Customer Reviews Columbia Peakfreak™ Venture Waterproof

Pretty good so far, runs small, hurt my big toes for about a month till it loosened up but I have wide feet. I work all day on my feet constantly walking, great job keeping my feet comfortable except for the big toe part. Haven't put it through too much of a test for it being waterproof yet but winter is coming. Will buy again just add .5 size bigger. Wish they had an option for wide.

I bought an 11.5 and they fit too tight to be able to use them, gonna return them and hunt for a 12. Otherwise they seem fine

I really like this shoe. The quality is great for the price. Great tread and sturdy upper. However, the shoe runs very narrow across the lower toe box and laces. I'm generally an 11 shoe size, and got a 11.5 for extra room and thicker socks. The length was good, but too narrow all around. Was hoping this would work out for me, as it was a great value on sale. Oh well.

I have 5 different types of columbia hiking boots/ shoes. Depending on what you are looking for will determine if these are the right style for you. The waterproof feature works perfectly, but this takes away from the shoes ability to allow your foot to breath. They also must be broken in and aren't too flexible. I have hiked 40 miles in mine, and they are still extremely stiff. This would be good if your foot and arch need that extra support They are more of a low top boot than hiking shoe. If you are looking for a hiking shoe instead of boot, I would recommend the conspiracy titanium outdry shoe over these. I wish I would have paid the extra money and purchased those instead.

I have this sole in an older summer hiking shoe and ordered this new shoe assuming the same sole. The new shoe sole has a slightly narrower heel width and feels less stable, like I could roll my ankle if doing serious hiking.

Shoe too narrow at toes. Caused much pain, and resulted in the skin rubbing off one of my toes. This after wearing two days.

From other reviews some said forefoot can run narrow but picture made shoe look somewhat roomy. I have medium foot and generally wear 13 D hiking boots as long as they have room for the big toe. Columbia rep suggested size up to 14 D to help ensure enough big toe room width. Shoe came true to length as compared to my old columbia back packing mid hiking boots and width was similar too. Good things included a good grabby multi-use sole for walking and normal trails, solid feel, flexible shoe (though not ideal for rough hiking), gusseted tongue, looks great ( nice multi-use trail or casual look), fairly comfortable initially out of the box, upper is soft and leather but does look a little like fake synthetic leather, good looking tread pattern, good nice looking front foot toe protector, water proofing does not make my foot as hot as other inexpensive hikers I have tried, seems it will protect foot from sharp rocks or hard roots, and not too heavy. However: - the heel area is overly wide as the upper bows outward at the heel area and their is poor heel hold from the heel cup / support causing the heel to slide sideways and slip upward. Feels like it's designed for someone with a 4E heel. With heel pushed to one side I could push 3/4 of an inch wide of thumb down along the other side of heel. Tightening the upper laces tighter helps only a little. - laces are a pain to deal with. When tightening lower laces they won't hold and want to spring back to a wider set. Have to work hard one section at a time holding the lower section tight while tightening the next upper section all the way up. Then when tying laces they tend to loosen on their own. - it appears there is a tongue design flaw. The tongue is thick and when you tighten laces it crunches tongue and tongue wants to spring back to shape. Tongue also should be thinner toward sides to fit comfortably over the foot. But these are thick on the sides and bunch up and put pressure points on top the foot when tightening. - You need to be able to tighten this shoe to be able to use the shoes effectively on uneven trails, and these are almost impossible to do this with especially with the extra wide heel and minimal support around the heel. - sole has rounded edges all around making the flat area under the foot much narrower than most hiking shoes so take care to get used to this. It's easy to turn/injure your ankles with this shoe on uneven ground if not careful. - very little/low arch support in this shoe and may require buying another foot pad insert. The insert that comes with the shoe has some thickness to it for cushioning but is flat and has no arch support at all. - the toe area of the forefoot is not wide and luckily I went up a size as my big toe barely fit without rubbing hard on the side of the upper's big toe area. Not ideal for me but not bad. - stability for walking is not bad but technical or sloped trails could cause stability issues. - noticed back heel support has sowing up the center of the heel. This could cause rubbing problems on back of heel. Fabric over sowing on left foot was loose and it squeaked when I rubbed against it. - heel appears to sit higher off the ground than the forefoot like other hikers I've seen. Not sure of the actual drop which would have be nice to see in the shoe specifications but was not available. - sole seems to have a firm area under forefoot like my trail running shoes with rock protection. But seemed to fall under the base of my toes too much instead of the balls of my feet causing some mis comfort. Could be due to getting size up from my normal size. - if you don't need extra toe space for your toes to naturally spread out when walking, don't need to up size the shoe for forefoot room, you don't need a lot of stability, are not going to use these on rough trails, and especially if you can get these at a great sale price, you may want to try them, but they don't match up to some of the popular hiking specific shoes that are generally more expensive too. I am debating if I should add some sticky fabric to tighten up the heel area because I like the way they look for jeans, kakis and shorts. Might be OK for golf too. Who knows.

