I have:
keens, whites, hoffman's, nicks, buffalo, hawthorne, red wing and tony lama right now.
when I work at work as a crane operator, I like the keens. mine are slip on wellington type. I like them fine. theyre china built and I added cabelas perfekt insoles becaus they work for me and I work 12-14 hour shifts.
when I work anywhere where I need to stand on concrete or hard ground, I would throw my keens, red wings and tony lamas in the garbage. you can't beat a nicks or whites for that.
my hoffmans are easily the strongest shanked boots ever built. I can stand my 250lb arse on a ladder rung all day without fatigue.
they all do something better and worse than the rest, be it support, weight or cost. pick it based on the application.
You've said it all (IMHO), my friend. Well said.
