Merrell Chameleon 5 Mid Ventilator GTX boots.

A few weeks ago i had an interesting email from Merrell asking me if i would be prepared to write a review of their Chameleon 5 Mid boots.
Funnily enough i had only just had a look at Merrell’s Proterra boots and quite liked the look of them, therefore it was a bit of a coincidence to be offered a pair of boots FOC from them.
Merrell make good gear (IMHO) and so it was an easy decision on my part to accept the offer.

So, the boots.

They came well packaged. Upon opening the box i was greeted with a horrid smell of a rubber/plastic/glue type pungent aroma, most unpleasant. Thankfully this smell disappeared after a days wear in the outdoors.

 Merrell Chameleon 5 Mid ventilator Gore-tex boots

Weight for size UK 8.5 is 560 grams

 Handling the boots, twisting, bending and removing the insoles i admit to being a little disappointed.

My first impression, and basically the impression that sells a boot was not fantastic, more of a oh?

Apart from the smell, these boots have an RRP of £140.00! I expected more wow factor for a boot in that price bracket.

 I liked the colour, the lacing, the heel support, the toe protection but didn’t like the look of the Vibram sole or the insole. My first impressions were that they were both not up to the job of backpacking. They are after all marketed as a light backpacking boot.

2mm thick, moulded EVA insole.

 So, having got my first impressions out of the way i set about finding out how they perform.

I have now worn them everyday for the past 5 weeks and they have covered about 140 miles.

 Trying the boots out on day 1, 
I found them to be exceptionally comfortable. The size 8.5 was perfect for me and the fit across the toe area was perfect for my foot which is on the wide side. The first outing was in dry conditions, quite humid and 22 degrees C, and i covered about 8 miles of mainly green lanes and woodland. 

 I had a bit of heel lift in my right boot and thought the worst. However it turned out that although the lace was tight around the ankle it wasn’t tight down the foot. I re-laced the boot and the heel lift disappeared. So getting the lacing right is important individually.

 The sole unit, which is Vibram rubber was impressive and getting back home my feet felt good. However when i removed the boots i was a little surprised to find that my feet and socks were quite sweaty. Considering that they are called Ventilator i was a little dismayed, although it had been a warm day.

 5 weeks on,
 I have now covered most terrains and weather conditions although as yet the temperature in the UK has not slipped into single figures and has not been particularly damp.

 I have worn a number of different socks, Bridgedale, Teko, X socks but i still had clammy feet. So venting is not as good as it might be. Taking into considering they do have a GTX membrane i might be expecting a bit too much. However, the boots have been treated with Aegis® which is an antimicrobial agent that suppresses odour. I found this has worked very well so far. Merrell say that the treatment does not wear out so it will be interesting to find out what happens further down the line.

 Walking on stoney paths, loose scree and on very steep grass has presented no problems. The sole unit passed with flying colours. I am pleasantly surprised considering my first impressions.
One of the conditions that usually find out how good or bad a sole unit is is when you are on wet and smooth slab rock. Once again they have surpassed my expectations. Good grip and support. So far so good.
The boot has a 2mm flexible plate in the foot section which protects the foot from stone bruising and a nylon insole which is a tougher grade than is found on the Chameleon 5 shoe, designed with medium pack carrying in mind. The EVA insole has proved to be very comfy.

 The outer boot is made from Pig suede leather, coupled with mesh and a Gore-Tex waterproof membrane. The heel has a pull loop and the tongue is the normal bellows type.
I have found cleaning them very easy with a soft bristle brush. I havn’t yet had the pleasure of entering a bog and so the need to completely wash them has not been done.

 Waterproofing has otherwise worked well and on one completely wet day they kept me perfectly dry. The wet days for testing have been very limited i must state, due to our warm and dry summer.

 The toes are protected with quite a high rubber toe cap but i would prefer it to come a little further over the top.

 The ankle has a tough plastic support arm that stops ankle roll, maintains the heel shape and works well. Even when contouring.

 I found the laces stayed secure all day and the lacing system is easy and adjustable but they are a little too long. There are 8 plastic closed eyelets and final lacing is held with 2 metal hooks either side.

 I wasn’t at all impressed with the material of the inner ankle cuff. It’s comfy but the weave is quite loose and it retained debris to the point of annoyance. Grasses especially, got trapped in the weave and then pierced the sock resulting in uncomfortable walking. Removing the debris was harder than you might think. Not just a matter of removing the boot and shaking out the debris, i first tried wrapping some duct tape around my hand and hoped i could get the grass to stick to the tape, this didn’t work. I had to get a pair of tweezers and pull the grasses out. Very time consuming too. Obviously wearing gaiters would have prevented this problem but you don’t want to wear gaiters in dry summer conditions.

