It’s like an armored hovercraft on your foot...just one of the many things Lee-Stuart Evans has to say about the LALO Zodiac Recon AT in this informative review.
“Until now I thought companies were either good at boots…..or running shoes…but never great at both," says Lee-Stuart.
Lee-Stuart has crossed the Sahara in the famous Marathon des Sables and been part of a team to be the first to cross 100 mile long Frozen Lake Khovsghol in Mongolia. He’s also been lucky enough to be a Rat Race Test Pilot for up and coming races and adventures on their Bucket List Series.
He is a featured TEDx Speaker, technical diver, pilot and more. But what may be most interesting and endearing about Lee-Stuart is his refreshingly humble and down to earth approach to any feat or adventure he embarks upon and the gear he uses to get there. He writes useful guides on things like long distance running gear kit lists, wild and stealth camping and how to survive on 16,000 calories for a week in the desert. Who knew?
We are excited to share this excerpt from The Air, Land and Sea’s Lee-Stuart Evans’ comprehensive review and video featuring the LALO Zodiac Recon AT.
“The ZODIAC RECON AT running shoes are great in so many ways. They have more than average cushioning for long runs on trail whilst still maintaining plenty of control when you are running or hiking on uneven or rocky terrain. They have a non nonsense ‘normal’ fit across the toes so your feet enjoy a more natural foot shape and your toes don’t get squeezed. The grip meets the demands of a multitude of terrain by being good in the wet and the dry and the shoe has been designed to be used on sections of tarmac too because in the real world we all have to run to the trails or do sections of sidewalk as well. I love the drain features and quick drying fabric too which repels water on its outer coating. I would describe these shoes as like mini military hovercrafts, but they handle more like a dirt bike! These will not disappoint.”
“Outdoor gear is expensive and some of it is expensive and terrible. My reviews do what they can to steer you clear of rubbish and buy well made long lasting gear that works. Gear I use daily. You wont see me endorsing something on Instagram because I’m being paid. If I’m raving about gear on this blog you’ll find endless pics of me using it myself online. I stand by what I endorse. “
Read more and watch the video featuring what Lee-Stuart has to say about the Zodiac Recon AT here >>
Photos courtesy of Lee-Stuart Evans.
We are happy to share outside knowledge and experiences from such a well-respected publication. It's always great to hear an unbiased opinion. Take a look, have a read, and let us know your thoughts.
By Tom Marshall
Senior Editor / Recoil Network
Guns and knives and medkits and watches and paracord survival bracelets are all cool to shop for – and not unimportant pieces of gear. But the literal foundation of any EDC is gonna be a good pair of shoes. You may never shoot it out with ISIS, save a life with your pocket tourniquet or use your wristband key cuff to escape from foreign custody. But we can 100% guarantee that you will walk, run, climb or shuffle somewhere at some point every day.
Like any other piece of kit, your needs and daily environment will dictate exactly what you need. But there are a couple of safe-bet factors to look for: hard use durability, long-term comfort and the ability to transition through multiple types of terrain without causing slippage.
LALO is a footwear company that was originally founded specifically to meet the needs of the Naval Special Warfare community. Their initial product line was focused on combat boots, but they have branched into athletic footwear based on direct feedback from the SOF community. From this input, they have developed a line of lightweight and well-ventilated shoes for both endurance running and cross training. Earlier this year, they released the Zodiac Recon AT (All Terrain).
The skeptical among you may believe that shoes are just shoes. Use those shoes over any distance longer than a shopping aisle, rougher than the waiting room of your dentist’s office or carrying more weight than full pockets, and the true value of a good pair of shoes will become painfully clear in the most literal sense.
Our first stop with the Zodiac Recon AT’s was a two-day “Weaponize The Senses” class with Greenside Training. This class was put on in August in the southernmost parts of Arizona, within mortar distance of the US-Mexico border. Ironically, a large part of the Greenside curriculum revolves around reading and following footprints. Part of what separates the Zodiac Recon AT’s from other Zodiac line shoes is Lalo’s Off Road Traction Pods.
The ORTP system is a unique tread pattern that consists of clusters of geometric plugs that runs from the very back edge of the heel and pest the front edge of the sole, with a sort of toe-dig traction pad about the size of your big toe, in roughly the same location. This unique feature allows you to dig the shoe hard into loose soil or against a rock face to get a solid initial push. In the context of the Weaponize The Senses class, the Off Road Traction Pods taught us two things: that the Zodiac Recon AT has a very distinctive tread pattern and that said pattern works really in wet, sandy settings. (Which should be a no-brainer for shoes that were made for the SEAL community.)
