Customer Reviews Hoka Challenger Mid GORE-TEX®

I bought this shoe, practically on the day it came out, because I was so happy to have a HOKA women's neutral colored hiking shoe, and I'm very happy with it. But now I want black ones, but my only choices are Stinson or Kaha Black/Antigua Sand. The Stinson is not all black and the Kaha has an aqua stripe going down the front of it. What I really want is a women's shoe that looks like the men's Challenger Mid Gore-Tex BLACK or the men's Kaha Black/Phantom. Those shoes are black all over with no glaring white accents and no aqua stripes. Please, HOKA, you made a good start with neutral colored shoes for women, but please ditch the aqua stripes.

First time hiking mountain trails in decades. These boots are exactly what I needed in Angel Fire, NM!

I'm very happy to be hiking pain-free again, thanks to these boots. Highly recommend them to anyone with age-related foot ailments like me.. Thank you Hoka for women's wide sizes and the meta-rocker design! I wear an 8 1/2 W in the Clifton and got these in 9W to accommodate winter socks. Grip is good and I'm looking forward to trying them on snow and ice. The laces are a bit annoying but otherwise they're perfect.

I have purchased Hoka hiking boots for over 15 years & would consider no others. I had bought Hoka One One's in the past. This was my first time buying the Challenger, but they provide the same dependable comfort, support & grip. A fantastic way to let your feet travel in the wilderness!

I have tried Merrell's and Altra's hiking boots. They both have their pluses, but the HOKA hiking boots win hands down. Great ankle support and arch support. The wide is perfect for my beginning bunion. The sole support was also great for my knees. I tried these boots out on a New Hampshire 4000 footer that involved a lot of rock scrambling. The boots have a good grip and my feet did not hurt at all at the end of the day. It was a dry day so I cannot comment on water proof.

I love these shoes! I wear them to work. They are so bouncy! I also wore them to hunt diamonds at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. They are great hiking shoes!

I've never had real hiking shoes to wear on my nature walks and it is a world of difference in terms of improvement. No slips or falls, and they give me the support I need. I recommend them highly.

I'll be purchasing this shoes & hiking boots for the remainder of my life I love them so much!

I love Hoka shoes and these boots are so comfy. Only problem I have with them is the top eyelets are hard for me to lace.

I love the ankle support and how my feet didn't slide into the end of the shoe. Great stability! The only thing I wished for was a more plush insole and a little more narrow. I love Hokas and have many people buying them due to their issues with their feet.

Very comfortable

I walk daily on trails and hike regularly in NH, VT, and Maine on the most challenging trails. I am 54 and starting to get achy everywhere which was really bumming me out. These shoes have revolutionized my hiking experience. It feels like I'm walking on clouds. My feet no longer hurt and the rest of my body feels younger and better too. I am not exaggerating this experience! The first time I wore them I climbed the same small local mountain 3 times covering 16 miles and only stopped because I was going to be late for a dinner date and so jogged the last half mile to the car! Crazy for me! The only thing I didn't like are the hooks for the laces in the mid-rise section of the boot. I returned these for the low-rise version of the same shoe because of this. The laces do not slip into the hooks easily and was a bother. Also, the wide was much too wide. So I am ordering regular width.

This was my only choice in a Hoka hiking shoe because of my need for a women's 10.5W. I tried out the Merrell Moab2s which had a vibram sole. Although the Moabs had better traction on steep climbs,for my flat, bunioned feet, the Challengers are far more comfortable with their Hoka cushioning and have more than passable cushioning. My only critique are the eyelet hooks which aren't really eyelets. If you can get the laces to stay in place long enough to tie them, they provide a snug cushioned fit but getting them to stay put is a challenge. Something about the design allows the laces to become undone easily while you're trying to tie them which can be frustrating after about 5 mins. Other than that, these are a solid, entry level hiking shoe.

So far so good. Have worn them several times on the trails. Yesterday it poured down rain on us and my boots held up. My feet weren't wet and most of all they didn't slip on the wet ground

I wore these on a 93 mile backpacking trip. They were amazing...I didn't get a single blister, they were lightweight and very comfortable. But they also weren't super durable. At the end of the trip, I noticed some of the rubber on the bottom was already falling off. I understand they are lightweight backpacking shoes and they aren't meant to last as long as traditional shoes, but I would hope they would last a little more than 100 miles of use.

I have not gotten to wear them for climbing or hiking or trail walking yet. But what I do like the fit and the feel, and the weight. They do not make my legs feel tired or heavy.

I love that it has the Hoka fit, cushioning and stability. I was replacing my worn out Toas. Two important features the Challenger lacks that the Toas had - an abrasion protected toe box and a full tongue. The Challengers have a deep cutout on either side of the tongue, compromising the GoreTex sock layer. And the toe box area is just plain tennis shoe fabric, without the fused plastic of the Toas. I bought what I could find in my wide size that could work for my SAR and wildlife biology work, but regret being unable to get the Toa again.

This is my second pair; I bought my first about 5 years ago and the soles are peeling off. The new ones have slightly different styling but still very comfortable. I need the extra cushioning that these boots provide. I would have given them five stars if they still had the speed lacing. The previous version did but these have traditional lacing and I find that more awkward and slow.

The boot is very comfortable. However, when hiking a distance I got blisters on the end of toes that were hitting the side of the toe box, and I got a blister under the toe pad of the big toe. The boots were also a little too flexible for me, as I have mid-foot arthritis and am looking for a rocker that doesn't flex much.

I used the boots on a 40 mile backpacking trip in Yosemite. While very comfortable, the bottoms began wearing out after only 10 miles. I would guess they wouldn't last more than 100 miles. The $160 price tag is pretty steep for a shoe where high Sierra rocks can easily take chunks out of the soft bottom material.

I was looking for a replacement for a discontinued Hoka boot and settled on this one as being closest to my hiking aesthetic. I was not sure what the different levels of cushioning meant, but this one is a little less cushy than my previous Tor Techs but makes up for it by being lighter. They seem slightly more breathable too but the truly hot weather hasn't arrived yet.