I wore the Georgia Boots Durablend Hiker boots for nearly 5 months while finishing a basement, mowing my lawn, installing a porch ceiling, and many other home tasks. Here’s what I discovered.
Georgia Boot’s primary product claim about the DuraBlend Sport Waterproof Hiker is: “Don’t sweat it.” It says that air can pass its waterproof, 6-inch leather upper in both directions, but water can’t.
After wearing them for months, I then found that neither claim is entirely true. And that’s before we get to fit and comfort.
I don’t like giving negative reviews–-and part of me is seething to go to DefCon 5–-so here goes on Operation: Trench Foot. MyFixitUpLife Reviews Georgia Boots Durablend Hiker.
Read my review of my favorite work boots: Timberland Pro
Check out the video review of the Georgia Boots Durablend Hiker
The Test
I did enough work over the 4 to 5 months I wore Georgia Boots Durablend Hiker to get a real feel for them over time and through season changes. I finished a basement (easily 5 miles a day walking all over the jobsite, back and forth to the truck, etc), mowed my lawn and other work.
We also installed a porch ceiling in November–-this is a key detail–-which had us up and down ladders and/or camped out at the miter saw, just standing, waiting for measurements. I usually try to get a deck-build in to see how the footwear deals with mud and shovels, but we’re not Consumer Reports so we do the projects that we’re doing. We don’t create fictional job sites to test tools and gear.
The Results
Out of the box, I fell in love with the combination eyelet/hook hardware for the laces. It appears to be a trend on other boot brands, but still. The hook thing is a problem without a solution. I hate them.
Why? Because I wear my boots untied in the morning. I don’t need to be locked into the cockpit to drive my son to school or sip coffee or take out the trash. Hooks mean flapping laces. Eyelets mean I can wear them as slippers.
Are These Super-Comfortable or Do I Have a Permanent Bruise On My Right Shin?
But when I did lace up, I got a real time lesson in what a pinch point is. The tongue is barely wide enough to bridge the gap between either side of the shoe and snugging up the laces pressed the back of the top metal eyelet into my shin.
It took me at least a week to figure it out. The solution was to tie the shoe looser at the top. That worked. But then, these newer, stiffer round laces we see on other shoes untied a few times per week. Compared to zero for other boots, that’s not nothing.
Once They Broke In.
After the lace fiasco–and only on my right foot; I could have a single defective shoe or an oddly shaped lower, right shin–there was a sweet spot where the 6-inch Georgia Boots Durablend Hikers were easily the most comfortable boot I’ve ever worn.
The dimpled inlay inside the boot is not something I sense all day, at least consciously, but putting the boot on and off–100%. I really liked it. GB is the only brand I’ve seen with this feature.
“There was a sweet spot where the 6-inch Georgia Boots Durablend Hikers were easily the most comfortable boot I’ve ever worn.”
Like a Running Shoe, But For Work.
No running shoe has a 6-inch leather upper, but no running shoe is supporting the ankles and shins and is stood on 8 hours at a pop.
The soles–to the extent I engaged with it–-didn’t hold mud. They didn’t slip. The outsole (the foamy part between the tread and the boot structure) is spongy, durable and really comfortable.
I mean, really comfortable.
Trench Foot.
This 3- to 4-month sweet spot I hit was pretty good. I thought I was riding high until I came home from work and my socks were sopping wet.
I thought it was me and getting older. Or crazy. Did I shovel down too many Five Guys? (LOOOOOVE 5-Guys). Was it hotter than I thought? (All my clothes are dry; I’m shivering in the November gloom).
It got to the point that I had to untie my shoes in a meeting to let the air out. But then my wife Theresa, who was also testing out a pair of Georgia Boots, said her socks and feet were soaked at the end of each day on the porch ceiling job. So, then, it can’t be just me or my sweaty feet. It’s the waterproofing that’s so good it traps the moisture inside. The pathway for air to travel in and out must get clogged with dirt or other muck that we encounter on job sites.
Rubber, Meet Road: The Results
I don’t like to give bad reviews, as stated above. But product designers work hard to creae things we can use, for whom I have implicit respect, also need realistic feedback. These boots are not working for us. They have potential—I remember that month of comfort fondly—but they need a way to not become clogged and trap moisture.
Mowing the lawn on the weekend? Trimming hedges? The occasional hike? This thing is a lifetime supply. Full tilt boogie remodeling on the daily? After a while I’d rather wear a cilice belt from The DaVinci Code
There were too many weeks of discomfort–-and my entire life is uncomfortable, so I’m pretty much an expert in this–-to give the DuraBlend a high mark for professional use. At $165, there are other units out there that’ll give you better mileage.
Read my review of my favorite work boots: Timberland Pro
