Stabilicers Lite

Stabilicers Lite

December 13, 2009
Review by Jason B.

Does your trail look like this?

Want to adventure outside in the winter, but worried about slips, trips, and falls?  Stabilicers ice cleats are traction devices that help provide traction on icy and snow packed trails!  In the marine climate here on Kodiak Island, we tend to get a mixture of snow and rain.  Over time this creates a layer of ice that coats everything.  This winter I will be using Stabilicers Lite during my outdoor adventures. 

The Stabilicers Lite are rubbery feeling traction devices that slip on over most shoes.  There are metal cleats embedded on the forefoot and heel that provide traction on icy surfaces. In addition to the metal cleats there is  additional tread on the bottom to help with traction.  Using them is fairly simple; simply stretch the elastic upper part of the device over the nose and heel of a boot and then fine tune the fit by ensuring the metal cleats are centered over the forefeet and the heel of the boot.  That’s it! Time to start walking and enjoying winter adventures!

I received a  pair of medium sized Stabilicers Lite which are supposed to fit men’s sizes 7.5 to 10.  I wear between a men’s 9-10 and found that the Stabilicers fit all of my normal style outdoor footwear, but they don’t seem to fit my size 9 rubber and neoprene pull on boots. I think a larger pair of Stabilicers would fit these particular boots.

Winter is in full force here in Kodiak, and I look forward to using the Stabilicers Lite and seeing how they fair in our winter weather!

Stabilicers Lite Update – March 13, 2010

Well winter here was a bust. Early December was bitter cold with temperatures in the single digits and then by Mid December until the beginning of March it has been 40 F and rain.  Not just your average misty rain, but biblical proportion rain and blowing winds in excess of 40 mph.  However, before the rains came I was able to use the traction devices several times.  Most of my use took place while hiking to Termination Point, in the Monashka Bay region or while cutting and hauling wood in the Pillar River region of Kodiak.  I also used them while hiking at Ft. Abercrombie and while walking to work.  

I will start with the positives.  They are extremely easy to put on which I really like.  They stretch easily to fit over my various types of boots and trail shoes.  Traction was very good on flat surfaces and slight inclines or declines.  Durability has been good thus far – no cuts or knicks in the rubber nor is there any damage to the cleats themselves. 

Now a couple things that aren’t as positive for me.  The first is they just don’t stay on my footwear very well.  I have followed the instructions on the website and made sure that they traction device is securely on my footwear and that all the rubber is pulled up as far as I can on my boot.  However, when hiking on mixed terrain that features ice covered sections like the one in the picture above and then a forested section which may have sticks and frozen ground the traction devices inevitably would pop off.  This would lead me to backtracking until I found the device and eventually just watching my feet throughout the hike to make sure I hadn’t lost them.  The black color blends in well with the forest but they do offer more visible colors which is good and if I were to do it again I would request the bright orange color.  The traction devices falling off seemed to only be a problem while hiking; they seemed to stay on much better while walking in the city on frozen sidewalks. 

The second area where the performance was only marginal was on steep inclines and declines. I used the traction devices while hiking on lowland trails that run along the coast of Kodiak.  Even so there are sections where the trail may gain or lose 40-50 feet of elevation at time.  The small cleats on the bottom of the traction device just didn’t have enough bite to stick into the icy trail while ascending or descending.

For me the Stabilicers Light are perfect for around town use along with some light trail usage.  March portends snow and ice here on the Rock and I hope to get some more use before the winter ends.

Designed by Tim Sainburg from Brambling Design

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