I chose these because I had gotten my first pair of Viberg boots and I’d been bitten by the Viberg bug. I saw these brand new on eBay for an awesome price and thought they would be a fun pair to put through the Thunderdome.
As mentioned, I’m a 9D Brannock. I simply sized these per Viberg’s recommendation on their website. I’d also recently got another pair of Viberg in an 8E so I was confident these would fit me well.
Purchased these brand new from a seller on eBay and got them at a significant discount to MSRP.
These have been worn everyday since Nov 1 when I entered them into the Thunderdome. I don’t do anything crazy with them as I don’t have a job that demands they get extremely dirty or beat up, however I do put about 10,000 steps on them everyday. Where I live they mainly see a lot of dirt and pavement road walking and this time of year will start seeing some snow.
So far these are holding up and breaking in very nicely. Some creasing and rolling on the vamp, which looks nice. They’ve darkened up a bit in the month I’ve worn them and really look nice. I brush them every so often and have used trees in them as well. Once it started snowing around here I gave them a very light coating of Obenauf’s Heavy Duty LP, which didn’t really seem to change the color much at all. I think the color change has just been mainly from wearing them day-to-day.
Fit and comfort feels pretty good, however I prefer Viberg’s 2040 last over this 2030. I know the 2030 is kind of their flagship last, but I’ve got high arches and insteps, so for whatever reason the 2040 feels better to me. These work well enough, it’s just that the 2040 is more supportive for my feet. I’ve got plenty of room in the toe box with these. I’m a 9D Brannock and an 8E in Viberg works very well for me.
I love the design of Viberg boots and these are no exception. They strike a perfect balance between a good, streamlined aesthetic with excellent durability. The stitching is very nice and the proportions of the boots are excellent. I also really like this leather / sole color combo and the 360 degree storm welt on these is very well done and a very nice touch. I’m also a big fan of plain toe boots now, so these look lovely to my eyes. They’ve also got 9 blind eyelets that make for a really clean look. These boots go with just about anything I’ll be wearing!
These are similar to a Dainite sole, which I love for the looks, but I’ll be the first to admit the traction is garbage. I’ve got to expect it from soles like these, so I’m not surprised and I actually still prefer it over a bulkier sole. I just won’t buy boots with commando soles anymore because I walk on dirt roads to often and it’s just a serious PITA picking out little rocks from the soles all the time! These ITSHIDE soles look awesome and are showing virtually no signs of wear, which is a bit surprising but I have only worn them one full month. Still, I’ve put a lot of steps on them so I am happy with how they’re holding up. If I could change the sole to something else I’d pick a Vibram 700 or some Dr. Sole combo as long as I could get it in a similar color to these. The color of these ITSHIDE soles is great and goes extremely well with the midsole, heel stack, and Camel Oiled Calf leather.
Final thoughts - I rate these very high on my list of boots I’ve owned and I really enjoy them. I’m enjoying continuing to break them in and seeing how they continue to patina and change with more wear. I’m definitely a Viberg fanboy now and this won’t be the last pair I buy or review.