I got the Gen 2 for Christmas 2019 as a replacement for my Gen 1 SFB. My Gen 1 boots lasted almost 5 years as my everyday work boot. Being October 2021, I noticed my Gen 2 ripping the leather where the bottom shoe lace eyelet strap is sewed in. This is one major change from the Gen 1 to the Gen 2. I wished Nike would have just left it alone or still offered the Gen 1.... Or combine the 2 for Gen 3. Otherwise, these are great light weight boots.

I got these boots initially and they were quite a bit too narrow for my feet, so I returned them immediately for a wide. The wide feels a little better, but not quite wide enough for my forefoot, but the heel... well the heel is incredibly wide. I wore these for two weeks to break them in before a big airsoft event, and my intention was to wear these as my primary for that and for hiking later since the tread is much larger than my Rockies. The break in with the Rockies was like a month, but I wore them the entire event because these gave me crazy terrible blisters. We're talking rubbed the skin off my heel on both feet and it wept and bled for almost a week. Had to play the entire event with my heels wrapped up. I've barely worn mine, not sure what to do. I really wanted to like these.

I LOVED my MOABs for years, so I thought I’d love these. I didn’t. Really wanted to, but after wearing these for 4 months they only got less comfortable. The ankle shaft is very thick and stiff. Good for stability, but it never broke in and only caused uncomfortable rubbing. I tried wearing them both looser and tighter, neither fixed the problem. I’m admittedly picky on boots, but I really did want these to work and tried. Switching back to an old pair made me realize how futile it was trying to make these Merrill’s work though. Additionally, despite Merrill’s reassurance these are coyote brown, they are really a sand color. Wearing them in uniform I never really got called out, but I should have been. Like I said, I really wanted to love these, but they never wore right for me.