Boots

MagicIRL

I'm looking for some high quality, rugged yet comfortable boots for Airsofting. I've outgrown my last pair and will be needing a size 11 or so.

Any sugestions on boots?

thermo

if you have the money get a pair of meindle eagles, gortex lined, very comfy and mine have seen 7 years of use and still perfect.

cam be got here

MagicIRL

Anywhere in Ireland selling them?

Firekitten

Bates....

First boots ive ever had that were comfortable from the word go... Didn't need breaking in much at all, if at all... Lovely hardwearing clobber for cheap.

richieffff

http://www.protac.ie/store/index.php/footwear/meindl-eagle.html
Mendl Eagles here in Ireland

Mr. Tezza

you't want to be doing a fair amount of stuff to justify a pair of meindls! they'ee cost you a pretty penny! most outdoors shops should do them, or alternatively meindl do military type boots the army pro and army gore.

I got my meindl army pro boots in mahers outdoor shop in cork, boots are something you'd really want to try on for size before you go buying, they mite have to order them in, only take a few days but i'd try before i buy.

alternatively if your only planning on wearing them the odd time try army surplus stores they usually stock boots, i know a few lads who got fostex boots and they love them!

ASI Casper

My boot experiences:

Magnum Elites
Their elite series are their best. They're very comfortable and usually don't need breaking in. Also waterproof.
However, they don't seem to be made to last. I found mine lasted a year and a half of reasonably heavy use - both airsofting and running about mountains. Then the uppers started to split away from the sole, letting water in. Someone else I know got similar usage out of his before the heels started to come away.
They're also a bastard to clean and wax propery due to all the different little panels and bits stitched together.
Having said that, they've overhauled the design of the elites since I had my pair, so my opinion of these should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Beware anyone else's opinion of Magnum Elites, as their experiences may have been of the old design.
Also, bear in mind that Magnum make a lot of different models of boots. Make sure it's actually the Magnum Elites you're buying and not some cheaper ****ty boot they make.

Oakley SI Assault Boot
I got the black 6" version of these. They're light, comfortable and they seem to be well made and hard-wearing.
Only downside to these are the sole / traction / grip. They don't seem to grip too well on certain surfaces. Namely hard wet / slick surfaces.
I don't really wear them anymore because of that, so I wouldn't recommend these.

Converse Warrior Desert
Again, very comfortable. Probably even more so than the Oakleys or Magnums in my opinion.
The side zip for rapid on / off is great. And they look good too.
It'd be a mission trying to clean them or keep them clean. I didn't get mine for airsoft.
They seem to be very good value, considering the level of comfort.
I've had mine for about 3 years of regular non-airsoft use now, and there's still plenty of life in them.

Lowa Mountain Boot GTX
The daddy of boots in my opinion. Comfortable, but not quite as comfortable as the Converse Warriors. Great shock aborption though. Fully waterproof. Very very very hard-wearing. I gave my 1st pair some serious use and abuse over the 3 or so years I used them. Rarely cleaned or waxed them and they were still going strong before I decided to replace them with a new pair simply because they looked so scruffy.
Expect to pay for the privilege though.
Only real downside, and this is really nit-picking, is that they're a solid mountain boot. So they're pretty heavy (relatively speaking) and not the most breathable, so they can feel pretty warm during the summer.

Firekitten

Love the depth of that review Casper

I'd like to say the oposite about my magnum classics however....

Absolute, grade A, primo, number one son of a BITCH to break in, but I tell you what, they survived 6 years of army and airsoft abuse, and after they were broken in, they were the most comfortable footwear I owned... like trainers! Only stopped using them because some thieving knac.... person stole my bag on the dublin ferry >>

Oh wait, the port's in the northside :P

Dread-Lock

MagicIRL wrote: »

Anywhere in Ireland selling them?

Got mine in the Great Outdoors on Chatham street, just off Grafton street.

Betty Blue

Cant Beat Magnum Spider, Super Comfortable Boot, Water Proof:D

bullets

I still need to get a pair of comfortable boots to wear, everytime I goto buy a pair the miser in me shouts at my inner brain telling me that I could buy another gun with the money I would spend on footware. And the sensible
bit shouts you need comfortable boots maaannnn!!!

So far miser me has won and I've been using a crude pair of unissued German surplus boots
that cut the ankles off me while breaking in but now I barely notice them.
Thing is they still feel heavy and clumpy especially if you get wet and I'd be much happier with something light on the foot.
I'm all for foot protection but not when your feet
feel like Herman Munster's. so on the lookout for something lightweight.

~B
(I Herman Munstere'd my feet right up in my teenaged and early 20's goth days wearing knee high full leather and metal clad boots
all the time thinking they were not heavy only to see how heavy they were when years later I wore a pair of shoes)

$kilkenny

ever in kilkenny drop in here
http://www.padmore-barnes.com/htmlsite/feedback.asp
(its where i work):D
dont bother looking at the site its way out of date, we do meindls, hi-tec, saloman... fairly good selection aswell
best to drop in and have a look really...
i think we can order directly from meindl aswell

i got meself a pair of johnscliffe, not best quaility but they work... looking at getting some meindl army goretex or burmas next