text: I was expecting to absolutely fall in love with these, based on their rating at other web sites and some of the reviews here.  They are indeed quite comfortable in some ways.  I'm going to send them back because:<br /><br />1) If I wanted to keep them, I would have needed to size up; I am a solid 8 1/2 medium, and that's what I purchased.  I tried them on with hiking socks -- not super thick, lighweight marino wool/acrylic.  I would have thought that a hiking boot would be sized to fit such socks, but these weren't -- they pinched a bit against the little toes.  Still, the footbed was SUPER comfortable, and I would have tried a size 9, but:<br />2) The interior of the boots are lined with a material that makes a sound when one part rubs against the other -- so, when walking, as the toungue rubs against the ankle part, it was making a pretty annoying squeak!  Maybe this would go away with time, but I had another problem:<br />3) I wore them around the house for about 1/2 hour and gave them a good walking, and my ankles started getting sore from the sides of the boot hitting them.  I had them tightened as far as they would go.  I have fairly skinny ankles; maybe someone with thicker ankles wouldn't have this.  Maybe, too, this would go away after being broken in, but all in all there were too many &#34;issues&#34; for these to be keepers for me.  (I ended up going with a boot I directly compared these with:  the Keen Targhee II.  The 8 1/2 medium fits great with hiking socks, and there is no ankle rubbing.  And there's a little cut-out in the back to accommodate that part of the ankle).