave their weight in four different units between them, so the table converts all of it to ounces for a single shoe, while each card keeps the original wording.

Then the owner reports, model after model, angriest first. Zappos gathers them, the ones written on makers' own pages included, and it puts two questions to every buyer that a review rarely settles by itself: did the boot match the size marked, and did it match the width. A figure like 17 of 23 means 23 people answered that question. This guide gives those raw counts rather than percentages, because on three of these boots only a handful of people have answered at all.

Common questions

How do I know if I need a wide boot?+

If you have ever come home with a numb outer toe, or a hot spot on the joint at the base of the little toe, width was the problem and length never was. The other tell is in the fit surveys quoted above: 40 of the buyers who answered on the Columbia called it narrower than marked, and 16 of 68 said the same about the Oboz.

Do I really need Gore-Tex?+

No. What matters is that the membrane has a name and a maker attached to it, so somebody is answerable for it. Omni-Tech and B-DRY both qualify. The Moab 3 Mid Waterproof is the counter-example in this guide, and wet feet are what its owners write about.

How much should I spend on hiking boots?+

$110 buys a membrane, a wide size and a boot that will handle day hikes, with 1,383 owners on record about how it holds up. Between $180 and $240 buys a wider choice of last and, in the Oboz, an insole you would otherwise go out and buy. Above that you are paying for a resolable build and three widths instead of one, which is only worth it once you know which width you are.

Should I order a size up?+

Not as a habit. Most buyers in this guide found their boots true to the size marked. Two exceptions are worth carrying with you: about one buyer in four finds the Oboz smaller than its label, and one KEEN owner who takes an 11.5 elsewhere buys the wide in a 10.

What breaks first on a hiking boot?+

On the cheapest boots the tread goes, and Columbia owners describe it worn down inside two months of daily wear. Higher up the range it is the joint between sole and upper that gives, which is why KEEN sells a bonded construction with a guarantee against it, and why Moab owners keep describing the rubber toe cap lifting away from the upper.

The verdict

Buy the Merrell Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX

Of the boots here with a fit survey behind them, it is the one that suits the most feet without being the best at any single thing, it names its membrane, and the wide costs the same as the regular. Spend more only once you know what your feet are asking for: the Salomon Quest 5 GTX when the pack gets heavy enough to change your footing, the LOWA Renegade EVO GTX Mid when medium has never been your width.

Check price on Amazon$186.85 as of 9:46 AM ET

Update log

Sep 2026First published.

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