Bought a pair of Meindl Vakuum GTX boots a fortnight ago and I'm deeply disappointed. I use my boots for shooting, walking and working (hedgelaying and landscape work, not chainsawing) and general outdoor activity.
My boots get quite hard use. I wear them five or six days a week throughout the winter, often in constantly wet conditions when they never get the chance to dry out. Normally I buy something like a £160 pair of Berghaus leather boots with Gortex liners. I treat them with beeswax and lanolin-based saddlery products and they're usually good for 18 months to two years before the soles wear through and they start to leak.
With the soles being the usual weakpoint because of the sheer amount of shoes miles they do I thought I'd go for the Meindl Vakuums as they are marketed specifically as mountain boots with much tougher and more durable soles than your average hiking boot.
I've been wearing them for only a week and the rubber banding joining the upper to the sole has started to tear and peel away on both boots. I've been hedge laying but all I've done with them is basically walk through wet grass for a week. For a £250 boot I am deeply unimpressed.
I'll take them back under warranty but in the meantime they need replacing.
For chainsaw work I'll wear Haix but I'm not keen on them for general use because they're stiff and heavy, so I'm looking at Altberg, especially as I now live much closer to the factory for a custom fitting. Anyone used Altberg Mallerstang and if so what's the verdict? Or anyone have any other recommendations?
Ta in advance.
My boots get quite hard use. I wear them five or six days a week throughout the winter, often in constantly wet conditions when they never get the chance to dry out. Normally I buy something like a £160 pair of Berghaus leather boots with Gortex liners. I treat them with beeswax and lanolin-based saddlery products and they're usually good for 18 months to two years before the soles wear through and they start to leak.
With the soles being the usual weakpoint because of the sheer amount of shoes miles they do I thought I'd go for the Meindl Vakuums as they are marketed specifically as mountain boots with much tougher and more durable soles than your average hiking boot.
I've been wearing them for only a week and the rubber banding joining the upper to the sole has started to tear and peel away on both boots. I've been hedge laying but all I've done with them is basically walk through wet grass for a week. For a £250 boot I am deeply unimpressed.
I'll take them back under warranty but in the meantime they need replacing.
For chainsaw work I'll wear Haix but I'm not keen on them for general use because they're stiff and heavy, so I'm looking at Altberg, especially as I now live much closer to the factory for a custom fitting. Anyone used Altberg Mallerstang and if so what's the verdict? Or anyone have any other recommendations?
Ta in advance.
