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Boots and warranty- advice needed!

Gulfalan67

Gulfalan67

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Hi folks.

I go through boots with bank -busting regularity.

Literally my last pair of Merrells have lasted about four months.

My problem is I walk a lot ( about 10 km daily), and our country round here is craggy and rocky and our daily patrols require regular scrambling. Its hell on my boots.

But in my opinion the sole of a boot should not fail within four months. In this latest failure a discreet section has broken off.

Can anybody explain the difference between a warranty claim failure and acceptable wear and tear? I'm wondering whether I should try a warranty claim. Bloody Merrells have had enough of my money!

Sorry if this has been discussed previously

Alan
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Just my thoughts Alan.

They look more akin to walking/casual boots.... and obviously not up to..... or designed as a work boot.
Looking at the picture they have had a very hard and short life.....so I reckon warranty and FAIR wear and tear could be out of the window.....but certainly worth a try :thumbsup:

Good luck :thumbsup:
 
I’m guessing you’re just very hard on boots but then again boots are made from completely different materials these days compared to the boots I used to wear when I was younger.
I have an old pair of hiking boots with vibram soles that lasted decades and a recent pair that only lasted 6 months…more traditional boots would need breaking in but as it has been mentioned recently in another thread we expect boots to be comfortable from first putting them on these days, without breaking them in…this comes at a cost to longevity.
 
Got to agree with Bill, they are just not up to the job or the terrain, let alone both mate. Something more along the lines of a high hunting boot would be more suitable for your kind of application, a lot more money, but when it comes to hunting or hiking boots, money does not come into it for me. Good luck mate. 👍
 
I’ve just done the maths and 4 months averaging 30 days each (approx) at 10 miles per day is 1200 miles or more…..
….you do get around a bit mate
 
That’s not a boot - it’s a glorified training shoe! 🤣 At best an ‘approach’ shoe.

+1 re warranty claim. ☹️

Its becoming increasingly evident through personal experience and posts on this site that the longevity of decent outdoor footwear is getting less and less.

The use of quality materials and construction methods on boots which stand a chance of surviving past even a few years is becoming less and less and I fear that boots like the ones which the following link should take you to will eventually (soon?) be gone, potentially for ever!
(The vendors even state in their advert that ‘you won’t be visiting a cobbler any time soon‘). And if you need to, the boots can be repaired!

As has been posted here however, it’s become a choice of comfort straight out of the box and crap longevity or something that will last but yer actual plates-of might have to go through a breaking in period. 😳😆.

As Ystranc says, Ebabe could be your way forward or army surplus with old style construction, but even the latter are becoming rare and they too will soon be gone.

 
Thanks for the advice fellas.

For those querying, the boots are meant to be top of the range gortex hiking boots. If they look like sneakers now that's just the result of my use of them.

Mike a thousand kilometres on that pair ( not miles!) would be about right. The Boy keeps me fit with his morning and evening patrols, -as well as any walking I need to do for daily chores.

One problem with hobbled leather boots. Remember I'm in the tropics here. Rocky boot-killing escarpments rising out of rainforests. Thats why I prefer gortex or something that breathes. Also with the distances we walk i do want something comfy on my poor feets.

Call me a snowflake!

I will look into an online purchase to replace the failed Merrells and get separate boots for work...

Thanks for the informed suggestions...

Alan
 
I’ve got a pair of scarpa SL boots that I still wear for hill walking and working with children. I dyed them black and used them as my exercise boots on three continents; they’re certainly looking well worn, the cuffs are frayed but the leather is in good shape although a little scuffed but I did buy them in 1995!

As an infantry officer I’ve always favoured plain leather boots over fabric ones with waterproof linings as once they get wet they don't dry easily. I’d also question how breathable goretex is in a tropical environment as it needs a temperature gradient for to function with the outer face being colder than the inner which doesn’t always exist in hot moist environments.

Scarpas are an excellent choice but they are not cheap!

38
 
38thfoot said:
I’ve got a pair of scarpa SL boots that I still wear for hill walking and working with children. I dyed them black and used them as my exercise boots on three continents; they’re certainly looking well worn, the cuffs are frayed but the leather is in good shape although a little scuffed but I did buy them in 1995!

As an infantry officer I’ve always favoured plain leather boots over fabric ones with waterproof linings as once they get wet they don't dry easily. I’d also question how breathable goretex is in a tropical environment as it needs a temperature gradient for to function with the outer face being colder than the inner which doesn’t always exist in hot moist environments.

Scarpas are an excellent choice but they are not cheap!

38
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There are pros and cons to waterproof membranes - boot drying out was one.

We found Sympatec outlasted Goretex but in both cases if the internal construction of a boot wasn’t right it could wear through a membrane lining quite quickly. (This happened to my pair of Aigle hunters☹️). It took only a relatively small tear, usually in the toe box area and the lining might as well not have been there.

We also went down the route of plain leather boots with Goretex bootee liners, first the military issue version which were quite thick and provided both waterproofness and a degree of additional insulation, although if you didn’t have the additional room in the boot they could be a tad on the tight side. These were pretty good but did also suffer from inner boot wear.

Next came the much thinner, lighter Goretex bootee which were a great improvement. These kept yer feet dry and provided a bit of extra insulation, and being lower volume didn’t seem to suffer so much damage-wise within the boot. The beauty was that if they were damaged you just swapped for a new pair without having to gash a pair of boots. (In fact in my own experience I only ever damaged a pair of the lightweight Gore bootees when used as a waterproof sock without an overboot!
The main issue with them was that if the outer boot bled water through in-between the boot and the Gore bootee yer feet got cold if you were static. ☹️
Eventually along came Sealskinz which I found technically as good as the Gore versions, though they were a calf length ‘sock’ as opposed to ankle size which I prefer.
I’ve still got a couple of pairs of the issued Gore bootees and might have gone down the Hanwag SF leather lined version had the outer rand on the Hanwag SF Gore lined versions not proven so naff.

On the subject of drying boots out - I had the following sent to me recentl:
drysure.co

Drysure Ultimate - Black & Rifle Green

Drysure Ultimate Boot Dryers are excellent at drying All Large Boots. No Heat, No Electricity & Improves Smell.
drysure.co drysure.co

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Rather than spend £34 on a pair of boot driers you can make your own for about £2 a pair using cat litter and a couple of pairs of tights; I had some for my motorcross boots and they worked a treat on race weekends when the idea of putting on wet boots for day two wasn’t appealing.

38
 
38thfoot said:
Rather than spend £34 on a pair of boot driers you can make your own for about £2 a pair using cat litter and a couple of pairs of tights; I had some for my motorcross boots and they worked a treat on race weekends when the idea of putting on wet boots for day two wasn’t appealing.

38
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Good idea. 👍🏻

Can’t see mesen forking out for the Dry Sure ones. But I don’t wear tights (anymore 😆) either!

Decades ago I ran a Reliant Scimitar SE5A. They had fibreglass bodies and the condensation inside could be so bad at certain times of year that it would run down into the footwells and rot the carpets out.

The de rigueuer solution of owners was to use lengths of plastic electrical conduit drilled with dozens of holes around their length, end capped and filled with silica gel chippings then placed along the dashboard. 😆
 
Ystranc said:
For my next adventure in full price boots I was considering a pair of Lennon’s shepherds boots..really old school.
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I’ve just looked up their fell boot. Very traditional.

I haven’t seen leather laces for decades! 😳

Doesn’t look that dissimilar to a pair of ‘commando’ boots that I had back in the ‘70s and used to bimble around the Lake District in - with a screw-on/replacable Vibram sole!
 
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