Ecco Ultra Terrain Review
First Impressions
The Ecco Ultra Terrains deliver classic trail hiker good looks and performance. Across the board, these hikers felt much more substantial than the ultralight Keen A86s I recently reviewed. After reading through the shoe literature, this made perfect sense as these Eccos are designed for all day support and stability.
Features
The Ultra Terrains are obviously designed to provide support and stability on trails. If that is what you are looking for, this is your shoe. I find most trail shoes to be stiff along the bottom of the shoe. On my stiffness scale, I give these about a 9. These shoes provide great support across the foot and around the ankles. If your ankles aren’t used to extra support, I recommend wearing good socks your first hike with these to prevent blisters.
In addition to support and stability, the Eccos have a really convenient lace-lock system that does not require you to tie shoelaces. You just zip up the top of the lace with the locking system and you are ready to go—no hassles with tying shoelaces. (how great would these be for my kids shoes!)
Fit
Out of the box, the shoes fit fine. As usual, I prefer my athletic shoes about one size bigger and these were no exception. I would say they ran true to size. I tried them with and without additional aftermarket insoles like Smartfeet. I found them far more comfortable after adding them.
Again, since the Ultra Terrains are designed for support and stability, be prepared for more “shoe” around your ankle. This was both a pro and a con for me on my first hike. I had never worn a hiker with so much support so my ankles got a few blisters on the five mile trail. But as we girls know, most of our best shoes took some breaking in before they became our closet staples. I’m happy to say that on every hike after that, my ankles had no problem with blisters and the shoes provided more than ample support across rocky terrain.
Final Verdict
The Ecco Ultra Terrain trail hikers are a decent choice if you want a classic trail hiker shoe. They are good-looking shoes that provide solid support across rocky terrain. The fit is a matter of personal preference. They seemed to fall in the grey area between a low hiker and boot. While this mid-top fit wasn’t my preference, I think the Ultra Terrain still make a good trail shoe. Also, I like to run the flats on my trails but would probably not recommend it with these hikers. These shoes are definitely made for walking.
