Salomon XA Forces MID GORE-TEX Review: Special Forces Tested

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All boots are not created equal! In Salomon’s case, none of their boots are created equal, as they have a tier all to themselves. The XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN boot is geared primarily towards the special forces community and the elite soldiers that work their. The Salomon XA Forces MID is a lightweight, all conditions tactical boot developed for moving fast in the most critical situations.

The Salomon Forces Quest 4D boots have been favorites for years, but this year the Salomon XA Forces Jungle boots and the Salomon XA Forces MID boots have really exploded with in the combat arms. Almost every fighting soldier and his mom is wearing them.

SPECS

Weight(Per Boot): 1.19lb / 540g / 19oz
Height: 6″
Colour: Ranger Green, Earth Brown, Black
Upper: PU coated Nubuck leather, Quick-drying textile, Single layer Anti-debris Mesh,  Non-reflective materials, Water Repellent
Insole: OrthoLite
Midsole: Dual density midsole, EnergyCell
Outsole: Rubber, All Terrain Contagrip
Lining: Moisture Wicking Textile
Toe Box: Plain
Branch Compliance:  CANFORGEN 135/20
Fit: True to size
Warranty: 2 year limited warranty

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OVERALL

The Salomon XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN is a fantastic boot. Just as beefy and tough as the Salomon Forces Quest 4D’s and lighter than the Salomon XA Forces Jungle boots. They’re a very solid mix between the two.

The much lower upper really increases mobility which is fantastic for speed and maneuverability. At the same time though with the lower upper, you’re losing some ankle support.

The XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN is very lightweight, extremely tough, highly water resistant, but lacks some breathability due to the GORE-TEX.

The speed laces are quite unique and yet an extremely handy design. They are strong and function well but can seem to let loose a little overtime.

Overall hands down an awesome tactical boot with primarily positive attributes! The XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN is definitely worth the money if they fit your dress regulations.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Man these boots are slick, was the first thing I thought to myself when I opened the box from Salomon containing my XA Forces MID (which is what I’ll mostly be calling them even though the boots I’m reviewing here are the XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN. It’s just such a long name.) A small whoop might have also escaped my lips also.

The XA Forces MID definitely have the same tough door kicker look that the Quest 4D’s and the jungle boots have, with the intermingled Nubuck leather, Cordura nylon webbing, and large protective rubber guards on the instep and toe. I am a major fan of just how tough and brutish Salmon makes their forces line of boots.

The boot is quite stiff, which I was expecting being my third set of Salomon, so no real surprise there. Of course it will mean slightly longer break in time, but nothing crazy.

The quick lace system looked cool and I was very interested to try it out in the field, but the cord Salomon uses looked quite thin and that caused me some concern.

I love how the lace pocket is on top of the tongue making for much easier storage of the laces after you’ve tightened the boot. Definitely a very solid little addition.

Lastly, the earth brown with a black bottom is also a very cool look.

FIELD FIRSTS

For how stiff Salomon Forces boots are around the upper, the insoles are always extremely comfortable. The Salomon XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN are no different, they are very comfortable. I have never gotten hot spots, blisters, or really had any uncomfortableness.

I was able to give them a good solid break in in the field as we spent a week doing night and day NAV in some extremely thick and wet forest environment.

The GORE-TEX held up fantastically, even through some torrential down pours, streams, and soaked foliage my feet were never wet. Obviously GORE-TEX has its limits, but I have yet to find them with these boots.

The large rubber toe guard and in step are fantastic, when we were doing the night NAV it was extremely dark! I’m talking you can’t see your hand six inches in front of your face. It was a new moon and on top of that what little light their may have been was cut off because the tree canopies were so thick.

All that to say we were stumbling all over the place and kicking every rock, stick, and log in sight. I’m sure with a less robust boot I would have had some sore feet at the end of the night.

One aspect I discovered that had me a little worried was that the quicklace system could slowly loosen over time. I didn’t know how big or small this issue might be, only time could tell, but I was concerned but about it.

The Contagrip outsoles also preformed well, as I expected them too, all though I was never on super steep terrain during this ex.

QUALITY DESIGN

The Salomon XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN like all Salomon boots are made with top notch engineering, using only the top materials in the industry.

UPPER

MATERIAL

Salomon uses thick full grain Nubuck leather around the entire upper, as well as extremely tough and water resistant Cordura Nylon. The toe, instep, and out sole are all made from puncture resistant rubber, which is basically used as armour for your feet.