After a weekend of man-tracking in bordertown, our next major stop with these kicks was Burnett, Texas for the Atomic Athlete Vanguard – a two-and-a-half-day celebration of getting wet, sweaty and muddy. It poured rain the entire time we were there, giving us a chance to get ankle deep in some red clay mud. Even though the Traction Pods didn’t give us any distinct advantage in the mounds of mud, our feet stayed mostly dry throughout the weekend. The Recons seemed to accept a base-layer of mud which hardened around the body of the shoe and kept the majority of moisture out. For shoes that are not billed as waterproof, we were impressed with how little sogginess we experienced.
If that wasn’t enough water testing for you, we took our Recons from Texas to Louisiana for Rosco Manufacturing’s #BarrelGang event in New Orleans. This was a media event that had us running, kneeling and laying in bayou swamp grass to take some custom-built ARs out to 500 meters. In this case, swamp water got the best of our test kicks. But pulling out the insoles and putting in our hotel room hair drier fixed that problem in about 40 minutes or so.
Our final evolution with these shoes was a hike up Tucson, Arizona’s Mount Lemmon which includes trails that start out as high desert and end at 10,000 in lush pine groves. The Zodiac Recon AT’s truly live up to their All Terrain suffix. We are proud to report that we did not experience a single blister, abrasion or hot spot after our initial ruck. All in all, our first experience with LALO has been overwhelmingly positive and look forward to the opportunity to continue pushing these shoes until our toes poke through them.
We're excited to share the latest review from SHWAT on the LALO Shadow Amphibian. Jonathan Owen of SHWAT tested the Amphibian in a variety of environments and different conditions and here's what he had to say:
Testing the Lalo Shadow Amphibian Boots Across Three Time Zones
By Jonathan Owen of SHWAT
We love gear, don’t you? Guns, optics, thermal, night vision – but unless you intended to scout and hunt naked you need some awesome apparel and great footwear. That counts as gear in my book. A few months ago I was introduced to some new boots and the company behind them. The LALO brand boots were essentially part of a care package I received on a visit to High Speed Gear on the North Carolina coast and were unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t sure what to think of them when I pulled them out of the box, but three time zones and climates later I’m happy to share what I discovered.
Eastern Time Zone
I had no idea who LALO was or what they were all about when I opened the box. Performance boots was what I understood, but really, that could just be marketing hype, right? The boots look plastic and green. For whatever reason, the green really threw me off. I mean, I’m a pew professional and need to look good in pictures, seriously! There was a lot happening at that moment and I didn’t stop to read anything about the boots. I needed to dive in and move on with the program. Had I read the label I would have been more prepared for what happened later. Mine are the LALO Shadow Amphibian 8″ Ranger Green boots.
So I picked up a boot from the box. It seems to be reasonably lightweight. Light as in one pound five ounces, about the same as basketball or half the weight of your brain. That’s nice, wonder how it will fit? Won’t know until I loosen the laces which looks like it could take a minute or two.
I slipped my foot in and it had a solid stop. Footwear doesn’t usually do that with my flat feet. There’s no wiggle room but they didn’t feel tight, they literally fit like a glove and might be the first pair shoes or boots I’ve ever owned that did. Yep, weird, but weirder still was what happened next.
We went to a shooting range to get some trigger time with Sig MCX carbines and P320 pistols. We’d feed mags from our new HSG Battle Belts. There was a lot of standing in the boots that day, not a lot of ground got covered. But at the range just a few miles off the coast there was some shallow standing water near a place I wanted to take a picture. No big deal, I’m wearing fancy boots I’ll just step into the two inch deep puddle and – “What the heck!?! There’s water in these brand new boots! How is this possible? Guess I won’t review these…” Thoughts spin through my head but there’s nothing to do about it so we carry on. Distracted by the activities I didn’t notice my feet had completely dried until much later. In fact, I didn’t notice my feet at all and that’s strange because standing for long periods usually induces some serious foot and lower leg pain.
Central Time Zone
After I got home I realized that these LALO Shadow Amphibian boots were named “Amphibian” for functional reasons, not just marketing. They are not waterproof. LALO assumes you’ll get wet. Right in the sole they have what LALO calls “Dual Directional Drainage Ports” that coincidentally let water in as well. Stay with me here, I didn’t think I’d want that either but it got me thinking, “If they vent water I bet they vent air and that could be great.” With that thought and their comfort in mind I packed them for a Texas hog hunt. These hunts usually call for miles of walking through the dark of night in wheat fields. Occasionally they require full on sprints, or at least solid jogs of couple hundred yards or more. Hot sweaty feet are just not fun. I theorized that the Lalo Amphibian boots would mitigate that and they did and more.
