text: I tried really hard to like these Hikers... I'm sure if they fit someone's feet better than they have mine, they might do a good job of being a good Hiking shoe... but after 2 weeks worth of trying to break them in they still just don't fit comfortable... even for the price of these shoes I can easily (and have) found better, more comfort fitting hikers... It's not the size that seems to be hurting my feet... all though they do seem a bit tight... but it also is a seemingly unfix-able problem with gouging at my Achilles tendons on the back of the shoe... I almost to the point of taking the scissors to parts of the shoe... (and who wants to have to do that?)  I was disappointed also in the placement and arrangement of the lace hooks... it really takes and effort to tie up the shoes because the hooks seem to placed in just the right place on the shoe to not catch when your trying to lace them up... it always takes me several tries to catch the hooks 3 positions down from the top... also the 4th hook down from the top of the shoe is not really a hook... this is not really a problem as many shoes have a metal loop instead of hook... however this particular design is such that it prevents you from pulling the laces out of the shoe ... you literally have to cut the lace heads off to do it... I never ever tie my shoe laces the way the factory ties them... there are many and varied reasons for doing this.... just do a google search for &#34;Common Hiking Boot Lacing Techniques&#34;... so why would a company want you to have to cut the heads off your laces? ... the designers of this particular set of shoes really need to have their heads examined... anyway after 2 to 3 weeks of sore feet, ankle gouging and lacing problems I have had it with these Hikers and this company...