With so much thick and tough material used for the upper, the XA Forces MID are quite stiff and definitely take some more time to break in, but after a short bit of time wearing them they’re comfy as can be. The stiff material really provides a hugging snug feeling around your foot.

Since these are the GORE-TEX version of the boot, they also have GORE-TEX covering the entire inside of the upper. This adds to the thickness and stiffness of the boot overall.

LACE SYSTEM

The lace system was something I was most excited about in picking up my Salomon XA Forces MID. Salomons quicklace system is very unique and something I had really wanted to experience as I had heard nothing but good things about it.

With Salomon’s quicklace system you simply pull up the laces from that little rubber cover on the laces and then slide down the lace locking tab. It really is very easy, quick and it works great. The little rubber cover is also very smart thinking on Salomon’s part as the laces are quite thin and would definitely cut into your finger if you were pulling up on the laces all the time.

Another awesome design trait that Salomon put in to the “EN” version of the boot, is the lace pocket which opens from the top of the tongue. On the regular XA Forces MID, the lace pocket opens from the bottom, so even though you tighten the boots by pulling up, you then have to tuck the laces in from the bottom.

It’s just a bit awkward and not as good a design as seen here on the “EN” version of the boot.

Now, the one concern I had about the laces is that they are very thin. I was afraid that they might break easy. However, I brought my concern up with a coworker that hs been wearing his XA Forces MID now for 2-3 years and showed me that all though thin, these laces are strong as heck.

Other than some minor minor fraying, even after 2-3 years of hard use, the laces were still perfectly intact. This was awesome to see and alleviated any fears I had of snapping my laces.

LACE POCKET

As I mentioned above a little bit, Salomon changed the design of the lace pocket from the original XA Forces MID to the XA Forces MID EN, moving the opening from the bottom of the pocket to the top of the pocket.

Again, this was an awesome little design change as with these laces you naturally will pull them up towards you when you go to tighten them. Now you can simply tuck them in to the top of the tongue instead of wrapping the laces around to tuck them in from the bottom.

This just adds to the awesome convenience these boots provide.

WEBBING

Salomon has produced some very intricate webbing for the XA Forces MID. They really integrated the leather and nylon together for a design meant to look both good and give the best support and protection for your foot.

Integrating the materials like this as many boot companies do these days provides abrasion protection thanks to the leather, but also provides greater mobility and air flow thanks to the nylon. Nylon is naturally more breathable and pliable than leather, especially the Nubuck leather that Salomon uses.

INSTEP

Salomon takes their foot protection seriously. So, like most of Salomon’s other Forces boots the XA Forces MID have this nice big thick rubber pad on the inside medial of the boot.

Regardless of the activity your doing this pad protects the soft inner area of your foot. So whether you’re fast roping out the side of a helicopter, or just trekking through the mountains your protected.

In my opinion it also looks pretty darn cool.

TOE GUARD

Salomon’s huge rubber toe guards are a signature Salomon design. All though where as on the the Quest 4D’s the toe guard is a beast, on the XA Forces MID its been toned down a little. It’s a little more stream lined, a little more sleek.

Your still getting the protection you’re also just getting a little more design as well. To make up for the less over all toe guard though, Salomon has placed a s second strip of rubber right next to the toe guard as you can see from my picture below.

These toe guards that Salomon puts on their forces boots really is an awesome design. Whether im wearing my Quest 4D’s, XA Forces Jungles, or my XA Forces MID boots I know my feet are protected. Unless your full on kicking a rock or something, you never have to fear that you’ll hurt your feet fro the front.

As well, they increase the life span of the boot as you don’t have to worry about the boot tearing at the front from the daily abuse they’re sure to receive.

TONGUE

The tongue is made from thick Cordura nylon making it extremely strong and durable. As well, the tongue is gusseted for added protection from debris getting into your boots.

Gusseted means the tongue is sewn to the boot on either side by extra fabric, so even while hiking through dense forests with loose foliage you’re not going to have sticks and other small debris finding their way into your boots.

A gusseted tongue also helps prevent water from getting in to your boots helping to keep your feet dry during those wet days.

SOLE

OUTSOLE

The outsole on the Salomon XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN uses Salomon’s patented All Terrain Contagrip. These rubber soles are fantastic on every terrain you could possibly find yourself in and combined with the midsole are highly puncture resistant.

I have used these soles on pretty much every style of terrain and they have always held firm. Salomon has done a great job with the lug design on the bottom of their boots. Really providing a lug style that grips the ground, allowing you to push off with out losing your footing.

