Comfortable, Long-lasting, Functional
This pair of boots have taken multiple tours of extremely strenuous military training. This pair of Throgood boots lasted me two years before the rear part of the left sole began to separate from the boot in 105-degree weather during extremely strenuous military training. Even then, the sole only separated less than a quarter of the total boot length, then stopped. I tried to see if I could separate the rest of the sole from the boot, but it was difficult because of the quality of the adhesive, so I was able to make it through the rest of training without a destroyed left boot. The sole could have been salvaged using some Gorilla glue.You will need time to break these boots in since the construction of the boot is very rigid in comparison to some boots, like a pair of 5.11. Regardless of the rigidity, once you break these boots in, they are comfortable. However, you should note that the heel counter on this is very rigid, unlike some of the softer heel counters you might find in a pair of 5.11s. This can cause some comfort issues, but for the most part, you will never notice it is there. The stiffer heel counter is also a plus because it offers more stability, something you may not get with a softer heel counter. The composite toe is, for the most part, unnoticeable. I never had any forefoot discomfort caused by the toe, even when climbing steep terrain when the composite toe made an extreme angle relative to the rest of the boot.The hardware on this boot is of high quality. The side zipper is made well with quality materials. I never had a problem with the zippers, even in wet and sandy environments. No hardware ever rusted or failed.These boots are "shineable," even after scraping a few pieces of leather off of the toe (something I was concerned about when boulders and rocks were dropped on my feet and caused small chunks of leather to be scraped out of the toe); however, it will take a few additional coats of shoe polish to make up for the pits caused by any scrapes, and it may not look as good as when you first shined a fresh pair of boots.I would not use the term "waterproof" for any boot, much less for this pair than others. I would use the term "mostly water resistant" in this pair because although my feet were pretty dry through some water-filled trenches, the boots were not completely impervious. Knowing all other aspects of the boots, I would say that this boot probably fared better with the "waterproof" claim compared to other boot manufactures except 5.11, which are superior in water protection.I now have a pair of 5.11 boots. I wanted to see how well the 5.11 fared against Thorogood. I think that the 5.11 boots are concentrated far too much on comfort. Granted, they are like walking on clouds, but they are very pliable compared to Thorogood's rigidity. And the comfort is only a slight increase from this pair of Thorogoods. That concerns me because I feel like the pair of 5.11 may fall apart because its lack of rigidity. The 5.11s do have one other plus over the Thorogoods, and that is better water protection. But those are the only two advantages that I can gather at this point. In summary, if you want a pair of very comfortable boots that break in quickly and give you superior water protection at the cost of possible boot failure in extreme conditions, get a pair of 5.11s. However, I still cannot say for certain how well the 5.11s will hold up. Only time will tell.I loved this pair of boots. I do not hesitate to give it five stars; it's well deserved. My only gripe is that they are manufactured and assembled in China instead of the United States. However, so are most boots today.