From other reviews some said forefoot can run narrow but picture made shoe look somewhat roomy. I have medium foot and generally wear 13 D hiking boots as long as they have room for the big toe. Columbia rep suggested size up to 14 D to help ensure enough big toe room width. Shoe came true to length as compared to my old columbia back packing mid hiking boots and width was similar too. Good things included a good grabby multi-use sole for walking and normal trails, solid feel, flexible shoe (though not ideal for rough hiking), gusseted tongue, looks great ( nice multi-use trail or casual look), fairly comfortable initially out of the box, upper is soft and leather but does look a little like fake synthetic leather, good looking tread pattern, good nice looking front foot toe protector, water proofing does not make my foot as hot as other inexpensive hikers I have tried, seems it will protect foot from sharp rocks or hard roots, and not too heavy. However: - the heel area is overly wide as the upper bows outward at the heel area and their is poor heel hold from the heel cup / support causing the heel to slide sideways and slip upward. Feels like it's designed for someone with a 4E heel. With heel pushed to one side I could push 3/4 of an inch wide of thumb down along the other side of heel. Tightening the upper laces tighter helps only a little. - laces are a pain to deal with. When tightening lower laces they won't hold and want to spring back to a wider set. Have to work hard one section at a time holding the lower section tight while tightening the next upper section all the way up. Then when tying laces they tend to loosen on their own. - it appears there is a tongue design flaw. The tongue is thick and when you tighten laces it crunches tongue and tongue wants to spring back to shape. Tongue also should be thinner toward sides to fit comfortably over the foot. But these are thick on the sides and bunch up and put pressure points on top the foot when tightening. - You need to be able to tighten this shoe to be able to use the shoes effectively on uneven trails, and these are almost impossible to do this with especially with the extra wide heel and minimal support around the heel. - sole has rounded edges all around making the flat area under the foot much narrower than most hiking shoes so take care to get used to this. It's easy to turn/injure your ankles with this shoe on uneven ground if not careful. - very little/low arch support in this shoe and may require buying another foot pad insert. The insert that comes with the shoe has some thickness to it for cushioning but is flat and has no arch support at all. - the toe area of the forefoot is not wide and luckily I went up a size as my big toe barely fit without rubbing hard on the side of the upper's big toe area. Not ideal for me but not bad. - stability for walking is not bad but technical or sloped trails could cause stability issues. - noticed back heel support has sowing up the center of the heel. This could cause rubbing problems on back of heel. Fabric over sowing on left foot was loose and it squeaked when I rubbed against it. - heel appears to sit higher off the ground than the forefoot like other hikers I've seen. Not sure of the actual drop which would have be nice to see in the shoe specifications but was not available. - sole seems to have a firm area under forefoot like my trail running shoes with rock protection. But seemed to fall under the base of my toes too much instead of the balls of my feet causing some mis comfort. Could be due to getting size up from my normal size. - if you don't need extra toe space for your toes to naturally spread out when walking, don't need to up size the shoe for forefoot room, you don't need a lot of stability, are not going to use these on rough trails, and especially if you can get these at a great sale price, you may want to try them, but they don't match up to some of the popular hiking specific shoes that are generally more expensive too. I am debating if I should add some sticky fabric to tighten up the heel area because I like the way they look for jeans, kakis and shorts. Might be OK for golf too. Who knows.

Man made material all around: fake "leather ". Returning mine.

Bought one size bigger than normal - and still too small. And now I have to pay $6 to return ship. I would not recommend this shoe.