Trapped debris on inside of the boot proved really difficult to remove. 

(Sorry the lower image is a bit blurred). But at least you can see the problem.

 Conclusion.
Within the time period for this review there is very little i dislike about them. Yes at £140.00 rather expensive but you can buy them on the internet for £84 - £105 which is where i think they should be priced and at this price they are a good buy.
 Comfortable straight from the box, probably the most comfortable boots i have ever had in fact. Great sole unit in all conditions outside of winter. Excellent build quality.
Quite lightweight for a mid boot with a waterproof membrane.
Inner ankle material needs improving.


I am now looking forward to the next 500 miles wearing them.

Update. 12th December 2013.
One point that i have found since my initial review is that they do take rather a long time to dry out.
With the boot having a membrane, you need to keep outside heat sources away from them otherwise your membrane could be damaged.  Drying inside a warm building or in a breeze still takes a lot longer than i expected. I would like Merrell to consider this point, but otherwise my original review stands up. A fantastic boot.

Where to view or purchase.
The boots can be found in pretty much all the major outdoor retail shops on the highstreet or you could just click on the links below if you wish.
The Merrell range at Fitness Footwear.
http://www.fitnessfootwear.com/Merrell-Shoes-Boots-and-Sandals~b289.htm
The Merrell Chameleon 5 Mid boot.
http://www.fitnessfootwear.com/Merrell-Chameleon-5-Mid-Vent-GoreTex-Shoes/2412837ff.htm?colour=Carbon

I would like to make the point here that these boots were kindly sent to me FOC for the purpose of this review. I thank Merrell for that.
I have no affiliation to Merrell in any way and the review is completely without bias, timescale or restriction.

What's that racket.

 Yesterday i was painting the rendering on the house. It had to be done for winter.
It was a nice day, just the birds whistling when there was an almighty racket coming from the trees at the bottom of the garden which are about 30 yds away. All the small birds screeched and sped off in all directions and some only missing me by a few feet.

 What the Dickens is going on i thought. Then about 10 Magpies ascended into the tree and making even more noise. I stood and watched as the screeching got louder and louder.

 Then out onto the edge of the tree came a Sparrow Hawk. It stood there bold as brass with it’s head held high and basically telling the Magpies to come and try it. Well the Magpies jostled it but the hawk just laughed at them. Not budging an inch.

I wondered about going for the camera but thought it would be all over by the time i found it. Anyway i had a go, dashing upstairs almost breaking my neck going up, slipping on the floorboards. I grabbed the camera switched it on and when i got outside it was still there.

I managed a couple of pictures and just as i was about to change the shutter speed, off the hawk went. I just pointed and clicked the shutter and hoped. Luckily i managed to get it in frame, just.

I know they are not great shots but here they are anyway.

Prestwich to Manchester City Centre.

 Todays walk was another in our Curry walk series which finds routes into the centre of Manchester from anywhere within a radius of around 15Km from said Curry House.
This walk starts in Prestwich (No not the Hospital) and finishes at “This and That” delicious food emporium in Shudehill.

I was outside a supermarket  at 10.15am waiting for the others to arrive from Timperley on the tram.
I had a call from JJ at 10.36 to say they had alighted. I was surprised to see 3 souls marching my way as i had only expected JJ and Rick. The third was John, a motorbike enthusiast and occasional walker of nothing serious.

11.00am we were on our way, in a different direction to what i had envisaged. I thought we would head through Phillips Park to meet the River Irwell, which is quite a direct route but that wasn’t to be. Rick wanted to go past the old church in Prestwich Village.

The church is next to The Church Inn, well it would be wouldn’t it. But it was still closed thankfully or else this walk may not have taken place. The Church of St Mary the Virgin (and the Church Inn) is well known to Sheila and I as she used to live in Prestwich.

The church itself can be seen on numerous episodes of Coronation St as St. Thomas’s Wetherfield and is a lovely spot and well looked after.

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Prestwich.

Records show a church was on this site in 1200 but the current building dates from 1500 − 1600 with numerous additions since.

The cemetery is particularly unusual as it is in a wood rather than a designed plot within the church walls. 

Our path led through the wood and along the clough. Here we came across numerous stone and corbled paths which scream of Victorian days. Although maintenance of these routes has long since finished they still hold a charm to see.

Our route was quite delightful passing under tall trees with the sunlight forcing a path through.

