Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Cabela's Meindls vs international Meindls - difference?

I've heard many times over the last few years that the "real" meindl boots are "so much better" than the Cabela's meindls. Cabela's has a contract with Meindl, so they're the only ones who can sell Meindl boots here in the states. I've owned the cabela's version, and I've had nothing but success with them. I've done some research and tried to figure out the difference, but I'll be durned if I can find it.

The ones that keep saying that the cabela's meindls are a lower quality boot are typically those that are selling a competitor. I've asked several of them (lathrop and sons, AJ Brooks) to tell me what corners were cut, and I haven't gotten a straight answer yet. I did hear "it's a price point boot" and "they use lower quality materials", but nobody seems to know where those corners are or what lower quality materials were used.

From what I can see, the cabela's version features the same nubuck leather, goretex lining, vibram sole, lacing system, nylon shank, PU/EVA midsole, air active footbed and rubber rand.

If anybody here knows, I'd love to know the difference. I've only seen pictures of the non-US version, but the only difference I can see is that the collar is lined with leather instead of cloth.

Is there anything else I'm missing that would justify the price difference?

I was told that the Cabela's version was on a different production run to meet their particular price point. To meet the price point, the Cabela's production run cuts costs in various ways such as using a different grade of leather, etc. There have been specialized production runs made for other companies that have specs for a higher grade of leather with some minor modifications over the norm. So, they are all not the exact same production boot with different labels.

Best

I looked at both online when I purchased the Cabela's Meindl last year. It has suited my needs - light hiking and general hunting and packing duties -perfektly. The two boots though are worlds apart from what I saw online.

I know the real Perfekt has double stitching attaching the sole to the boot, steel shank versus nylon for the Cabela's Perfekt, and a heavier boot.

From what I saw, the real Perfekt is a serious hiking boot - stout leather, very heavy, and very stiff. It is not gortex lined (a plus to my thinking), and they look like just the boot if you are doing some serious uphill, downhill, sidehill, and weight carrying. Here is a blurb I found online about the real "Perfekt":

Meindl Super Perfekt

The Super Perfekt is a classic European high alpine boot.

Category D - Meindl Super Perfekt

The boot is handmade from very thick and rugged Swiss Alpine cattle hide and the upper is triple stitched to the sole. The sole is Vibram's Montagna which is made from a very hard rubber compound for cutting and holding an edge. The full length fully orthotic shank is spring steel re-inforced for maximum strength and rigidity.

Specifications

Upper Material - Swiss Military Cowhide
Lining - Leather
Footbed - Air-Active drysole
Sole - Vibram Montagna Sole "genuine treble stitched"
Weight approx - 1370 g (size 8)
Sizes - 6 to 14
Extras - Suitable for crampons.

I compared a pair of Meindl Island Pros (which I have now) and the comparable Cabelas boot - I think it's the Alaska hunter/hiker?

My version is at http://www.meindl.de/english --> models --> mfs models --> Island Pro.

At the time when I was doing all my research I could have cited all this in my sleep. I compared actual boots side by side. I did find that the boots were slightly different - the Cabelas version had a different lining, the leather seemed a little less rugged than the Meindl version, the tag on the boot rated it a "B" hiker while the international is a B/C (which would indicate a less stiff boot, not necessarily less quality), and I think the sole was different. That's the best I can remember this morning.

I'm no boot expert so all I know is that they are different boots - slightly. And the idea that they are different to meet a specific price point makes sense to me. All that being said, I wouldn't hesitate to get the Cabela's version. I love my Island Pro's and I'm sure the Cabelas works well. I got mine from www.ajbrooks.com and have been super happy.

arifleman, the international perfekt is a different boot. It has a norwegian welt and replacable soles. That one I can see. I also found that they use a different, smoother, maybe tougher leather.

