Timberland Ortholite update 2

Four months and 346 km in, and still very little sign of wear in them. They are still pants for letting in water, but I am impressed with their ruggedness and how little they have worn compared to the Mountain Warehouse boots.

On the Rhines - Whirligig Beetles

A group of whirligig beetles darting about while grouping.

On the Rhines - Common Darter

Flitting around the Rhines today in Thornbury - a male Common Darter.

Hiding in the bean flowers

Lasioglossum albipes, the Bloomed Furrow Bee.

Local wildlife: Ancistrocerus

A type of potter wasp.

Early instar shieldbug at dusk

Caterpillar steel toe-capped safety boots

Another pair off boots to try from Caterpillar. Not new - I've had them for over 20 years but used them very sporadically, and they haven't worn much. They were used today because the Timberland one's have got so wet internally that they are not drying out in this weather. The Caterpillar boots are safety boots and are meant to protect against spillage, and they are definitely more waterproof, as they didn't let in any water from the wet grass on their first usage. They are slightly less comfortable once you put them on, although they are fine when walking.

Timberland Ortholite Sensorfflex boot update

Now 92.7 km in, almost a month, and only a slight sign of wear on the heal. Looking good, just wish they were better at keeping out the water from wet grass. Most mornings I end up with damp feet.

Eumerus

It's spring, and the Eumerus species hoverflies are out and about.

Timberland boots - first findings

Of the three boots tried so far, this is definitely the least waterproof. The grass was quite wet this morning due to overnight rain, and that was enough for dampness to start to come into the sole at the toes, and crossing a shallow ford where the water got to the top of the sole made it worse. None of the three are perfect for being waterproof, but I would have expected better from a new boot.

Timberland ortholite walking boot

The next pair to try is a pair of Timberland ortholite sensorflex walking boots. Let's see how these last - I will be keeping a tally of distance and destruction.

Another set of hiking boots for comparison

For comparison to the Mountain Warehouse boots described yesterday, the pair above have been worn over the same six month period, and used for a similar amount of distance, but are also around 30 years old, not that they have been used continuously over that time. They are unbranded (marked foreign import on the sole only), have leather uppers, and although not quite as comfortable, they have not broken - the only damage is at the end of one of the laces where the metal retainer came off. Where I purchased them and for how much is lost to the mists of time, but they were certainly nowhere near as expensive as the Mountain Warehouse ones. They are a decent, hard-wearing pair of boots, and are showing the signs of wear you would expect, with some scuffing, and a little wearing away of the sole at the rear of the boot. They will easily outlast the Mountain Warehouse boots.

Mountain Warehouse Hiking Boots - A 6 Month Review

I have been wearing these hiking boots for six months now, walking around 1.7 km every day along streets and the occasional field. They have been comfortable - but they have also been wrecked. These are a pair of boots whose RRP is over £100, although they could be purchased cheaper in their sale.

You can see the state of them in the picture above - the laces have broken, and the outer layers come off. More importantly, the outer harder bands have started to break, which is then accelerating the break-up of the rest of the boot. This can be seen more clearly in the picture below.

This is the right front in close-up. You can see how the harder layer has torn at a flexing point, and is now coming away from the base. This allow the inner fabric layer to flex further, making it more likely to break.

This is the inner liner from one of the boots, which came loose within a couple of weeks of wearing the boot. The liner has slipped back within the boot but then not moved, which meant that there wasn't really a problem. However, recently I've noticed that the padding over the lower sole has compacted so far that I can feel the holes within it. The following two pictures attempt to show this:

You can just see the depressions in the second picture where the sole is falling into the holes, and to the right at the top you can see a line in the layer where it has come apart from the base. You can then lift this up and see the holes - and empty the stones which have collected in them due to slit-holes forming in the base which you can see in the picture below.

You have to empty the stones otherwise when you take the boots off, you notice that the one with the holes rattles.

They have been comfortable boots, and waterproof, but now due to the compaction of the internal structure, you can feel the holes when stepping hard onto something, and it doesn't feel like it is protecting your foot. They have been used daily, but I'm not hiking in harsh terrain, and I feel that they should stand up to much more than this. I have a pair of lightweight trainers I've ran in for far more distance than these, and they are not anywhere near the state of disrepair. Given the RRP, I think that this is a very poor showing, and they should hold up much better.