Gents:
Some of you may know that I suffered from a bad right ankle for many years. It's a long story, but the end result is that now it has been surgically repaired, and I've recovered mostly. Pre-surgery, I had to buy overkill boots ... something that would positively absolutely keep me from rolling my ankle in the field. That lead to me using lots of heavy, tall, sometimes cumbersome boots.
Ankle support is still important, obviously, but now, I find myself able to shop much more "normally" for boots. I'd like to hear what people are using, in what conditions, and why.
I'll start:
Tried lots of boots: Danners, Red Wings, Rocky, Meindls (Cabelas), Hanwag, Asolos, Merrells, and others (Schnees, Sorels, Mucks) . Meindls seemed to work best for me as a hunting boot, even though I had to return two sets of Canadas due to stitching failures (when they were double-stitched only). Then Alaskas, but they were heavy. Then some hikers (pre-Perfekts), that were solid, but heavy for hikers.
Got into some Hanwag Trapper Tops and also some Cordura hikers. Good, but .. heavy. Felt like Herman Munster in them.
Finally tried some Asolos post-surgery, Echo, Neutron, and Fugitive GTX. Loved the Echo (non-Gore-Tex version of Fugitive GTX). Tried the Neutron but the last is not the same last as the Echo, and they just were not the same. Looked for Echos, but they had been discontinued, and then I read reviews on the Fugitive GTX and saw where they use the same last as the Echo and that special-ops guys love them in the sandbox, and so I bought a pair to replace my Echos.
Put some miles (kilometers
) on them in Argentina, and whooee ... did my ankle like these boots!
Asolo Fugitive GTX is my new favorite boot. Light enough, tough, easy to walk in all day due to their very stable last, protects my ankle ... love them. Top of the list for me for a new pair, but am very interested to hear others' experience and what they are currently riding.
How about you?