The island pro mfs, however, is pretty similar to the hiker and denali. I have a hunch the interior leather may be the only difference. Here's a pic:
Island pro MFS:


And cabela's alaska hiker:



and cabelas denali:


In my bedroom right now, I've got boots from meindl (cabela's)- the alaskan hiker, hunter, denali and perfekt. Add to that the Lowa Tibet, the Zamberlan 940, the Kenetrek hardscrabbles, the asolo sasslongs, and the hanwag. I'm certainly not going to keep all of them, but I wanted to do a good comparison video and show how they compare. They are all top notch boots, to be sure.

Here's a pic of my 4-5 year old Denali's from Cabela's. They look just like those island pros with a few slight differences.

You answered your own question; Even though the Cabela's Alaska Hiker looks similar to the Cabela's Denali, they are not the same boot. Same goes for the Island Pro, it is not the same boot no matter which way you squint your eyes while thinking they look kinda similar. Not saying anything bad about the Cabela's specified Meindls, but they are just that, their production is modified and changed so to fit the Cabela's price point.

Best

I may have answered my question, just not sure.

Again, I've spoken to several folks who have told me the canadian/international meindl boots are "much better." I'm trying to figure out if that is really the case. From what I can find, they may be a little different, but not necessarily better. The inside of the collar of the boot may be lined with leather, and perhaps it is made with a different leather. Neither of which, in my opinion, makes the cabela's boots inferior.

Of the 6 pair of high end boots i have here now, they all use the same full grain nubuck as the cabela's meindl. The hanwag's haven't arrived yet (they get here today) but I think they may be lined with leather. I'm still trying to figure out why that's good? I've never had a problem with the inside of my boot wearing out, and to me, it would seem the cloth interior would breath better.

Just trying to put to rest the story that the meindls from cabela's are an inferior product. IMO, they belong in the top echelon of boots with the rest.

If there is something I'm missing, let me know.

I have the Meindl Island's bought where I now live in British Columbia and the Cabela's Perfekt Hunters (CPH) where I am on my third pair. They fit differently and the sizing is different. The CPH have a larger heel pocket and are wider in the toe box, and fit me better (ie no blisters) versus the Canadian sold Island. There is a major price savings with the CPH from the US as well. The leather may be sightly thinner on the CPH, but is thick enough for a two week back pack trip pursuing stone sheep a month ago. Try them on, your feet will be different than mine for sure. I do endorse Meindl boots for their quality, durability and fit.

Thanks for the input, Kurt.

I've worn the cabela's meindls for years, and i love them. I've never had a problem with the leather on any of them and I've had hundreds and thousands of miles of great service. I even took the Denali Hunter to the top of Rainier and they were awesome. I had them lined up for a trip to Aconcagua in a few months, but it looks like that's going to fall through.

Kurt,

Great point. I do believe the boots have different lasts. And when I tried on the two, the Island Pros fit my foot better. You assessment is spot on. I have a narrow heel, so I got a pair of the Island Pros in wide. Was the right fit for my duck shaped foot but may not be for others. YMMV.

If this will help,I used to work with a retail group who advised the Cabelas.The material/product may be the same in both boots,however Cabelas has hugh "buying power" and can garantee a current purchase price.Factories live off of pre-sold large orders to meet expenses(payroll,insurance,ect) Their profits come from on-time production and not having to borrow money to work off of.They sell good boots,some of mine are 20 years old now.
Their clothing sucks,really made cheap these days...

Boots are a lot like backpacks in that depending on fit and end use, what is golden for one, may prove complete junk for another. The boys at AJ Brooks did their best to fit me with Meindls, but they do not fit my wide foot and are just short of death in my book. To the person they fit, be it the version out of Canada or be it the version out of Cabela's, they can be golden. I'd not get so wrapped around the axle over what others think of your particular Cabela's boot. If it works for you, that is what truly matters.

Best

glove leather lined boots are less likely to raise a blister than fabric lined boots. I don't think that they make WPB lined boots that also have leather lining, so you've got a choice of one or the other.