The wheat was knee to thigh high everywhere and as dawn approach the dew became ridiculous. My pant legs were so soaked I felt like I might as well have been wading through a lake. While the last thing I expected in West Texas was wet feet, gravity and my socks got together to move that moisture into my boots. I began squishing water with every step as we headed for the house. I haven’t cut my boot in half to see how it works, and maybe I’ll be able to go into more detail in another report, but it seemed that the Shadow Amphibians would literally pump the water out the drainage ports with each step. I’m not talking about sloshing, I’m talking pumping.
But that wasn’t all I learned in Texas. I learned about efficiency. In my conversation with Shannon Baker at LALO, she described how the boot sole and inner plate yield more efficient movement. They have independent lab results that scientifically validate that, but my own experience was validation enough for me. I exerted less effort covering those familiar field than before, and moved more quickly without tiring.
Mountain Time Zone
The next test is for hunters who traverse rocky trails and perhaps climb in elevation. I grabbed a backpack, added some useless weight and traveled to spot south of Estes Park, Colorado. Starting at 8500 feet of elevation, I’d climb most of a thousand more in my Shadow Amphibians. Parts of the trail were nicely groomed, parts nothing but pointed rocks resembling a 3D model of the Rocky Mountains themselves, and parts with little to no trail to speak of.
The LALO boots gripped everything from slick rock (not wet) to the super pointy bits. It was the later I wanted to really find out about. I’ve worn other boots in similar terrain where I could feel all the sharp surfaces through the soles and it’s not fun. Then there are boots that you don’t feel the rocks in but they don’t flex so you fatigue much faster. Wearing the Amphibians I had great grip and comfort. I believe it’s the “puncture resistant composite plate for protection and fatigue reduction” that makes the difference here. Either way I believe my feet would have been happy going a much longer distance.
One last test for the LALO boots: Let’s see how fast the boot will clear water. Next to a waterfall I submersed my foot and left it there for a minute or so to take pictures. Within two tenths of a mile I couldn’t tell I’d ever stepped in the water. To me, that’s impressive. I’d guess there was still moisture inside, I didn’t take off my boot to check, but I couldn’t tell it and I wasn’t wearing any super high tech socks. I guess I can thank the boot lining for that. LALO says it’s, “Moisture wicking hydrophobic antimicrobial.” It’s been a week since the second hike there and I just verified these Amphibians don’t stink!
Conclusion
When it comes to gear, wisdom generally dictates getting the right tool for the right job. Any footwear review must take that into account. I’d never have guessed that I’d be so enthusiastic about boots that let water in. As it happens, LALO makes an alternate version of these called the Intruder without the passive drainage system. I rather imagine I’d prefer those in the winter.
There are two things I’ve found I don’t love about these boots. First up, the laces. Well, not laces exactly, but lacing. These are eight inch tall tactical boots and there’s no getting around the ten rungs of lacing you need to loosen to get in or out of the boot and then cinch to wear. It’s pretty normal and I have several other tactical boots that require the same process. If you want tall tactical boots, lacing is a requirement. So this isn’t a knock on the boots as much as it is an FYI. Either way there’s hidden pocket in the Amphibian tongue to tidy up the tied laces. I didn’t always use it but it’s nice to have.
Lastly, and I know this is petty, they are green. “Ranger Green” to be precise. I know, that’s not really weird to many in the military, law enforcement, search and rescue, etc. who wear these around the world. It’s not like LALO even asked a color preference. But really, who cares? You if you’re buying them new, and they are available in Coyote, Black Ops and Desert Sand as well. As for me, I like them well enough to wear them in the back country with shorts and bright socks sticking out the top, green, blue or whatever.
LALO makes other products that hopefully we’ll get to review down the road. They look different than the usual types of footwear you see on the shelf so I suspect they are different.
LALO SHADOW AMPHIBIAN SPECIFICATIONS:
* Hidden lace pocket
* KPU Grill designed to keep out debris while allowing for breathability
* Full grain leather
* Sleek vamp profile to allow a secure fin fit
* Blade resistant and water repellent SuperFabric™ ceramic-treated textile overlay for abrasion resistance
* Dual direction drainage ports
* Slip resistant injection molded rubber outsole
* Multi-density EVA designed to cushion at foot-strike and propel during toe-off
* Articulating heel and outsole shape for a quiet stealth approach
* Fin lock or IR Glint tape pocket
* Moisture-wicking, hydrophobic antimicrobial lining
* Puncture-resistant composite plate with rotation for protection and fatigue reduction
* Contoured metal arch
* Rip-stop nylon accents
* Engineered Achilles flex notch
* Seamless, lightweight quarter protection construction
* MSRP $350
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