SuMade Waterproof Socks, Men Women Knee High Hiking Kayaking Socks 1 Pair

I ordered these SuMade knee-high waterproof socks for a Boundary Waters canoe trip after buying, and returning, a pair of Cabela's Sealskinz knee-highs that were only mid-calf in height. I noticed most of the reviews were very favorable on the SuMades, and they are $30-32, much less than the $40 Sealskinz. I have not used them in the field yet, but tested their waterproofness (is that a word?) in a 5 gallon bucket with the water up at about an inch or two below the cuff (which is not waterproof). No leakage after more than 4 minutes standing each leg in the bucket. I had on cotton ankle highs under, and they remained dry throughout the test. Thus, so far anyway, they appear to be waterproof as advertised. I'll see how they hold up on the 8 day trip with portages. Regarding sizing, I thought I had ordered Medium because I wear 9.5 or sometmes 10 in shoe size and the sizing chart for these showed Medium fit 9.5 to 12 in men's. But the pair I received is labeled Large on the bag they come in, and each sock has a white L on the inside. Although that size is supposed to fit men's 12.5 to 14.5, mine seem to actually be what is described to be Medium - my foot is 10.25 inches long and I have about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of space in front of my toes (see pic). So I am expecting these to work for me. I know thus far that they are very comfortable wearing in a pair of Crocs. Will see if I end up having any bunching/chafing or blister problems (knock on wood) during portages. UPDATE - I wore these on 5 of 8 days of my Canadian canoe trip. I made sure to always put on my quick draining water shoes as soon as I put the socks on and never stepped on bare ground with only the socks between my feet and the ground. They functioned beautifully, keeping my feet dry during canoing, landings, departures, and portages, and they were comfortable with no bunching, sore spots, or blistering. My feet got damp from perspiration but never wet or cold. However, on the 5th day I noticed one foot seemed wet. When I got home from the trip, I re-ran the bucket test, again 4 minutes per sock, wearing a light cotton sock inside each to help detect leaks. One sock was still completely waterproof, but, disappointingly, the other leaked at the ball of my foot, making the cotton sock quite wet. Therefore, despite what I considered great care, I did not get even a week, let alone a season, of use before leaking began.

So I had skepticism about a sock that is waterproof. And after wearing them and splashing through a river or two, here are my impressions. It feels like your feet are wet, but it's just the cold of the body of water you are walking through. After doing a long hike, my shoes were completely soaked. But my feet were dry. These socks are tight, like compression socks. They are also very cold, they don't keep your feet very warm. So, I put socks on underneath the compression socks. That helped a little bit on the cold feet situation. But after my hike, I found that my sock bottoms were wet with sweat. The top of my socks though were dry. So it's definitely sweat and not water seeping through. Washing. Machine washed them, and they wash fine, but hold water like no other. It took 2 days to dry them out. And hanging the socks toes up, you have to wring the top of the socks off a few times, as a bunch of water will just accumulate there. Overall. These are great socks for hiking, especially if you are going to get your feet wet.

Run a full size big and ballon once filled with water. I wear shoe size 8US, 41Euro, 26 Asia and the XS fit me perfectly. These socks work very well for wet wading for trout in cold mountain streams and rivers. They may be water proof if you don’t wade above your knees, but if wading in deeper water they will fill with water, but work similar to a wetsuit creating a layer of water between the material and your skin and provide a perfect temperature for wet wading in cold water. They also provide cushioning against small rocks that accumulate in your shoes and protect your shins against scrapes and bruises from the slippery rocks and boulders in the stream bed. These socks exceeded my expectations, I highly recommended them for wet wading in cold water.

They work well enough but be careful on the size you choose. I have small feet that are about 8.5 or 9 so I figured I would go with the small size. I'm using this to combat cold and keep water out as I deliver mail. Factor in wearing a pair of socks under these and you will want to go one size up if you come to close to the max size. They also don't keep my feet as warm as I would like and they're really hard to get off. I still use them everyday I can though as they do keep your feet dry.

These socks work as advertised. I bought these socks because the other brands only have a cold weather sock in the knee high while these are warm weather rated. Here in southeast Texas the water temperature has cooled off a bit while daytime high temperatures are in the 80’s. When stepping into the water the socks conduct the cold through to your feet giving the impression that your feet are getting wet however, if you remove the sock you will find your feet are dry. Once I pull my feet out of the water they quickly warm up and are comfortable. At the end of my kayaking session I am able to change back into my street shoes and socks without having to dry my feet. After several hours my feet are a little bit clammy but that's to be expected with any waterproof garment. One thing I have learned is that if you wash these socks (they wash up nicely) whether you tumble dry or air dry you will need to turn them inside out half way through or the inside will take forever to dry. I like them so well I bought a second pair.

I wore these kayaking Wednesday and they worked great

It was good

Unfortunately not waterproof. Both socks leaked after about an hour standing in shallow water