Just got home from Cabala's after being shown the "Cabela's "Meindl" -- the perfekt Lite hightop model. See, I had never [i]heard[/i] of Meindl. I was so pleased and excited when I tried them on...perhaps the greatest shoe experience I've ever had -- form-fitting soles like Burdenstocks? C'mon! So I came home and googled up Meindl, which led me to this forum. It's obvious the folks on this discussion know their boots. But from a guy who has just discovered Meindl, it was an experience a 50-year-old man does have every day. Either way they are manufactured - for Cabela's or Internationally, this boot will make my life more enjoyable on a daily basis. I'll pick them up tomorrow.

Here is a US company that sells a Meindl boot.

http://www.hoffmanboots.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=MEINC

I just found an issue with my five year old Cabelas Meindls, the stitching just above the heel on both boots is coming apart.

Also the Gore-Tex liner started leaking this year.

I got in touch with Cabelas and they said bring them back, but I'm not going to as I no longer have the receipt and their policy is to give you a gift card in return for the boots for the amount of the lowest sale price they had on them.

Except for the stitching the boots are still in really good shape, I think with a upholstery needle and some thread I can repair them well enough to get a few more years out of them.

My next boots will be Scarpas.

So, this is my ... Sixth? Pair of Meindls. I ordered them from, Hoffman Boots out of Kellogg ID. They're the, six inch V Cruiser, rated "C" class. They are actually made in, Slovenia ... But they're Meindl and they're the best I've found so far--I've had Cabela's and AJ Brooks. And they don't have the leather inside the collar anymore, Meindl did away with that ten years ago. But, I'm keeping them in spite of these drawbacks because Hoffman's resoles them for 85$! No other Meindls I've owned so far have been repairable and once the soles go they're trash. My last pair, some German-made Island Pros, rotted out at the soles! They were ten years old and the tops are still perfect, a shame
I have to toss 'em ... I would have had to send them back to Meindl to be resoled, not worth the risk in my estimation. Hoffman's only carries one model of hikers/work Meindl's, 6 or 10 in. V Cruiser. They are boot makers (4 generations, I understand) and cater to the lineman industry. I've been looking for an alternative source for Meindl boots in the US for some thirty years! Finally, Hoffman's may be it.

Psst -- go back to the Backpack Hunting forum and look 6 threads down ...

John Warner, what you describe is precisely the reason I went back. Twice.

For Meindls' sake, I hope their stuff is better than the Cabela's.

Wagnerman- I have the same issue with a pair of Meindl Taigas. The sole is crumbling apart but the upper portion is still in great shape and extremely comfortable after 12 years of hunting use. I don't know if they are repairable or not but I'll give Hoffman and AJ an email to see if they can. I have no complaints with the boots at all and I hope I can continue to use them until the tops fall apart , I have a lot of memories in these boots.

10 years of walking around in the wood-presumably a lot-and the soles fell apart. How long do you think they should last? They soles are rubber, what did you expect to happen?

You can wear down steel heel clips in less time.

If the tops are perfect then you didn't use them much which is another issue.

All Cabelas Meindls and not a bad one in the pack. Call me lucky.

]




Soles about shot in the heels on this pair, but they have around 6 years of walking around more than a little.



I'll buy them again and try my luck.

BAttue mine don't have as many years on them, but i have 2 pairs. One is worn exclusively when walking on concrete and the other for hunting. The hunting pair are 4 years old and probably have 125-150 miles on them and look great. I keep mine oiled up.

The only downside is the insoles in my opinion. I crossed a creek here in NM and the insides got wet. The insoles got rock hard when dry. I went with some different insoles with no issues.

Happy with my denalis so far, hoping they hold up a few more seasons.

While we're on this subject, how do you correctly say 'Meindl'?

I have bought two pairs of the Meindl Canadas and two of the Alaskans. I have Kennetrek Hardscrabbles as well. A pair of $350 boots last me 2 seasons at best. I don't know how you guys have all these 10 year old boots!

I have had some resoled by Rocky mountain resole. I just had a pair of Danners "recrafted" as well.

