5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Waterproof!, November 2, 2009
This review is from: Caterpillar Men's Alaska 6" Waterproof Steel Boot (Apparel)
I bought the waterproof version. There's a little metal plaque that says waterproof, but they aren't. Where the tongues attach to the fold-overs for the laces, down at the bottom loop there are very small spaces at all four corners. If you step in more than two and a half inches of water or slush, or working in snow your feet WILL GET WET. It's not a defect, It's just poor design. The other reviewer stated that they are waterproof up to the ankles, THEY ARE NOT. They are only waterproof up to just below the bottom loop, exactly two and a half inches from the ground. I say it's poor design because they did make the tongue out of waterproof sued, and attached it all the way up to the fifth loop, but they just didn't seal those tiny holes at the bottom. Just dumb.
Oh, and mine are defective too. The left boot was assembled and stitched together lopsided. strictly cosmetic, but still, they aren't $40 boots from Modell's. They were over $100.
The name Caterpillar and it's logo are licensed by a boot company named Wolverine.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
solid workboot, June 29, 2009
This review is from: Caterpillar Men's Alaska 6" Waterproof Steel Boot (Apparel)
I bought these work boots to use on the farm. They have been comfortable and have thus far held up. I would note that the waterproof version still has a regular tongue for ease of getting the boot on but it causes the waterproofing to be effective to the ankle. I found this out when I took these boots out hunting and was walking through the wet grass and soon had wet feet.
Update:
I have used these boots for a hard season crawling around, in, and on heavy equipment. I have drug them on shop floors, had hot metal and slag fall on them from welding and cutting. Basically I have really abused the shoes. As I mentioned earlier, the shoes really aren't waterproof over the top of the rubber sole. The shoe laces have fallen apart over the last month and the shoes are really, really worn. Overall the shoes have held up well, protected my feet from mishaps, and were really comfortable after getting broken in. The slip resistance has been good on equipment and on concrete floors. I will buy another set of CAT work boots to replace these, just not the waterproof version.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Comfortable....But Not That Tough., August 24, 2011
This review is from: Caterpillar Men's Alaska 6" Waterproof Steel Boot (Apparel)
I drive a delivery truck and unload it for a living. I need to have comfortable boots that are also slip resistant and steel-toe. The Caterpillar Alaska seemed to be the right boots for me.
From the first time I put these on they felt great. I didn't need to break them in or anything because they were already so comfortable. Sometimes i'll get home from work and not even take my boots off right away because my feet feel fine.
So for comfort i'd give these boots a 100%. Unfortunately when it comes to the durability I can't say the same thing. They look rugged and tough, and maybe I just expected more from a boot that uses the slogan "walking machines".
Within 2 or 3 weeks, the yellow rubber on the sole started to wear off. That wasn't a big deal because there's still black rubber underneath, but it makes me wonder why they bothered using it at all. Is it merely for looks?
Also for the first few weeks the black from the suede tongue would wear off onto my white socks. A small irritation, but again, not a big deal.
After that, the boots did great until about 6 months when i needed to replace the laces because they wore thin on the metal prongs that are used in place of eyelets. Like the other issues, it's just a minor problem because laces are cheap.
The real problems started at about 11 months when the rubber soles started to crack and wear out. I was surprised that the bottoms were so thin and hollow. I really expected more rugged durability in these. After all, I usually only wear these boots 4 days a week for about 8-10 hours a day. Once the bottoms wore out, that was the beginning of the end. On rainy days the water would soak through the holes and my socks would get really wet. By the time one year hit, I had to throw them away.
It's just a shame that the rubber soles weren't made a little bit thicker because the boot could have lasted a lot longer. The stitching and leather uppers were still in great shape. Did CAT do this to keep the boot from being too heavy, or did they just cut corners to save on production cost?
When it was time to replace my boots, I weighed out the pros and cons and tried on a few other brands at the store....but none of them felt as good as the Alaska's! So in my case, comfort beat out durability, and I bought another pair of Alaska's. I know that just like my last pair these will probably only last me about one year, and that really stinks. However, that's one more year of my feet being totally protected and feeling great, and when it comes down to it, that's what's the most important!
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