Salomon X Ultra 4 Mid GTX Review (2026): Day-Hiker That Earns

Why you should trust this review

I bought this pair of X Ultra 4 Mid GTX with my own money from a regular retailer. Salomon did not send it to me, did not know I was testing it, and has no say in what I write here. That matters, because a lot of hiking-boot coverage reads like a press release, and a boot that feels great on a showroom floor can be a different animal after twenty miles of wet granite.

My testing ground is the rooted, rocky, frequently soaked trail network of northern New England. I am a fast day-hiker who occasionally carries an overnight pack, and that is exactly the use case this boot is built for. Over five months I logged 140 hours in these, which is enough time to watch the midsole start to pack out, the toe rand begin to scuff, and the Gore-Tex liner prove whether it actually keeps water out once the leaves get slick. Everything below comes from that wear, not from a spec sheet.

How we evaluated

I wore the X Ultra 4 Mid GTX as my primary three-season boot, rotating in nothing else for the first six weeks so I could feel break-in honestly. I tracked every hike: distance, terrain, whether my feet stayed dry, and where hot spots showed up. I deliberately walked through eleven stream crossings deep enough to submerge the boot to the laces, then checked my socks afterward. I scrambled rock to stress the toe and outsole, and I carried packs ranging from a light daypack up to a loaded 30-pound overnight kit to feel where the support ends.

I am not a lab. I cannot give you a durometer reading on the foam. What I can tell you is how the boot behaved on real ground over real months, which is the part most buyers actually care about.

Weight and break-in

The headline is the weight. At about 920 grams per pair, the X Ultra 4 Mid is dramatically lighter than the traditional leather mids I grew up hiking in, and you feel it on every step of a long day. The math is simple: less mass on your feet means less fatigue over twelve miles, and by the end of a hard day my legs were noticeably fresher than they are in a 1,180-gram Keen Targhee.

Break-in was effectively nonexistent. My first outing was a five-mile shakedown and I finished it without a single hot spot. The synthetic-and-textile upper has no stiff leather to soften, so the boot is comfortable from the box. If you are used to suffering through fifty break-in miles in a heavier boot, this is a genuine relief. The trade is that a soft, flexible upper does not give you the structural support a stiffer boot does, which becomes the recurring theme of this review.

Waterproofing and traction

The Gore-Tex liner did its job. Across eleven crossings deep enough to wet the laces, my socks stayed dry every time. That is the single most reassuring thing a waterproof boot can do, and the X Ultra 4 delivered it consistently through five months. I will note the obvious caveat: a mid-cut boot only keeps water out up to the cuff, so a crossing deeper than the ankle will flood it like any other boot. Within its height, though, it held.

The Contagrip MA outsole grips well on the surfaces I hike most: dry root tangles, granite slabs, and packed dirt. On wet, polished rock it is good rather than magical, which is true of nearly every lugged outsole. The 4.5 mm lugs shed mud reasonably and bite into loose descents. The Quicklace system, which I expected to dislike, turned out to be a quiet strength. It cinches evenly, stays put on technical downhills, and never loosened on me mid-hike. The heel cup locks the foot in place, and I credit that lockdown for the blister-free long days.

Support, durability, and load limits

Here is where you need to be honest with yourself about how you hike. The X Ultra 4 Mid is a daypack boot. Under a light load it is excellent. Push past about 25 pounds on your back and the EVA chassis flexes more than is ideal, and the modest ankle cuff will not catch a turned step the way a stiffer backpacking boot does. If your trips routinely involve 30-plus pounds, this is the wrong tool and you should look at the Salomon Quest 4 GTX instead.

Durability is the other trade for the low weight. The EnergyCell+ EVA midsole is bouncy and comfortable, but it packs out faster than a stiff backpacking shank, and I expect the cushioning to fade somewhere in the 350-to-450-mile range based on how mine feel now. The toe rand also picks up wear quickly if you scramble a lot, and the Quicklace cord, while excellent in use, is awkward to repair on trail if it ever frays. None of these are deal-breakers for a day-hiking boot, but they are reasons it is not a forever boot.

Who should buy the Salomon X Ultra 4 Mid GTX?

Buy it if you are a day hiker or light-overnighter who values pace and low fatigue, you want a boot that is comfortable from the first mile, and you hike rooty, rocky, occasionally wet trails where grip and waterproofing matter more than maximum ankle armor. It is also a strong pick for anyone with medium-volume feet who has been disappointed by heavier mids.

Skip it if you regularly carry heavy backpacking loads, you have wide or high-volume feet that need the roomier Targhee III or Moab 3, or you want a boot built to grind out a thousand miles before the midsole gives up. For those buyers a stiffer, heavier, more supportive boot is the smarter spend.

The verdict

After 140 hours I keep reaching for the X Ultra 4 Mid GTX on any hike where I am not carrying a heavy pack. It nails the things that make a day on the trail pleasant: it is light, it is comfortable immediately, it grips, and it kept my feet dry through every crossing I threw at it. The compromises are real and predictable. The support is modest, the foam will pack out before a backpacking boot would, and heavy scrambling wears the toe. But every one of those trade-offs is the direct cost of the low weight that makes this boot so good for its intended job. If you match it to that job, the X Ultra 4 Mid GTX earns its keep and then some. If you ask it to be a load-hauling backpacking boot, it will let you down. Buy it for what it is and you will be happy.