Unequal comfortable pair of shoes
Great shoes except the laces protecting tongues stick out too far , other than that, I would give it a five stars for its comfort .

Great Boot- Bad Laces
Merrell seems to have had difficulty with their lacing system on this boot. In an attempt to keep the laces secure, they used a kind of hybrid cord lock to snug the laces rather than tie a traditional knot. The problem is, on this midheight shoes (as opposed to a traditional height shoe) is that a compromise exists between the laces length and not being able to open up the tongue far enough to get your child's foot into the shoes. Ultimately, with the stock laces, the boot face doesn't open enough to get your child's foot in. I went to my local camping store, bought 6 feet of camping cord in the same diameter, cut and sealed the ends, and went about the task of re-lacing the boot. With the laces snug tight, there is significant excess of laces, requiring sliding the excess under the lacing at the bottom of the shoes. So, unless you want to tie traditional knots in the shoes, getting the boots on and off is time consuming and difficult for the child, making them not want to wear the shoes. The shoe itself is great, warm , waterproof, no complaints after a day in the snow sledding. I would buy these boots again, as the boot is what really counts, protecting your child from the elements without wearing vinyl or rubber clunky boots that are not really made for active kids. If you're a patient type, these are good shoes.