The Bottom Line
(3.5 / 5)
The Mountain Warehouse Field boots are fantastic, very comfortable and grippy boots, waterproof until they fail suddenly, filling your not only your boots but trousers with water.
- Very comfortable
- Easy to wear for long periods
- Fully waterproof (at first)
- When they do leak, its bad…
Purchasing
These boots are available from the Mountain Warehouse website, supposedly for £160 – but as with everything MW sell, they’re always heavily discounted (often 50%).
General Comment
For a long time these were my boots of choice. They are comfortable and have extremely good grip thanks to their aggressive Vibram soles. At first they are fully waterproof and, while this did last two years, it is not forever. Once mine did start to leak, it was pretty catastrophic. They acted as a wonderful pump, sucking water in from the outside world then, when I put my foot down, foaming dramatically at the seams and firing water up my trouser leg. I was in the middle of the peak district at the time – with three more days of this, I was not happy.
First Impressions
These are fairly inexpensive for what they are, and I was immediately happy with them. They have extremely grippy Vibram soles and, for most of the time I used them, they were fully waterproof. They are comfortable to wear for long periods (I’ve worn them for several long trips), but are definitely best kept dry.
Care
Being synthetic, they are far less picky about cleaning than my Lomer Keswick MTXs, but it is still a good idea to wash them and re-waterproof them occasionally (many products are available). After a couple of years of heavy use, however, mine got past this stage: they leaked because of a large hole in one of the seams, and no amount of waterproofing compound would have been able to fix that.
Comfort
As I have mentioned, these boots are very comfortable. They advertise as ‘wide-fit,’ but they aren’t really – I have quite narrow feet and they come close to rubbing uncomfortably. The soles provide good cushioning on all terrain, but aren’t particularly flexible, which may cause issues on rockier terrain. Were they waterproof, they would be my absolute favourite boots because they provide excellent value for money and, in all other aspects, last a long time. One slight issue I’ve had with them is that the insoles slip backwards, building up a crumpled area at the back and leaving none at the front: this is annoying, but if you are prepared you can attach them in with some double-sided tape (or similar).
Recommendation
These boots are great, but are not my current recommendation for boots to buy. If you are a more casual hiker, I would get the Lomer Keswick boots (review here), and for treks and longer hikes, I would get Lomer Pelmos (review here).