I’m beginning to despair of ever finding a pair of reliable, long-lasting, lightweight boots for the hills.
The list of boots I’ve had in the last three or four years seems to be endless and none of them have been completely satisfactory for more than a few short months. Maybe I’m expecting too much, I don’t know, but at around £100 per pair I would hope to get more than a single year’s walking out of them.
I thought I’d discovered the answer last year with the Salomon Mission GTX boots. After almost 12 months of use they were certainly lightweight, they were supremely comfortable and they seemed to be on the their way to ticking the final box too – longevity. It all went horribly wrong almost exactly 12 months after I had them though. Those faults are documented elsewhere on this site and involved the footbed of the shoe coming away from the upper and leaving longitudinal gaps along the boots that let in serious amounts of water.
Fortunately, Salomon’s warranty policy is excellent – you get two years on boots – and Go Outdoors where I bought them from were very helpful in getting them replaced for free. The new boots were identical and I put the problems of the first pair down to a freak manufacturing problem and crossed my fingers.
Just last week though, these new boots also started to go quickly downhill. After noticing that they were letting in more water than I would like, I started to notice that the coating on the front of the boots was fraying and peeling away from the upper. Over the course of a single walk I could see this process becoming increasing worse.
I got home and took these photos – the left boot is the worse, but the right boot is showing signs of doing the same thing. You can click on each photo to see a bigger version.
So these boots had lasted even less time than the first pair – I’d got 7 months walking out of these. Again the Salomon warranty was called upon. Although they don’t re-start the warranty period when the replacement boots were provided, I was still within the 2 years period from the purchase of the original pair. I took them back to Go Outdoors again.
I must say, for what appears to be an outdoor supermarket type organisation, Go Outdoors are fantastic. I ended up speaking to the same chap as last time and he remembered me and my boots – I suppose it helps that he has a pair of Missions too. He contacted Salomon immediately.
As the boots are no longer made, Salomon weren’t able to replace them, so I’ve been given an in-store gift certificate for the original price of the boots. Now this isn’t anything like as flexible as a refund, but I suppose it’s an acceptable outcome given it’s been almost two years.
I’m tempted to try another pair of Salomon boots – the Comet 3D GTX seem to be a replacement boot for the Missions, but they are £125 – which seems quite a lot for what they are. But at least I know if they go wrong in the next two years I have an excellent warranty to fall back on.
9 thoughts on “Failed! Salomon Mission GTX Boots”
Going back to my old reliable asolo. Don’t know what Compelled to try something new.
Salomon boots – soles coming off and boots not being waterproof after extended use is a known recurring issue. You are pretty much expected to glue the soles back on and reapply waterproof coating every odd outing. A lot of people think that’s a defect, but that’s just the way it’s designed.
It all stems from the design/philosophy of Salomon boots – when you use a running shoe design and use synthetic materials, you will get a comfortable boot, but that also mean it will be less durable.
Salomons were never designed to be hardwearing, they’ve traded durability for weight and comfort. Not saying that’s a flaw (many special forces buy Salomons), but you have to understand what you are buying. If you want comfort and durability, I suggest buying Altbergs. They do fitted boots if you go to their factory and they also resole boots.
I bought a pair of Salomon walking boots and they were the best boots that I had ever worn, light comfortable and a joy to walk in all day. After about a year they fell apart, the sole unit coming away from the uppers. Fair play to Salomon they gave me another pair under warranty. Exactly the same thing happened in less time, the sole unit coming off a crumbling mid sole unit, starting at the heel. The boots were un usable. I contacted Salomon and they didn’t want to know, in fact the person on the phone was rude and unhelpfull. After doing a bit of research with various boot repairers this is a common problem. The midsole unit crumbles and breakes down releasing the sole unit. I was advised thy were un repaipable. Not good for £119.00. I will not be purchasing Salomon boots again.
Solomon don’t care about their warranty if you can’t provide proof of purchase.
I have had my boots for just over a year and they have begun to leak throughthesole.
took them back to cotswold store,who put a claim in for me, Solomon refused the claim, even though it says on their website that they can check the manufacturemail date on the boot if no receipt is provided.
Not impressed at all. Shoddy company with a Shoddy warranty
Mark – I was talking to the boot guy in Go Outdoors recently and he said Salomon have started to refuse a lot of returns, apparently due to the high number they have been getting. I’m trying to return another pair of Comet 3D GTX boots that leak and he reckoned there was a good chance Salomon would reject the claim based on the amount of grass seeds I had in the lining, which holes the Gore Tex and causes them to leak. I’m guessing you’ve also fallen foul of their new stricter policy (if that’s what it is). Having said that, I don’t think there’s many places that would accept a return without a receipt!
Im now on my 3rd pair of Salomon trail shoes since 2009. The last pair were the worst.
Problem is i do like them, and nothing else comes close to what i want.
Got my last pair for a bargain £67 but Go Outdoors have none in stock except 130 miles away for £62 and they want collection in store only. A credit note is pointless. I just want a replacement pair.
Interesting. I bought a pair of Salomon trail shoes that fell apart after 11 months. Also from Go Outdoors who contacted Salomon and they agreed they were faulty. Although Salomon have said case closed and i get my money back.
But i dont want my money back as i wont get another pair like for like or similiar for what i paid.
Trouble is Go Outdoors have none in stock except for 1 pair 140 miles away which they refuse to courier.
If i buy a car which has done 50,000 miles and its under warranty and something goes wrong and the garage has no replacement they dont just say ‘here have your money back’. No they go to the manufacturer who sends them a NEW replacement.
I’ve now returned 4 sets of Salomons (2 pair of Missions and 2 pair of Comets) and that’s happened to me twice. In both cases I ended up with a store credit, not even cash. So I was limited to what GO had in stock, like you, not happy. I used their price guarantee to scour the web for a low price on the boots I wanted and used that to maximise my credit note.
You may see from a recent post I’ve ditched Salomon now and moved to Basher, but to be honest I hate the Brashers, they wreck my feet after 7 or 8 miles.
Can you believe it with the issues of my last pair i ended up getting a refund. Went to Snow and Rock who had some in stock which Go Outdoors didnt.
This new pair lasted 2 months and now my feet get soaked.
Contacted Salomon who dont seem to care.