Salomon  Quest 4 GORE-TEX Hiking Boots - Women's

Unboxed my new Quest 4s today and this is my initial review based entirely on sizing. I have not had a chance to trail test them yet. Background: I wear a size 8 tennis shoe, have somewhat wide feet (C) and am prone to ankle rolls (hence why I hike in full height boots). Prior to purchasing the Quest 4s I had been hiking in the Quest 3s for 3 years and been extremely happy with them. After the Sierras wore them down and Hawaii lava ate the treads requiring some glue repairs, and with a JMT hike planned for this summer I thought now would be a good time to start breaking in a new pair. I had previously purchased the Quest 3s after trying on in the store and found them to run a little too narrow and short for my feet, so I purchased a half size up (8.5) and ended up stretching the toe box to get a little extra wiggle room for my wide feet. Then they fit nearly perfectly and never gave me blisters. With COVID-19 still around, I ended up purchasing the Quest 4s online. I figured they would fit similar to the Quest 3s, so I ordered an 8.5 like before. It turns out that the fit is not at all similar to the previous model. The Quest 4s are way wider in the toe box and I doubt I will have to stretch them at all or spend as much time breaking them in. Yay! They are also longer - by a half an inch as measured with a ruler! (See sole picture - Quest 3 on the left and Quest 4 on the right.) This will be nice for the down hill as I always found the 8.5 in the Quest 3s a little too short and the 9 a bit too long. My only concern is that the Quest 4s might be a little too long now. The Quest 4s are a bit wider in the heel as well, which may be a problem for people with narrow heels. Otherwise, the Quest 4s are nearly identical to the Quest 3s. There have been slight modifications to the design...mostly in the construction and attachment of the uppers to the soles. (See side picture - again, Quest 3 on the left and Quest 4 on the right.) Only time will tell if this is an improvement over the Quest 3s design or not, but I have high hopes. (I personally didn't have tears in my 3s like others did, but I did have sole layer separation issues with my 3s mostly due to harsh lava terrain - resulting in the glued repairs you can see in the picture. And after 3 years of abuse, the leather is starting to crack and separate near the front toe rubber and sole attachments, but I never conditioned my boots like I should have.) One noticeable difference is on the tongue. With the Quest 3s the Salomon logo was on a fabric loop that was sewn at both ends...allowing one to lace through it or attach things to the boot. With the Quest 4s, this piece is completely sewn to the tongue and instead they added an extra large shoe string loop on the top of the tongue. (See picture - again, Quest 3 on the left and Quest 4 on the right.) This loop won't be as valuable for lacing through or holding the excess laces, but may make it easier to attach other gear to the shoe. (I personally don't think I'll use this feature, so the extra loop is going to be more of an annoyance to me and I might just cut it off.) Lastly, there is a slight difference in weight. I never weighed my old pair before use and now that they are so worn down it would not be a fair comparison. But the provided specs for the Quest 4s is that they weigh about 1 oz more than the Quest 3s...likely due to the extra rubber on the sole and nylon on the upper that creates the new "active support" (see side picture) as well as the larger extra loop on the tongue. While the active support feature may or may not increase comfort and stability...it would be nice if Salomon found a way to do it without increasing the weight of the boot. While it's still one of the lightest full height boots, it goes against the backpacking gear trend of trying to make improvements that also result in weight reductions. However, for the comfort and stability this boot provides, I'll gladly carry an extra oz or two. Overall, I think the sizing is fantastic for people with wide feet (when ordering a half size up like commonly recommended). For those without wide feet, I would recommend ordering true to size (definitely not a half size up). If you have narrow heels, I would pay special attention to your lacing, wear thicker socks, and try on in store of possible. I give 4 stars for now because of the inconsistency in sizing (even though it's an improvement) and because nothing deserves 5 stars until it has been trail tested. I look forward to testing these boots out on the trail soon and reporting back on whether or not they live up to the reputation of the Quest 3s and the Salomon quality in general.

There is nothing really positive to write about this boot if you intend to hike in any wet environment. Two copies failed waterproofing on first hike in same region of the boot. On our first hike out in snowfield, both mine and my wife's leaked in the same places and we had to contend with our cold wet feet for the rest of the time. There appears to be a design issue, where the Goretex and upper are strained at the toe joints and start to leak water in after working them in briefly. In the past years, we have tolerated Quest GTX limited endurance, knowing that the waterproofing will completely fail in about 1-2 months of hiking (that is about 2 trips), regardless of the Nikwax application, which is just an over-hyped short term bandaid for an actual membrane failure and water will pour in with continuously wet environments. Having two of two failure on first hike is really unacceptable. I'm not sure what special version website reviewers and bloggers receive where they wear these day in and day out for a season without any leaks or issues and report this as "best rated boot"...I would beware the hype. They have always been weak on membrane but now worse than before. Our experience was in line with other reviewers that had major water ingress issues, and it is time to move on to another brand/line...