Astral Loyak Review

To start off with, let me just say I'm already a huge fan of Astral gear. My lifejacket of choice? Astral Green Jacket. Such a fantastic PFD. My dog's lifejacket? Astral Bird Dog. He loves it. Favorite river shoes? Astral Brewers. I can't even go on enough about how much I love my Brewers and wear them everywhere! Well, everywhere except for when they won't fit in some of my kayaks that have smaller foot room. My Brewers have spoiled me and it makes me angry when I have to switch to booties. So needless to say, I was super stoked when Astral introduced their new Loyak model. Could this new product allow me to put my booties up for good? On to the review!

I think a good way to describe the new Astral Loyak is if a Brewer had a child with a water shoe. So you have the bomber Curdura fabric, the ultra sticky G15 rubber sole, drainage holes and great looks of the Brewer with the low profile and flexibility of a water shoe. Basically it sounds like a marriage made in heaven. Let's take a closer look at the different materials used.

Click to see the gallery

The G15 rubber is really one of the most important parts of the shoe. When Astral first introduced the Brewers, they used Stealth rubber from Five Ten. While that is a fantastic material, Astral decided to step up and improve on it. Thus, the G15 was born. I can attest that it has phenomenal grip. Possibly even more so than the Stealth rubber. 

The Cordura fabric that makes up the upper portion of the shoe is extremely durable and is the same fabric used in Astral's lifejackets. I've been wearing my Loyaks a TON and they still look exactly like they did when I first bought them. I expect them to hold up very well over time.

So all that sounds good but how does it actually work out in real life? I'm happy to say, extremely well. I have used the new Loyaks in a variety of different scenarios and they have performed wonderfully. As far as for boating, the low profile and flexibility of the Loyaks have allowed me to wear them in all of my kayaks. Fitting my Brewers in the smaller ones is just simply not possible for me but the Loyaks fit very well. They even have a removable insole to make them even thinner, however I have not needed to do that with mine. All of that being said, they only thing that sucks is that they only come in whole sizes. They fit pretty true to size so in my case an 11 works great but a size 10.5 would be even better for tight spaces. Some people might want to round down on your size (10 in my case) if space is at a serious premium.

On top of being able to fit them in smaller spaces, the Loyaks are just extremely comfortable and lightweight. Due to their featherweight (6.35 oz), my friend and I carried our Loyaks along with us on a recent hiking/backpacking trip in case we wanted to play around in the water some. We, of course, ended up putting on our Loyaks and scaling some water cascades. The grip was excellent on the water covered rocks and they were so comfortable, we ended up just wearing them for the last couple of miles of hiking. Despite being wet, having relatively thin soles, etc they performed insanely well.

Another one of the great things about Astral's shoes, besides performance, is how stylish they are while being comfortable as an everyday shoe. Just take a look at some of the other water shoes out there. Go ahead, I'll wait... Yeah, most of them definitely look like they are water shoes and feel pretty much the same way,. Astral's shoes on the other hand look cool and feel good. You can wear them anywhere and still maintain a serious level of style and comfort. I wear mine all the time (sans socks no less) and they have quickly become one of my favorite shoes.

So, should you buy them? In my humble opinion, YES. These are without a doubt, some of the best water shoes on the market. They look great, are super comfortable, work extremely well for a variety of different purposes, etc. To really illustrate it though, I'll leave you with a quote from one of our team members, Clint. After wearing his Loyaks for a day or two, he had this to say: "I love my Loyaks so much, I might never take them off again." You don't get much higher praise than that.

PROS:

- Cordura fabric upper is super durable
- Low profile and flexibility allows you to fit them into places other shoes can't go
- G15 sole has phenomenal traction
- all day comfort, even when wet
- super lightweight
- Very stylish. Wear them to the river and then straight to the bar

CONS:

- Don't seem to dry as quickly as Brewers
- Only available in whole sizes

Retail Price:

- $79.95

Colors: 

- Navy/Brown

- Black

- Red/Black

Go to Astral.com to check out the Loyaks for yourself.