Rogue RB-2 Light Trail Boots

  1 of 21

  I did a very wet riverside walk with a friend recently. My Gore-tex boots were flooded and remained so for the remainder of a 9 mile walk. I recalled a Ray Mears program where he said 'wear non waterproof boots and waterproof socks'. Remembering this I searched for non Gore-tex lined boots, how difficult could it be. Horrendous is the answer - then I thought does Ray sell them? Eureka... he does, and what a fantastic pair of boots they are! I did an 8.9 mile wet river walk straight out of the box, great grip, super comfy, not a hint of a blister, and when teamed with waterproof socks exceeded my every expectations. I will really consider buying a spare pair, I love them.  

  Mark Hinton

  2 of 21

  Love these boots! Well worth the extra shipping to get them to the United States. Extremely comfortable with excellent construction. Highly recommended!  

  Jeffrey S. Rumbles

  3 of 21

  Hmmm, these boots are an interesting one! Having worn them for 10 months, and being blessed to live just off the Pennines, I feel I'm in a position to objectively review these boots from the perspective of someone in the North of the UK. I was under no illusions when purchasing that these bad boys wouldn't be waterproof - and props to Woodlore for their transparency in that regard. These really are boots that are crafted (and they are crafted rather than made or produced) with a warm clime in mind. The downside of that is that in a more temperate zone they struggle in terms of practicality - a particularly dew laden field will leave you squelching! With these qualifiers considered, I'd still recommend these boots, and especially if you're planning to use them for the purpose they're designed rather than exposing them to the varied Yorkshire climate! I've knocked a star off for two reasons. Most significantly, the sizing is just atrocious - I normally wear a 9.5, and even the 8.5 is a bit baggy on me, with insoles. The second point is the wear in factor, which I'm sure most potential purchasers would be aware of with any leather boot, but some rough finishing on my example exacerbated the issue - these are not a pair of boots you can buy and go put 20 miles into without breaking them in first, which is worth considering if you are used to man-made materials. I've also seen some signs that these may struggle in terms of longevity- already there are some glue marks evident above seems, but I will reserve judgement on that until they have another few months use! The stitching seems really robust, so I could well be worrying unnecessarily, particularly given that these are in no way a waterproof construction. So, the short version would be: if you're looking for a pair of boots that are going to be robust enough to survive anything in a dry environment then you've found your new footwear. Nb: once broken in these are the most comfortable boots I've ever worn.  

  Ryan

  4 of 21

  Boots are spot on and everything I had hoped they would be. Arrived really quickly in a day or two.  

  Ian H Blair

  5 of 21

  These boots do look great but, when I initially received them there was a seam where the tongue is attached to the main body that was very uncomfortable. I was hoping it would settle down with wearing but, it was difficult to go very far as it made my feet sore. I did make them good by inserting a long anvil into the boot and hitting the seam with a hammer to 'tenderise' it. Not what I was expecting to do after reading the write ups. I was contacted by the Bushcraft team to leave feedback, I replied to the email asking for help with my issue but never received a reply, that was over three weeks ago. I am sure not everybody has an issue with these, and they are great now they have been worked on and feel as good as they look. But if you do have the same problem as me then hopefully this has helped.  

  John Tildesley

  6 of 21

  Just received my boots, thank you to all at Woodlore. Straight out of the box and onto my feet. The leather feels great, very, very comfortable, looking forward to trying them out this weekend. The leather feels very soft and the shape of the boot fits my feet really well. Compared to my old Mendl boots, which are well past their sell by date now, these feel very light on my feet. Once I've giving them a good run in I shall send another review. This may be a small concern but I love the appearance and the quality. Oh, talking about quality, again, thank you for your prompt and reliable service.  

  Mark Adam Armley

  7 of 21

  Well constructed, consistant strong leather for the whole boot, will require a good breaking in period. Excellent.  

  Nigel Hylands-white

  8 of 21

  As comfy as your favorite pair of slippers, unfortunately the soles fell off after 15 months. I'm going to get them repaired however.  

  Jason Hutchinson

  9 of 21

  First impressions are excellent. The boots are stiff as some other reviewers said, but I think this is a great sign that they haven't gone through any artificial wearing process during manufacture. Aesthetically the boots look good too, good colour and shape and quite clearly very high quality. This is my first day with them, so I don't know how they will do in the long run, but first impressions are very good. The sizing is slightly big, I normally fit 10, and bought the 9 1/2 for these boots on the advice of other reviews, which is pretty much perfect, if not still slightly long around the toes. But I have pretty stubby toes anyway, so not a big issue. Finally, as usual, customer service has been top quality with woodlore, they got the product to my door with next day delivery, no problem at all.  

  Thomas Staniforth

  10 of 21

  Very nicely made boots from lovely leather but the shape of them did not suit my feet. They were very flat soles and the front of the boot dig into my toes making them really uncomfortable to wear. I think is partly due to the shape of my feet and partly due to the shoe design particularly of the toe cap.  

  Andrew Hull