 The clough paths

Victoriana along the clough with Rick, John and JJ faffing at the back.

Heading further along, the tracks became very numerous as this is a recreational area for the locals. We got a bit confused as to which path was which and the signposts didn’t always help. The Irwell Sculptured way was the prevalent one and so we tried our best to keep with it. Eventually and probably the hard way we came to a bridge spanning the Irwell.  

It was quite a while ago that i last walked bits of the Irwell and i remember it wasn’t a pleasant experience. But today it is completely different. The river is actually quite nice and numerous fish were spotted from the bridge and it was noticeably clean.

 The River Irwell looking North

The Aqueduct over the Irwell with the A6044 at Agecroft. It was built by Manchester Corporation Waterworks in 1892 and has 2 large bore pipes running along it. Thirlmere water pipes. The architecture is very pleasing unlike the new road bridge which sits side by side to this one.

Once across the busy road the stretch of footpath passes alongside Agecroft cemetery. A huge place. The views are quite expansive and surprisingly green considering.

Lots of birdlife was encountered on route. And a heronry also. Once we had left the cemetery behind we checked the map. (Just an excuse really to let JJ and John catch up). it was decided to cross the first bridge which leads past the lush Littleton Rd sports ground which is part of Salford Sports City and into Lower Kersal. Walking around this part of Salford i think every house has a dog which barked at us as we passed.

Once back onto the river we stopped for 5 minutes for a piece of Sheila’s fine baking and then it was over another footbridge leading towards Higher and Lower Broughton.

Footbridge at Lower Kersal leading into the woods.

Manchester skyline was now clear and we could pick out the high tops of the CIS, Beetham Tower and Strangeways Prison.

We had been in such a green corridor for so long that it seemed quite strange when we emerged onto Cromwell Rd. A tremendous amount of work is being done here to improve flood defences. 

Just one bit of the flood defences being put in all along the river here. Cromwell Rd bridge in the background built in 1882.

Our route on this bank was blocked due to the works so we had to cross over to St Boniface Rd where we picked up the path along the opposite bank passing Fredrick Rd bridge. Here we cut a corner and headed towards Blackfriers and passing the lovely old white building which is part of the Salford University Campus. There used to be a large reservoir here before the current building was erected in 1915 and was used to make a number of products like shampoo’s for example. It’s history can be found HERE.
 Our stomachs were rumbling and time was getting on. It was 1.30pm and we had the idea that the Curry house would shut at 2.00pm. John was struggling a bit with walking so we waited for him to catch up. 

We stopped to admire the Post Office old Sorting office building which thankfully has been restored into flats and car parking. It would have been a disgrace to knock this gem down.

 The Old Sorting Office.

The new sculpture’s in what was Victoria Bus Station. 

The New Bridge over the Irwell at Victoria.

Rick and I had quite a march on now as we left Victoria and between Manchester Cathedral and The Mitre. We passed Urbis in a flash and into the grotty Printworks we sped. Once out of the gloom we waited for JJ and John to show and then we could smell that curry. A tram just missed us as we took a few short cuts to get to our lunch. We ordered and sat down to eat and still no sign of JJ and John.

How can we lose somebody who knows Manchester and within a hundred yards of our destination is unreal. Anyway they turned up from a completely different direction and 5 minutes later. Where they had been we didn’t ask.

We had a wonderful curry as usual and it wasn’t until we had finished that we realised nobody had taken a photo of our food. I think JJ got one of 4 empty plates. Ha.

Then we marched off to sample some splendid real ale in the Ape and Apple. Now completely refurbished. What a splendid day out.

The walk was 13.3km.

Some more images are available HERE.

Stove test - amendment

I have taken a couple of photo’s of the Flat Cat type stove i made in the last post so that you can see the flame pattern.

 Even though the stove is basically an open well type stove you can see that the holes act like jets.

And then when a pot is put on the stove, notice that it uses the hottest part of the flame, efficiency is increased and soot reduced. (I have put a trivet on top of the stove to support the pan for these photo’s) I am currently making a windshield to suit my Evernew ca-251, 600ml pan and then the trivet will be redundant.
It boiled 400ml of tap water in 6 minutes without a shield so i am expecting a little better when the heat shield is in place. I like the fact that the flame stays just about inside the pan base resulting in very little heat loss.

My quick stove test - for what it’s worth.

