I remember the first time I saw these boots, at a fly fishing show in Seattle.  I was pretty skeptical at first, but the concept of being able to change the soles of my boots intruiged me.

About that time my old, beaten Simms Guide boots were starting to get a little too broken in.  Because I was intriuged by the concept and becuase I just like playing with new gear, I went out on a limb and bought a pair.

The retail package comes with two soles, the hiking sole and the felt sole.  For three months I pounded these boots up and down coastal rivers, on marathon desert hikes, and just about anywhere else I could find.  I had a few problems with the first pai, so I contacted Korkers and recieved an immediate response.

One of the things I look for in a company is good customer service.  Korkers exceeds this expectation by a long shot.  My feedback was listened to, and my thoughts on certain problems were considered.  They replaced my boots immediately, hand delivered them in person, and the new boots performed flawlessly.

Korkers provided all the members of the Angling Exploration Group with boots for the 2004 Patagonia Expedition.  In the last five months of traveling, fishing, and filming across the bottom half of the South American continent, they have performed flawlessly.  In that time we've worn our boots almost every day in situations ranging from harsh desert spring creeks to lava rock bottom to large boulder freestone rivers.  We're very impressed.

My one complaint about the current design is the velcro strap that attaches to the back of the boot.  Over time the velcro becomes worn and stars to curl up a bit, but I haven't yet seen it affect the performance of the boot.

One day I might be  exploring some little stream in the desert, where hiking soles are ideal.  The next I might pop over to a high mountain freestone creek that requires a two mile hike to get into.  I'll hike in with my hiking soles, get to the creek, pull my felt soles out of my daypack, and start fishing.  The next day I might be on a high gradient coastal river where the studded felt soles are invaluable.  The day after I might be in a friends drift boat and throw in the felt soles, and so on...

The soles are very easy to change, once your accustomed to the system it takes less than thirty seconds to switch both soles.  Aside from this advantage, I find these boots to be very comfortable and provide great support.  The boot material is synthetic, so you don't have the old problem that leather had, where you have to get them wet just to put them on.

All in all I'm very happy with these boots, and now that I'm accustomed to being able to change soles, I can't see myself ever going back.  I highly recommend trying a pair of these boots!  4 out of 5 stars.

 

Article	058
Created	6-21-2004
Modified	10-12-2004
Author	Worldanglr
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