The newer Cabelas boots are mere shadows of 20 years ago.
Took three pair of Kennetreks to get them right too. I rotate between the Danners and Kennetreks right now. All my Meindels neeed new soles an d rands.

At least Cabelas Meindl's have a good warantee, Meindl's and AJ Brooks warantee is a joke

Cabelas never did anything for me when my boots wore out in a year.

The hits keep on coming here.

After 3 rand failures documented previously, I used a 'back-up' pair of boots this past week in Alaska. These are "Mountain Hunters" made in Italy and sold as a $300 plus boot by Cabela's a few years ago. I wore them about 20 hours and 'stored' them at a friend's house, thinking he could use them. Turns out I ran out of boots and got them back and have been wearing the this season. I think he hiked less than 8 hours in them.They looked just the same when I got them back. Anyway, they feel ok and are pretty stout, so I'm thinking I at least have this season covered. I've used them to scout for elk and deer this summer. I don't cover unusual distances, or carry unusual loads.

After washing the AK muck off, I now have to re-glue one of the toe rands, again, as well as the usual rand failure at the ball of the foot on the outside.

Maybe, just maybe, I've learned my lesson about Cabela's hunting boots ... they should provide a bottle of Gorilla Glue.

I have both the Hoffmans and the Cabelas Meindls. No issues with either. Just put the Hoffmans to a big test this last week on a 6 day backpacking elk trip in the rainforest with about 18 hard earned miles. They did very well.

Jeff, 3M super weatherstrip adhesive (black color only) is your friend! I think you could glue two bumpers together with that stuff and tow one all the way to Maine!

I had a pair from AJ Brooks and a Cabelas branded pair both have the soles fall apart after 5+ years,,AJ Brooks and Meindl both told me tough [bleep] but in nicer words,, Cabelas looked up when I had purchased/ordered the boots from them and credited me a gift card for the full price. I promptly ordered more boots from them

Wow, A five year warranty!

Not really I went back and found the thread.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/8212644/5

and my post

I just got the following email from Cabelas about my Meindl boots with the falling apart soles,,,
======================================
Thank you for your recent order. We appreciate your shopping at Cabela's and hope that you had an enjoyable shopping experience.
Products Ordered

1 of 81-0087 CABELA'S CANADA HUNTING BOOTS 9 1/2 D BROWN
Cancel-Discontinued
1 of 09-0136 RETURNS GIFT CERTIFICATE
Shipped-11/04/13
Total
Merchandise = $219.95
ORDER TOTAL = $219.95
Payment Types Used On This Order

Exchange Credit = $219.95
========================================

Thats a full refund on a 10+ year old pair of boots,,, and thats why I shop at Cabelas so much,,,, now the decision is either the Denali or the Perfect to replace them

I bought Denali's like them so far, Cabelas sticks by their stuff
_________________________

My balls are not big enough to wear out a pair of boots for 10 years and expect them to be replaced for free.

+1.

+2

And we're all paying for your new boots.
Enjoy them.

Well cry me a puckin river why dont ya,,,,,

These boots were only worn for hunting an only when I was hunting up high and steep, they were tall rather stiff boots,,the leather, laces and even the insoles were in fine condition,, the foam and plastic of the soles fell apart, First I contacted Meindle to see if they could be resoled, as it was a cabelas boot, said call cabelas,,,I called cabelas and they said send them in,,, I did and they issued a refund,, I have been a cabelas customer for the last 35 years and they know this,,,, I believe I have more than paid them enough for some quality service,, when a product has a lifetime warranty that means the whole product, for the lifetime of the owner. Had the leather worn out, insoles needed replacing stitching started to go as well it would have been more understandable, but the outsoles were very inferior to the rest of the boot.

