I live on a road which is an East-West hill joining two North South hills, so whichever way I go there are cambers and ups and downs to negotiate. Last winter, buses couldn't get closer than 10 minutes (on a normal day) walk away.
This year, with the rosehips reaching a massive size by late summer my folkie tales heralded it would be a hard winter. So I ordered these in September, and they have just had their first outing today on the slippy, slushy street, with snow already becoming packed and a little icy
Oh the bliss of being able to walk at normal, fast pace, without clutching lampposts/hedges/stray pedestrians.
These are stunningly fit for purpose - though initially the sensation of a slight sideways roll (because you are no longer have your foot completely flat on the floor, but are on rolled sprung tubes) is odd.
Two warnings - the first, MOST helpfully provided by the first spotlighted reviewer is that sizings are ODD to say the least. Be aware that if you shoe-size is below a European 42.5 apparently. 7 1/2 (rather than the normal 8 1/2) you will need SMALL. And as they start at European 38 (5) that leaves anyone with petite and dainty feet still slipping around.
Clearly those Americans have big feet!
Secondly, they are quite a struggle to fit onto your shoes - particularly to chunky walking boots which are surely the best footwear if the pavements are snow packed. They are extremely hard/tight to stretch over - making you feel you clearly have bought the wrong size and should have had a larger. When done though, its obvious that the eyewateringly tight fit IS what makes it work. You have to pull the rubber surrounds so they neatly clasp the boot on all sides, and then secure with the protective strap on velcro over the top of the boot. These will definitely NOT work their way loose mid stride.
Brilliant in use - though I now have one bloodied finger from the battle to get them onto my boot - wear gardening gloves!
One additional edit : you are advised to take these off if you are going 'indoors' - eg shops, as they say you are likely to slip. Given the difficulty putting them on the the first place I'd say walk carefully in shops-I've worn them doing my shopping and haven't fallen over in the supermarket yet. At least not sober.
Further edit............having taken the Yaktrax off my walking boots when the last lot of snow melted, and now put them back on to deal with this present deluge - MUCH easier operation the second time round (unbloodied!) So it would certainly the possible to remove in shops IF you need to - though you'd certainly still need a chair to sit on while you do the biceps strengthening stretch and reapply manouevre.
And yet another edit! - I encountered the first and only surface which felt unsafe in Yaktrax yesterday - a wet wooden floor in a shop. And clearly this was a more generally hazardous surface than just to YakTrax wearers, as they had laid down some carpet squares around the shop entrance - so, having walked on snow, ice, gritted pavement, cleared pavement, supermarket floors with lino without any qualms whatsoever and only encountered the single surface where I needed to place my feet carefully, I'm convinced these are safer in application than the manufacturers warning suggests - though obviously their best use is the claimed snow and ice. Yaktrax may perhaps just be covering themselves?
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