MIDSOLE

The midsole on the XA Forces MID are done in three layers of awesome. Salomon’s 3D chassis, dual density foam, and hard anti puncture layer come together to give an extremely comfortable, strong, and durable outsole.

Whats also interesting is Salomon’s 3D chassis, offers a low profile chassis designed to optimize motion control and energy management and provides protection for a precise, stable and responsive ride.

The enigma zero anti puncture layer comes in handy for a lot more than protecting your feet from say just nails and deliberately pokey objects. This layer comes in handy on all hard and rocky terrain, ensuring absolute safety for your feet.

Overall, Salomon has really hit it out of the park with the design of their outsole.

INSOLE

The Ortholite insole that comes in the Salomon XA Forces Jungle boot is I would say a typical, yet comfortableinsole. It is fairly thin, but provides decent comfort.

I wouldn’t say it’s thick enough to be anything really special. I mean you could probably go by doctor scholl’sinsole and they would be just a comfy, all though maybe not as breathable.

FUNCTIONALITY

MOBILITY

The Salomon XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN do preform very well and I’d say out preform in many circumstances. The low cut really does aid in mobility as your ankles aren’t held as stiff as traditional 8″ boots.

After having worn 8″ boots for the majority of my career and then adding a pair of XA Forces MID to my collection right away I could feel the difference in reference to the ability to move.

It’s almost a freeing feeling, different, but very nice.

LIGHTWEIGHT

Not only do the XA Forces MID offer great mobility, but simply due to their height they weigh very little. Shrinking down the height of the boot removed a lot of fabric.

The XA Forces MID are 67g lighter than the Salomon Jungles, which was a big surprise to me as I already thought the Jungles were very light weight.

Whether you can actually tell or not is a different issue, I personally can’t tell they’re lighter than the Jungles when I wear them, but any weight you can lose becomes an advantage when moving long distances by foot.

DARN TOUGH

Like all Salomon forces boots the XA Forces MID are darn freaking tough. Again, with Salomon using a full grain leather, 1000D+ Cordura Nylon, thick rubber, and a three layered sole, there is not much on Gods green earth that the XA Forces MID can’t get you through.

The thick rubber guards protect the most vulnerable points of the boot, preventing tearing and taking the majority of the abuse your boots and feet will see.

The unique webbing of combined Nubuck leather and nylon makes the entire upper extremely abrasion resistant and therefore able to with stand the daily abuse they would take while out in the field.

COMFORT

A lack of comfort in Salomon’s is literally never something I’ve heard someone complain about. All though the material provides a stiff upper, the inside of the XA Forces MID is very comfortable and soft.

Salomon has fit a lot of padding into a small package and you can really tell, especially after wearing them for a few days straight.

I have yet to feel discomfort, pain in my feet, hot spot or anything of that nature and I’ve done everything from light hikes, to recce’s, to section attacks.

CONCERNS

LOOSENING LACES

As much as I love the Salomon XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN’s, I wanted to restate the couple concerns I do have with them.

The first one being the tendency for the quicklace system to slowly loosen over time. It’s never loosened to the point where I couldn’t wear the boot, or where I had to stop everything I was doing to immediately fix my laces.

They have come undone, and seem to quite regularly, to the point where they’re simply not as tight and snug as I want them when I’m doing strenuous activity. When I’m rucking, hiking, or fighting I want my boots snug with no internal foot movement.

As I said I haven’t gotten any blisters or anything from them yet, but when I notice that my boots have become loose it definitely becomes a concern that I might soon if I do not retighten my boots asap.

ANKLE SUPPORT

Ankle support is also a concern when moving high speed over rough terrain. Now this may just be me, as this style of boot and even shorter boots, such as the Salomon Speed Assault 2 shoes are preferred by SF world wide.

I have never had ankle issues with XA Force MID and do not necessarily see them in my future, however I can’t deny that it is a concern for me simply due to the fact that they lack uppers with the height to hold your ankles firm.

So, its something I’m cognisant of, but haven’t myself had issues with yet.

CONCLUSION

The Salomon XA Forces MID GORE-TEX EN are an absolutely awesome boot, hands down, no question. They’re tough, durable, lightweight, beefy as heck, and they look cool.

The quicklace system causes me some concern, with the overall longevity of the laces and with the lace tightening block coming loose. Yet at the same time I think it’s ingenious, it’s definitely unique, and it truly does make the donning and doffing of your boots much quicker.

The XA Forces MID’s give you great mobility and speed as they’re more like shoes than boots almost. What they offer in mobility though they lack in upper support.

In the end, the pros in my opinion out way the cons and these boots will be boots I wear for many many years to come.

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