Kane: Inferior soles are a well documented issue with Cabela's Meindel boots. When it happened to me the Cabela"s dork tried to explain it away by calling it "closet rot" because the boots were in such good condition otherwise. The manager of the Cabela's Footwear Division did not see it that way when I explained how pictures of my $169 Cabelas boots with the soles duct taped to the uppers and the "closet rot" email would be on the net for all to see. Posey should be commended for insisting that Cabela's stand behind their guarantee. Your attitude is why inferior products are inflicted upon we consumers. Those lousy soles should have never made it past the Cabela's Quality Control division (if there is such a thing).

battue: I guess some of us expect to get something in return for our hard earned dollars,

Not overly large but really hairy,,, there get that image outa your mind,,,,

I started out wanting to resole the boots,,, Meindle would not even talk to me about them, flat out rude they were. They said call Cabelas, Cabelas ask me to send them in they wanted to see them, which I did, then they credited me the full purchase price with a Cabelas Gift card,,, you guys wanta try and yank my chain about taking the refund go ahead, I really doubt any of you would have returned or ignored the card,,,, I charged almost $100,000.00 on my Cabelas Visa that year building a house, I think they got their money back in spades.

I had a pair of Meindl I purchased in Europe that lasted 10 years. A couple years ago I purchased a similar model from Cabelas. So far, they seem to be the same great quality. FYI, Hoffman boots also sell Meindl. Not sure if that has been mentioned.

hi there at all.

first I'm sorry for any writing errors English isn't my native language.
I stumbled on this discussion searching for new Meindl boots.
Actually I'm dutch, living in the Netherlands.
Both Hoffman and Cabela have contracts with Meindl, so the boots they sell are made specifically for these companies. I never saw any of these models before.
A.J.Brooks sells the (normal) Meindl boots, I know every model and they're available in Europe.
I highly doubt there is a quality difference between the boots, but like any large buyer they will get a discount buying in bulk.
Meindl supplies many armies, Dutch marine corpse uses Meindl high alpine boots for many years. (I own a pair of this model)
I actually currently own 4 pairs of Meindl boots, and thrashed some over the years.
The issue of the Cabela perfect and the (regular) perfekt might be that Cabela can give any name to their boots.
It's just a completely different boot but it has the same name.
There actually is a model called perfekt and there is the super perfekt.
The perfekt is a class c mountain boot.
The super perfekt is a class D high alpine boot, 100% suitable for crampons and ice climbing.
I can assure you the super perfekt has no steel reinforcement.
For the (closet rot)issue, Meindl guarantees only 5 years on any sole and advises to resole the boots after this amount of time.
It's like car tires, if you park your car always the same way and one side would be in the shadow and the other side would be in the sun, the tires on the sunny side will start to crack sooner.
But the island can be resoled, just like most models.
Down side to having your shoes resoled by Meindl is a long waiting list.
Even over here a couple of months is normal.
I hope I helped you a little bit finding your answer and feel free to reply.

Thanks Meindlman,

Old thread, but I'm still wearing Cabela's Meindls. Trashed one pair until the heals wore thru. Lot of miles, not sure on the years.

Latest pair are the Meindls ultralight hunter. They are definitely over 100miles of hunting time in 6months. May get another 100 before spring. Holding up fine. Like them so much, I bought a second pair in case they are Dc'd.

Chris Ledoux:

My experience is I first started buying the Cabelas models, they fit my feet and are very comfortable. I couldn't afford the regular meindl boots. Later in life I started buying the regular meindl boots and the difference In quality was noticeable. Leather thickness, stitching, rubber were noticeable in difference. What turned me was I started wearing corked meindl's while cutting logs. That's probably the hardest thing a boot can be put through and I'd get a couple seasons out of a pair. They'd get a lot of miles, 1hr hikes just to get to my saw were not uncommon. I'm a meindl fan and if you can afford it I'd spring for the upgrade. Light use was fine for the Cabelas stuff but I'd wear a pair out in a month of horn hunting...

i have had a pair of Alaskan Hunters from Cabela's going on 6 or 7 years, they look a little shop worn but are still waterproof. I bird hunt 4 days a week from November to the middle of March plus all my deer hunting, I really got my money's worth out of these boots, best boots I ever owned!