 Well i have had a good number of hits on my 12-10 type stove post. Not too many comments coming from the hits though. But one comment from fellow blogger Martin Rye got me thinking. Now Martin’s views are worthy of listening too and he recon’d that his Flat Cat stove was the best with superb efficiency.
So i thought i would make one, give it a try and see how the results turned out.
Now the genuine Flat Cat stove has 24 outlets whereas mine had only 20 so in theory my stove would not be as quick as the genuine stove but the fuel should last longer. Agree?

Anyway here’s a photo.

Quite well made even if i say so myself. 65mm diameter and 13mm tall

 So anyway without going into depth of statistics. It was nowhere near as good as my 12-10 type stove.
The fuel lasted longer than the 12-10 when i had the pan approximately 1/2” above the stove but when i had it positioned higher the fuel burnt away much faster. But even at 1/2” above the stove as recommended by Flat Cat designer it took almost 8 minutes to boil 400ml of water which was straight from the tap.

My homemade stove against my purchased 12-10 stove.

 This was just a quick test for my own purposes so i don’t expect readers to take it any more seriously than that. Maybe a deeper and wider stove would be better. I might try that next.
Just thought i would share my thoughts and see what reactions i got. Thanks.

Watergrove revisited

 Last week when i did my post on a walk around Watergrove tops i said i would come back and re-visit some of the places. I never expected it to be so soon though.
 Sunday was a gorgeous day and too good to do jobs around the house. Sheila said she wouldn’t mind doing the Watergrove walk that i had done during the week and posted about. I thought, Bank Holiday weekend and its now 10.00am, it’s going to be rather busy, but we will go and see.
 So it was a pleasant surprise to find the car park below the dam was only half full. A group of sponsored walkers were just about to set off which left only a few people around.
Seeing that i only did the walk during the week, i decided this time to vary it a little so that i could add a few more paths to my knowledge of the area.

 Here’s the route we took, we started at the picnic sign below the reservoir dam and walked in an anticlockwise direction. It took us 3 hours but we were in no hurry and you could do it much quicker.

 Following the dam wall round we passed the old mill reservoir on the right. A female Goldeneye duck and chick was spotted.
We left the reservoir track and headed off up the Pennine bridleway and through the Life for a Life forest. Sheila spent a few minutes reading the inscriptions on the trees. There are quite a few bench’s dedicated to peoples loved one’s and it’s a nice place to sit and watch the world go bye.
The track we were on was well made and i guess it was the original Watergrove mill workers route to and from the village of Shore.

We went through a very well built wall and i expect this is the boundary wall of United Utilities. It encircles the reservoir at around the 300m contour.

Through another gate the path heads south to Shore, passed a small unnamed reservoir. Here we left the track and followed the stream up Hills Clough. There were quite a few sheep tracks to follow which went in the right direction but no official footpath. At the top overlooking Turn Slack Dam is a well built shelter. It wasn’t marked on my OS map which i thought was a bit strange.

Shelter on Crook Hill overlooking Turn Slack Dam

 View south from the shelter

In the above photo the weather looks as though it is about to rain but it never did. In fact it got hotter reaching 23 degrees C.
There is a good path on Crook hill which heads NW towards the Long Causway. We took this and on the next hill was a drilling rig which i spotted the last time out and i thought then it might be a wind turbine being erected. Although it was off the path i had to go and get a closer look. It turned out to be a small drilling platform. Is there gold in these hills?

Gold prospecting? Ha

 I decided not to go up to Rough Hill this time but to take the path on the south side that leads to the gap between Hades Hill and Middle Hill. Old workings abound here and the shales are extremely fine in thickness and very crumbly. It must have been quite hard to dig in this area.

R-L Rough Hill, Middle Hill and Brown Wardle Hill.

 A lone walker crossed our route, only the second person we had seen. The first being a fell runner just off Crook Hill. The sun was blazing and i cursed at not fetching my Tilley Hat or sun screen, i could feel my face burning.

Path below Rough Hill

Once on Middle Hill we stopped for a brew. I had brought my home made stove with me to see how it performed in the real world rather than under ideal conditions in the kitchen.

It boiled 500ml of water in just under 8 minutes.
A welcome breeze had picked up which helped cool us down. It was precisely the right time too as it made the conditions for the stove more normal.

Brew stop on Middle Hill

It was really nice sat in the hollow on Middle Hill, a real sun trap today. We stayed for about 25 minutes before setting off for Brown Wardle Hill. Considering how close to civilisation we were at this point we still had the tops to ourselves and the views too.
As we approached the hill we had to go past a mother cow and calf and as we passed the calf let out a loud “Moo” at which point a Bull that had been lying down in the long grass got up and had a look what was going on. Sheila was away, half way up the hill before i had even got started. Fortunately it never came towards us. I think it was too hot to be bothered.

