Xero Scrambler Trail Mid Review

Ground Feedback

A stiffer outsole and a cushier midsole made the Xero Scrambler Trail Mid less sensitive compared to other barefoot shoes. However, these have much more ground feedback than a traditional hiking boot and serve as a nice middle ground if you want to ease into minimalist footwear.

Xero built the Xero Scrambler Trail Mid with a total stack height of 11.5mm, which is the distance from your foot to the ground, including the insole, midsole, and outsole. This is a relatively thin construction, though the most sensitive competition makes you feel like you're wearing nothing but a rubbery slipper. We could still feel the trail's slope, roots, and gravel while wearing the Scrambler Trail Mid, but its protective outsole inherently reduced the amount of detail we could sense from our feet.

Stability

This was one of our favorite models for stability. Its high-top upper and padded ankle design kept our feet from rolling, even when carrying heavier bags on overnight trips. The zero-drop platform also gave us better balance, particularly when paired with a fairly wide last, which gave us enough room to splay our toes for better lateral support- a particularly helpful feature for shoes meant to handle uneven trails.

The Xero Scrambler Trail Mid features a great lacing system that's easy to tighten across the mid and upper foot when tackling more rugged terrain. There is also a midsole made with TrailFoam™, but it didn't compress or deform under load, which helped the Scrambler deliver a consistently stable platform across every day of testing, even as we further broke in the shoe.

Loose dirt and sand can notoriously cause instability, especially in barefoot footwear, where slips and slides can encourage more ankle rolls. However, the Scrambler Trail Mid doesn't respond as dramatically side-to-side when your feet slip, thanks to the generous ankle pads, which minimize lateral tilt. From damp, forested backpacking in the Pacific Northwest to summit scrambles in the Rockies, our feet and ankles felt much more confident in the Scrambler Trail Mid than most other shoes in the barefoot class.

Traction

The FeelTrue rubber in the Xero Scrambler Trail Mid offered decent grip in most traction tests, though it was less secure on wet, slick rock. Xero crafted the outsole with more lugs than typical barefoot shoes, providing better traction on muddy trails or gravel.

The tread pattern on the Xero Scrambler Trail Mid performs very well on wet hikes, with mud easily working its way out of the boot through the channels between the lugs. The lugs are also short enough for decent grip on pavement, concrete, or tile, so you can take the Scrambler on more urban adventures as well, though the high-top construction might be less warranted.

On our scrambling tests in Tuolumne, the higher-elevation section of Yosemite National Park, the Scrambler's FeelTrue rubber held up fairly well until we got to granite water streaks, where we had some slippage. Ultimately, we pushed every pair of barefoot shoes to the point of slipping in such environments, and this shoe ranked near the top of the charts.

Most of the barefoot shoes we tested were not ideal for snow-covered trails, but the Scrambler Trail Mid performed well, largely due to the lug size. Its high-top design and XeroTex waterproof membrane also kept our feet drier, allowing our testers to plow through snow patches rather than cut our hikes short.

Weight

While the Xero Scrambler Trail Mid isn't the lightest footwear out there, it's relatively light compared to other high-top models that extend above the ankle.

We measured the Xero Scrambler Trail Mid at 25.1 ounces in a men's 9, making it one of the heavier models. These more robust barefoot shoes simply require more material than below-ankle models, and we felt that the “weight-to-support” ratio was excellent. Compared to a typical hiking boot, the Scrambler Trail Mid is actually quite light.

Durability

These minimalist boots offer excellent longevity for shoppers intending to run their next pair of barefoot shoes through the paces. Xero also offers a jaw-dropping 5,000-mile warranty on any shoes that use FeelTrue® rubber, so if you ever do manage to break down the outsole of the Xero Scrambler Trail Mid (at least if it has been under 5,000 miles), Xero will help you either get into a new pair or repair the shoes.

The upper material of the Scrambler Trail Mid features polyester ripstop construction, which we appreciated for its relative breathability, but we were curious how it'd hold up. On deep gravel, sand, or scree, the upper's reinforcements kept it from getting too frayed, and the rubberized toe cap was both protective and durable as we took the Scrambler off-trail.

Should You Buy the Xero Scrambler Trail Mid?

We loved these boots for their best-in-class support and their thoughtful balance between foot protection and sensitivity. They are comparatively light compared with other hiking boots with ankle support, but they are not our top recommendation if weight is a priority in your minimalist footwear hunt. In the context of barefoot shoes, the Scrambler Trail Mid is on the bulkier side, but it is an excellent choice for hikers and backpackers who want more ground feel in their on-trail footwear.

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