On Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:58:52 -0000, john bently
wrote:

Now i have retired I would like to start walking. Would anyone know of a
good place to see some *critical* reviews of the different walking boots
available please? Apparently the last consumers association review was
done
way back in april 2006.

Or would anyone know of some boots (preferably not too expensive) that
are
generally believed by many people to be a good buy? Thanks for any
advice.



You may want to have a look at http://www.outdoorsmagic.com for reviews.
If you are prepared to pay around 100/150ukp Scarpa do a very good range.

--
rbel

rbel wrote:

You may want to have a look at http://www.outdoorsmagic.com for
reviews.

I'm an OM user and do reviews for the site from time to time... but I'd
be very wary of them. Consumer reviews often polarise into "this is
great" or "this sucks", as a way of underlining to oneself that you
bought the Best Thing, or getting back at the purveyor of something
perceived to have let you down. As the OM review writing guide notes,
most gear /should/ be 3 star, but there's an outsize incidence of 5
start reviews... It's also the case that user-reviewers seldom have
much to comparatively test against, and even if they did they'd rate a
boot the right shape much higher than an otherwise identical built on a
last that might better fit a prospective buyer.

If you are prepared to pay around 100/150ukp Scarpa do a very
good range.

They're only good if they happen to be the right shape for you. They
are for /me/, but I've friends and acquaintances that hate them with a
passion. Similarly, La Sportiva are very nice... for some people other
than me.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/