 Heading for Brown Wardle Hill

 View North from Brown Wardle Hill with Freeholds Top in distance

Pile of stones on BWH

 From the top of BWH the path heads SW but i wanted to try and find some of the old pathways which were used by people 100 yrs ago and more, before the United Utilities path was made along the side of the reservoir. So we headed SE.

An old farmstead could be seen as we dropped down with the walls of a green lane running away from the ruins. We headed for this, crossing boggy land and came across a number of obvious pathways but many were impassable. Some even had decent kissing gates which proved that even in recent times they had been used frequently but now left to the hand of nature.

 Farmstead ruins

In amongst the old buildings

 Walking the green lane

Exit of the green lane to open fell

 We found it very interesting trying to work out what walls were from what type of building, House, barn, loo etc. And to walk on the old paths quite nostalgic. Getting out of the overgrown vegetation and back onto the reservoir path was interesting to say the least. Sheila was a bit worried about ticks but we encountered none. Just stinging nettles.

I must try and find out what the farm was called. Amended 28.08.13: I think it was Roads Farm)

Along the reservoir we spotted a Great Crested Grebe.

12-10 Stove MYOG or not.

The 12-10 stove from Trail Designs has always had a bit of a fascination on me since i saw my first one just after they came on the market. Always one to give a MYOG a try, last week i decided to give it a go. My own 12-10 stove has proved great and i much prefer it to the Whitebox type stove.
But that’s just my choice.

Conclusion.

You may wonder why i am giving you the conclusion first. Well the conclusion is very simple. Don’t bother making your own unless you have quite a bit of time on your hands.
You can buy the 12-10 stove from Ultralightoutdoorgear for £15. Here.

My 12-10 stove weighed 14 grams against the 16 grams given by Trail designs.

The 12-10 stove is worth every penny of your hard earned £15. It’s a lovely piece of well made kit and Trail Designs deserve the profit to work on the next one. Well done TD.

MYOG 12-10 similar stove.

I bought my 12-10 as i said a while ago and it’s made from 3 pieces of re- cycled aluminium.

• A “Coke” type drinks can.
• A “Caffeine” type energy drink can.
• A base plate. What the original base is made from i’m not sure. Maybe it’s formed unique but made from old cans. I’m open to be educated by anyone in the know on this.

First of all, starting with the Outer skin, the coke type can.
Cutting it to length and adding the holes is a simple enough job that anyone could undertake. But the central hole is a bit harder. The drinks can starts life with the base being concave. You have to re-work it to make it convex. To do this properly you need to make a double form tool, out of wood i suggest, that will give you a nice shape. Making this former takes time and i didn’t make one.
I decided to cut the large diameter hole into the can first and then push the base out with my gloved hand. You need gloves because of the sharp edge of the hole. Unfortunately although a convex shape can be achieved it’s not as aesthetically pleasing as the bought one.

My attempt. Weight wise it is a whole gram less than the TD one. But you can see the convex shape is a bit untidy.

The inner skin, made from a caffeine type drinks can, again is easy to cut to length and add the holes. It fits loosely into the groove in the outer skin. Its not secured to the outer. The gap between the inner and outer skin is about 6mm. The inner skin provides the well for the meths and holes must be put into the inner just below the top lip to ensure that enough air provides combustion and that any excess fuel has an escape route to ground.

I made my base from a cut open drinks can which i flattened and cut round. I didn’t cut 1 large central hole as the original but added 2 rows of smaller holes. Functionally no different.

The beautifully formed 12-10 on the left and my prototype on the right.

I’m again unsure of how TD joined the outer with the base but it’s flawless and if it was liquid welded or friction welded they made a superb job. 

So thats the next step for me, finding liquid weld that will stand the temperature. I eventually found some in a motor accessory shop. Made in the USA.

It set in 4 minutes and although i didn’t make a neat job of it, it still worked.

Would it work in practice? Well i tried it first off and gave it a whole lot of space just in case it fell apart. It didn’t. It worked well. I boiled about 3 litres of water just to see if it deteriorated and it didn’t. 

So i set about a little boil test and the results were:- 15ml of meths into both stoves. 400 ml of water into the pan.

• The original 12-10 stove boiled in 4 minutes 55 seconds.
• My attempt boiled in 4 minutes 58 seconds.

Considering i didn’t measure quantities to the ‘Nth” degree i say my experiment was a success. Although aesthetically not as pleasing, it works well.

But as i said at the start. Spend the £15 and buy one. Or have a go at making one and then let me know how you went on.