Customer Reviews L.L.Bean Bucksport Plain Toe Shoe

This shoe feels solid and looks great. However, there is something dimensionally wrong with it as it presses heavily on my top foot that is painful. Also, it caused a blister on my heel which I'm willing to take in the act of breaking it in. I suspect the leather itself needed to be more supple to allow for variances in feet size and am just hoping after a rather lengthy break in period it will work.

Great shoe. My husband loves them! Has had many compliments.

I have now bought these three times. Plus one time for the Stonington shoe. EVERY SINGLE SHOELACE ON ALL OF THESE SHOES HAVE NOT STAY TIED. I received the shoes around 1030 this morning. I put them on and tied the shoelaces of both shoes. By 230 I have retied both shoelaces twice, one of them within a five minute interval. I remember with a previous pair, I was retying the laces five and six times a day. I calculated the time it took to tie one lace, and multiplied. It came to over a week's worth of shoelace tying. I notice in the recent reviews no one is complaining about that aspect of the shoelaces (they did three years ago) but on the first page of reviews people are complaining about them breaking. I guess I was lucky as with the previous pair, it took about five months for them to break. I replaced the shoelaces of that previous pair with a very cheap set of laces (the old fashioned kind of fabric with a hollow center). They lasted a full year AND always stayed tied. My only conclusion of all of this is either LL Bean never reads reviews or doesn't care about them; or has a thirty year contract for these shoes with these shoelaces that they are committed to; or, as I think is the most plausible: are putting the looks of the shoelaces as having more importance over their function. Oh, and by the way, the shoes are great. But they now cost $60 more than when I first bought them. I may start to weigh buying shoes for half the price more frequently, and with any luck, they might have the cheaper style of shoelace that actually works.

I bought these a month ago and the Lace failed on one shoe. I called LLB and was told they can't replace the laces. They said I could buy them somewhere. Of course I could, but I shop constantly at LLB and spend a lot of money, they told me to return the shoes! I asked to have the manufacturer send a lace, not, they are in Viet Nam. They are going back today because of a broken lace. THis is todays retail world!

Shoes have good support/ but size is larger than compared to other shoes. My size 13 is more like 13.5. My other LL Bean size 13 shoes fit better

I saw these on a guy, tracked them to LL Bean and bought a pair in my size. Ok. They look so cool. Once I put them on, I felt like a kid again -- not in a good way, but in the way you felt when you were a kid and got church shoes and they never fit right, were too big, and were stiff and too thick to even bend and you got blisters... That's these shoes.

I like the shoes enough. The laces have already broken on the metal eyelets. I'm not entirely thrilled with the vibram sole it's not the rubber sole I was expecting, it's more like a really dense foam. So far the shoes are comfortable and the fit seems about right.

Santa brought me a pair for Christmas. I was nervous about the negative reviews but thought they looked cool. The design puts a lot of pressure on my foot at the bottom of the tongue as previously stated. Being stubborn I wore them anyways in hopes the leather would form to my feet. I've worn them daily for two months and the pressure is still there although it's manageable. Either the shoe adjusted to my feet or my feet adjusted to the shoe. After only 2 months, I can already see wear on the sole which seems odd for a $150 pair of LL Bean shoes.

I really liked the shoes, but after wearing them for an hour or so they developed a clicking sound in the left heel. That sound stayed after continuing to walk around. I gave it a day and came back. Sure enough, after wearing them for a while the click started up again. Sadly, I had to return them. I would recommend them after something is done to fix the clicking issue that several reviews have referenced.

When I opened the box my wife pulled out a shoe and before unwrapping said, "these are huge". I picked up the second shoe and agreed. We immediately looked at the shoe size on the tongue and it was correct, but taking just five steps in the shoes confirmed our suspicion. My foot was sliding forward and my heels were sliding right out of the shoe with every step. I immediately boxed them back up for return. I will add that even if they did fit I would still return them because the insole has a ridge at the ball of the foot which makes it feel like there's a seam in your sock.

I'm rating these as a three since that is in between the five and a one ratings that I'd like to provide. The exterior shoes gets the five. Good looking and durable so far. The one though goes to the insoles that almost made me return them. They felt like I had a hump in the wrong location inside the shoe. Thankfully they are good enough shoes that the insole can be removed and replaced. It's too bad LLBean was not willing to swap out the insoles for me. Instead I had to spend another $40 to replace them on my own. That's way different then the old LLBean I used to know.

I had to return them immediately because the heel inside the shoe was elevated so that I felt like I was falling forward.

Lacking any real insole or footbed. Expected more for th $

Uncomfortable shoe. Sadly had to wear them to discover and now can't return.

Shoes fit great - length, width - and look great. But back heels on both shoes won't break in after 4 months of wear. Not enough cushion around ankle and doesn't matter how loose or tight the shoes are tied.

Purchased to replace my previous brand as they have become discontinued. I figured that at $150 and that they were LLBean the quality would not be an issue. It is not so much the quality of the manufacturing or materials, but rather there seems to be no thought in the quality of comfort. As soon as I tried them on they were uncomfortable. The tongue is longer than it should be and stiff and sharp at the edge so that it cuts into the front of your ankle. The edge around the opening is also stiff and unpadded which I am sure would have become increasingly uncomfortable with any length of time. I immediately repackaged and returned. I am perplexed as to how this item is still stocked, there is no way anyone can find this shoe comfortable.

After two months, walking on Legos would be an improvement

The heal of the shoe is to short. In the picture it looks normal but in reality it is short and causes rubbing. Very similar to a slide on slipper. Would not buy again.

I like the style and the construction, but the shoes were too narrow for my feet, despite the fact that they were labeled as wide and I wear a wide.

The shoes are made of superb materials, and the craftsmanship also looks good. Unfortunately, the size I always wear in shoes is way too large for my feet in this shoe. I'll be returning or exchanging for a smaller size, hoping for a proper fit.

LL Bean's Bucksport shoe suffers under the tired quality issue found across much active footwear offered today: companies use cheap materials. It's great that a LL Bean markets Derby-style shoes in wide measurements, true to size. However, they skimped on the outer sole--don't get me started on the laces. The treads last 9 mos to a year max--sort of like buying cheap tires. Don't do what others and I did, buying new Bucksports after they quickly wear down. Instead of buying essentially disposable shoes at $150 a pop, you could purchase custom Derby-styled kicks from Nicks or Whites. I wish I had done that.

Bought as outdoor work shoe. Unusually narrow, barely enough material on the sides to lace up and pull to cover the tongue. Won't be able to wear with winter socks. LL Bean stamped right on top of tongue shows up like a billboard

I bought these, hoping for the best as I had read the reviews. Shoes look great, feel great, I wish that I could keep them, but there is a very noticeable clicking sound in the heal of my right shoe, left shoe 'squeaks' a bit, but there is some sort of manufacturing issue with the heal on the right side. If you happen to get a pair that does not click every time you step, you will probably like them I almost never return things, but this time i did.

I was very excited to get a good quality pair of shoes. Unfortunately the soles of these shoes are a disappointment. The soles are Vibram, however, there must be different types of Vibram. Instead of a good solid rubber sole, these are more like a lighter weight open cell foam with a skin on them that doesn't seem like it would do well in wet surface conditions. The rest of the shoe is very well made and I am sad that I have to return them due to a poor choice for sole material. The fit was slightly on the tight side, but not by a half size.