Robust, comfortable, and look rad (with one huge caveat)
This is a great shoe! Super comfortable daily shoes for me for the last few weeks, but there is a huge caveat: the toe boxes are low volume. The roof of the toe box is very close to the tops/knuckles of the toes. I tried my usual Saucony and NB size, 10.5, in store and did not notice the claustrophobic toe box. I ordered 10.5 on Amazon and wore them in the house but never could feel comfortable and figured they would drive me nuts! I tried 10 wide (not extra wide) and that gave my digits more breathing room, solving my problem. I made a good choice going down a half size, as I believe 10.5 wide would have been too big. The rest of the shoe does not seem to fit wide (admittedly I have not really worn wides before).Now that my toes can relax a bit I can appreciate the plush comfort of these babies. I like that the heel cups are not harsh or unforgiving, they are a little supple. I have been nursing both my Achilles tendons for a few weeks now—breaking in Brooks Cascadia 16s on one hike nearly broke me!!I never notice the extended fins in back; I thought they might “catch” going down carpeted stairs, but no issue.I am almost ready to get back in the mountains with these and really test them (and my heels) out. I will mos def buy more when I see a deal. Hierro V7 are my new favorites and I have tried numerous Adidas, Saucony, Merrill, North Face, and Scarpa trail runners and hikers the last few months. Robust, comfortable, and look rad.Edit: I just did about an hour in the dry Boulder Flatirons at Chautauqua Park, and I love these shoes. The wides were barely big. I kept them fairly loose due to concerns with my Achilles and needing some extra give going uphill. Tightened them a bit just before descent, as usual, but didn’t wanna fiddle with them again. Can easily, comfortably lock them down a bit more next time.Comfortable on trail, very soft, you do feel big rock points and ground features underfoot, but I did not mind. These Hierros do not feel tall to me—great height/stack/drop that reminds me of my fave NB trail runners from 20 years ago. (I only wonder how they will hold up given how soft they are.)Edit: I now have three pairs of Hierros. Gotta say I would love some rock plate protection underneath as I have to be careful with foot placement on particularly pointy, sharp rocks (like 10% of the time on foothills trails). I occasionally trim down the hairy, wispy fibers that work their way out of the abrasion protection of the toe box. The shoes are all pretty easy to wipe down with a washcloth after a dusty hike.The Gore-Tex fit for me just like the regular V7. I thought I’d need to go up a half size like I often do for Gtx, but they were too big. Went back to 10 wide and they fit very well. You have to look at all the pix in the Amazon ad to see which are the Gtx (navy/black, crazy bright green!, and black/orange). I got the black with orange bottoms and have to say the orange is strangely close to pink—not the “classic” orange and black I expected. Not noticeable enough for me to exchange, though. They also have skinnier laces than the non-Gtx. The thicker laces work perfectly, but the skinny ones are a little finicky and knot up on me sometimes. GREAT shoes.