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Took a chance on a pair of Ebay knockoffs. We’ll see how this goes. I have to admit this was the first time I’ve ever ordered anything via Ebay. And quite a few years since I had my last run-in with the Swedish customs. And I’m well aware of the quality concerns and negative reviews that people have been voicing.
Price was about a third of the original.
I have of course been looking for the original Kahtoola Microspikes as well, but they are amazingly hard to find. Can’t be found in Sweden at least. And ordering from the UK was surprisingly pricey. There is just one seller on Ebay that has them in black and offers free international shipping from the US (about as slow as shipping from Hong Kong I reckon plus the added risk of customs fees with a more expensive product). Needless to say, his "buy it now" listings, at least in the sizes I’m looking for, are usually sold within a day or so.
I think I will wait for these knockoffs to arrive before I make a decision on the Kahtoola. Shipping so far has been surprisingly brisk as the package is apparently already at Heathrow (and stuck in the snow I bet). That is three or four days from order to Shenzhen to Hong Kong to London.
If at all possible I would like to take customs out of the equation next time. I don’t like to take any chances. Plus I know how completely unreasonably angry I will be. Last time I got stuck in customs (importing DVDs) I forced customs to pay me back on one occasion and I spent hours on the phone with government clerks, customs and the postal service. In retrospect it was unbelievably self-centred. It’s smart to avoid that sort of hassle if you know you can’t handle it. At some point you might position yourself in a situation where you will just snap and do something you can never take back. But I digress.
Addendum: The crampons finally arrived. A month after ordering. Or about 20 days not counting the seasonal holidays. Clearly, the package left Heathrow on Xmas eve at the very latest according to 4px tracking. Where it has been after that I do not know. But my suspicion is that the Swedish postal office does this out of sheer spite.
Anyway, about the crampons. They seem quite alright actually. The one thing I can’t know for sure is how durable they are compared to the original. As suspected though, they were a little small for my 44.5 (10.5 US) hiking boots. They fit a lot better on a pair of multisport sneakers of the same size though. No matter as I’m not the only one needing crampons around here, but personally I will have to look for another alternative. You could fit them alright with some stretching but I felt that the elastic didn’t catch on properly to the heel because of it, and the chains and spikes were also kind of short. The back plate ended up too far forward, and the chains got pulled apart and left a dangerous gap right under the heel. It is something that I’ve read about regarding the Kahtoola as well and now I suspect that the people experiencing this have simply had the wrong size. On the other hand I have also heard complaints that going for a larger model might also give too much chain slack.
I’m still on the lookout for the original Kahtoola or similar. It’s a shame they have to be so dang expensive though (counting shipping and all).
