Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX Review: Monsters Aren’t Evil by Choice

Introduction to the Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX

SAM: My son is five, and his imagination has been unleashed onto our world as a virus made of make-believe. The moments when he isn’t immersed in pretending to be one animal or another are precious few. Most mornings and evenings are spent playing “animal wizard” (wherein I am a wizard who transmogrifies him into different animals), or “animal world” (wherein we are animals who do specific human tasks), or “our zoo” (wherein we are animals from the Baltimore Zoo).

He’s also a sensitive guy who has a real hesitance about new experiences that he perceives could be intense. He takes his time easing into new movies and TV shows. That fear, however, comes hand-in-hand with a deep curiosity regarding those frightful things. Most of us still have this, right? The objects of our fears hold a certain entrancing fascination for us — we must know them more fully because they evoke such strong emotions.

So you can imagine how it went when I tried to explain Godzilla to my little, wide-eyed, animal-loving boy. His imagination and fear swirled into a maelstrom of curiosity you could practically see raging behind his eyes.

“So, he’s a lizard, but he breaks whole cities? And he lives in the water? Why doesn’t he like the cities? What’s he called again? Oh, right, Godzilla. He’s just a really big lizard? Is he nice?”

Now, I don’t advise trying to explain that Godzilla is an avatar of the hubris of human progress and the fear of a vengeful natural world to a five-year-old. We didn’t get far there. But the whole conversation was a reminder that the concept of Godzilla is probably better explored through its intended medium — film — than as a loose overview supplementary to bedtime stories.

I was reminded of this, weirdly, in testing the Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX. Well, maybe not so weirdly. This is a big stomping shoe, and in the “Eucalyptus/Birch” colorway my testing pair came in, imagining you are Godzilla wrecking your way through a major metropolitan area isn’t too difficult. This hiking monster has a dual-density EVA midsole that’s made of 30% sugarcane, a one-piece nubuck leather upper lined with Gore-Tex InvisibleFit and capped in the toe and heel with durable plastic, and a truly claw-like Vibram MegaGrip outsole with traction lugs.

It weighs 17.1 oz for a US M9 and has an 8 mm heel-to-toe drop somewhere in that mountain of EVA. So I guess we should figure out whether this thing is as good at wrecking ascents as it is at imaginary skyscrapers.

What we like about the Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX

SAM: If this is what Godzilla’s feet look like, our monstrous scaly friend has style. The leather upper and plastic toe and heel supports give the Kaha 3 Low GTX an attractive, sports-style sheen that still looks tough enough to handle the toughest trails. The details are particularly impressive: it sports thick laces with a wavy texture, an elastic heel collar, and (in Eucalyptus/Birch) a two-tone midsole where the softer inner foam pokes through the carrier foam in a streak of green.

That leather upper is very tough and very protective. It kind of has to be, with that thick leather and the plastic caps. It’s plenty waterproof (below the collar), but the stack height on this shoe is substantial enough that if you’re submerged to the point you have to actually use that Gore-Tex Invisible Fit, you’re probably not going to keep water out of the top of the shoe. The tongue folds boot-like against the top of your foot, and has a comfortable thickness that doesn’t allow for any lace bite whatsoever.

That midsole is what Hoka says is the star of the show here. It’s great to see companies push the boundaries for sustainability, and the 30% sugarcane EVA and the 50% bio-renewable PU foam in the insole are steady steps in the right direction. This wedge of foam is firm, chunky, and protective — very, very protective. Underneath all that protection is the ever-reliable Vibram MegaGrip. It does a great job here and grips comfortably into the ground, no matter the surface.

What we don’t like about the Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX

SAM: Perhaps you read my introduction above and saw the weight of this shoe, but the number didn’t quite register, so I’ll pop that right back in here: 17.1 oz for a US M9 (17.7 oz for my US M10). This is no light hiker. The Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX is a full-on low boot with the weight to match. It feels like you have Godzilla feet on, and some of that is because you see why that lumbering monster moves so slowly.

That is, however, just an aside. After all, hiking boots have always been heavy, and there will forever be heavy boots as long as there are mountains to climb. The more pertinent issue here is that the Nubuck leather upper, as good as it looks, struggles to hold all that weight securely onto your foot. The Kaha 3 Low fits true to size, but the toebox is very narrow, and even after break-in, it was harsh against the sides of my toes. The leather and mesh are thick and difficult to cinch down, and if you do get it tight, the eyelets second from the top sit directly on the upper seam of the Gore-Tex lining. Tightening that seam into the top of your foot is painful, so I had to leave it loose. This isn’t ideal because the laces had issues staying tied, even double-knotted.

Final thoughts on the Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX

SAM: Walking in the Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX might be just a bit too similar to Godzilla’s lumbering. Between the weight and insecure fit, this is a hiking shoe best kept to sidewalks and light-duty trails. However, it’s a great-looking option for a casual shoe and urban hiker, especially in inclement weather. So make like that King of Lizards, stomp through your favorite city, and fear no water you might find there.

You can pick up the Hoka Kaha 3 Low GTX for $220 from Hoka by using the buttons below.