Peter Clinch wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Christopher Loffredo wrote
Rod Speed wrote

I'll generally agree to that. My wettest situations (with my non-Gore-tex
or non-laminate boots) are when I wait too long to put my gaiters on...

Still, I think that membrane boots have their place

Dunno, I cant get past the fact that the military doesnt bother with it.

There has to be a reason for that.

One needs to realise that the military have rather different procurement requirements.

We'll see...

If you're on a tight budget

They arent with other military hardware. Boots are a tiny part of any military budget.

and need a boot which will do its stuff in a hot, dry desert as well as a swamp

You dont have to have just one boot for all situations.

They clearly dont do that with other military clothing.

and you need to buy 100,000 pairs then that makes for a
rather different evaluation job than a person getting boots
for their particular situation, and maybe another pair for others.

No reason why the military cant do that too, just
like they do with other articles of military clothing
like what is used for the upper parts of the body.

I'd agree with Christopher that they do have their place: just bought
a pair of lined shoes for not-quite 7 yo daughter, because she goes
a lot slower than Mum & Dad and if her feet get wet at this time of
year they'll probably (certainly, this particular year) get very cold too.

Lined boots arent the only way to avoid wet feet and
as others have pointed out, most of the water comes
in over the top, and that is true in spades of little kids.

They are likely better off with wellies used in wet weather.

The sort of damp that we shrug off as immaterial can really
start to wear her down if she's in her trainers and lead to a bad
experience which means less interested in walking next time.

Sure, but trainers arent the only alternative to lined boots.

(being a bit of a Devil's advocate here) and I might eventually
pick up another pair for short & extremely wet situations.

I just dont bother with sodden situations myself.

I do them a lot, because I go orienteering. And pretty much hardly
anyone bothers with waterproof shoes because if you're going to
get wet feet anyway (and you are if you're in a big hurry through a
marsh) then good drainage makes more sense than a membrane.

I'm not silly enough to charge thru marshes.

And even if I was, water coming in over the top is much more
of a problem than water getting thru the body of the boot.

You can't really expect to go out in Scotland
and not get submerged from time to time.

Sure, but most of us dont go anywhere near there.

Clearly those who 'live' there have less choice on that.

But there is no reason why those of us who live in much
less sodden places should bother with lined boots.

If wet feet really bother you then you can do what the military do,
which is use waterproof socks: easily replaced (unlike a boot liner),

Precisely.

and easy to not wear them on a nice day when an extra plastic
bag around your foot is just asking for uncomfortable sweating.

Precisely. Much more practical than lined boots.