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Looking for some light footwear for the summer – without sacrificing stability and protection, mind you – I came across the Black Ops boots by Blackhawk. Sturdy yet ultra lightweight. Plenty of good reviews on youtube. So I bought myself a pair.

I was surprised they had them in stock at blackhawk.nl, usually it takes weeks or longer to get anything from Blackhawk in this part of the world. But after only a few days they were delivered, great service from these guys!

Sizing

I’m always a bit reluctant to buy shoes over the Internet. Shoes are probably the type of gear most sensitive to fit. Buy a shirt, if its a bit larger its ok. But shoes… now you’re getting in a whole different territory! Blackhawk’s boots range from 6 to 14 in both normal and wide. Those are US sizes, and as with all sizes they also vary among manufacturers. Luckily there are conversion tables out there on the Internet, and I converted my 270B size of my M90 army boots into a 9W.

And they fit snug. Initial fit is tight but there’s a lot of padding in these shoes and that’ll settle and leave you with boots which simply seem to embrace your feet.

Construction

There’s plenty of information out there telling you what these boots are made of. I’ll just give my experiences. They are light. A pair of these equals one of my army boots. They are also silent, the soles are not squeaking and the rubber is soft so you don’t get clunky sounds, providing great stealth. So far I have not come across terrain where traction was a problem. And let’s be honest, the profile on these things is absolutely wicked!

The inner-upper material is made out of something called Drylex. It looks to me like GoreTex, but probably by a different manufacturer. After good experiences with similar materials in my shoes the Black Ops boots confirm this; your feet do not get sweaty and also dry quickly. Even when left outside a tent overnight, the boots still dried from the body heat. The outside upper materials are primarily Cordura, a tough-as-nails synthetic material which is surprisingly light. The toe and heel sections are synthetic and very stiff. They are also available with composite toes, though I didn’t opt for that feature. The tongue is gusseted up to about 5 cm from the top, which is high enough for most situations. All the way up to where the gusset ends, they are perfectly waterproof.

Putting them on is a bit of work; the inside is not very smooth and you’ll need to force your feet in after completely loosening up the laces. But this provides good traction on the inside of the boot while you’re wearing it, so it is well-worth it. Be careful how the tongue’s gusset ends up. It should be shaped like a ‘W’ (and not a ‘V’ like my M90’s) because otherwise you get fabric-buildup and that presses down on your foot – in other words, it hurts on long hikes.

Wearing

These boots are so light, they feel like runners. But then softer, as there’s a lot of cushioning in the Vibram sole. In fact, I took them out for long runs on both pavement and off-road and I am quite pleased with their performance. They weigh in at 620 grams a piece, which is about halve the weight of my M90’s.

The nylon shank provides adequate support, though the shank does not run all the way, the front parts are therefore subject to features of the terrain as you walk. What I mean is that, after a day’s hike, you feel rocks and the like. This may be something to keep in mind if you’ll be finding yourself in rough, mountainous terrain or when carrying a heavy pack. Though climbing is no problem with these boots because they provide ample traction.

They are not so much hiking boots, as they are high-speed tactical boots. They ideally merge the support of boots with the fast and nimble performance of running shoes.

References