Jul 2, 2014

Over the past fourteen years or so I have owned a lot of different brands of boots: Magnum, Rocky, and 5.11 to name a few, and even a pair of boots I found at Walmart called Brahmas that I used as a spare set for a winter or two.  A couple of months ago though, I found what might be the worst pair of boots that I have encountered. One of the benefits of my new job is I am issued just about every piece of my uniform that I wear.  We get shirts, pants, a belt, jackets, and even boots.  It is very unusual coming from the private sector where I had previously received just shirts and was left to fend for myself for most of the rest of my uniform.  My 5.11’s that I was issued when I got hired were about a year and a half old and were starting to look a little sad.  Admittedly, I don’t take as good care of my boots as I probably should but in the past, if I had gotten a year out of a pair of boots I was pretty happy with them. As a replacement for my boots, I received a pair from a brand called HAIX, which apparently is a German company.  Full disclosure, I only wore these boots for about ten days before going back to my 5.11’s but the experience that I had was less than satisfactory.  Here is what I thought of their Airpower R1 model. Fit:  Although I had been fitted by a “specialist” who sized me once at our headquarters, these were by far the most uncomfortable boot that I had ever put on.  It was not a width issue or anything like that, the pain that I experienced was actually in my heels which ran up the back of my calves.  At the end of the day, my feet flat out hurt.  I could not wait to take these boots off. Functionality: The zipper down the center of the boot is an interesting feature.  I found, however, that you pretty much needed an engineering degree to tighten the laces on the boot.  They run laterally...