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3. Korker Metalhead Wading Boot, Page 2

As a follow up to my original endorsement for the metal heads. I have had a poor experience with them in terms of durability of the uppers. After about 4 months the high stress points of the uppers literally started to disintegrate. The outer coating essentially crumbled off.
I called Korkers and they said send them back and we'll replace them. A month after shipping them nothing. I emailed the cust service rep several time with no response, I called 3 more times with no response. I finally got through to the cust service manager and he said they never received my boot and had no record of the return auth. He had the original rep call me back and I gave him the tracking # which clearly indicated the boots were received by the company. With that and a few photos they said it would be good and my new boots are now somewhere between Portland Ore and PA with an anticipated delivery this week.
Hopefully this pair holds up better.
All in all I will likely not go back to them in the future and possibly will go back to the Battenkill Brouge that lasted me for the better part of 6 seasons of abuse ( but only if they are still stiching the felt to the soles)

As for a hunting boot I have a 20 year pair of Red Wings that with a little TLC are still going strong

JW

Hi John,

Sorry to hear about your wading boots, but it doesn't surprise me. What would surprise me is if the replacements are any better. It seems percentage wise, it's a better business model to take the loss of replacing for the few who actually go through the process like you did than build a better product that doesn't need replacement in the first place. Technically, since there's the guarantee in place, they can still brag on the quality of their product. The way I see it, they can either let their boots or their customers wear out. We'll see how long this bus. model lasts.

Yeah, the original Irish Setter was a hell of a boot too. I've never owned a pair, but I have a cousin who is an upland bird fanatic and swears by them. The problem is (like Danner) Red Wing has since gone to mass production methods that produce an inferior product. The leather quality has gone way down and the "breathable" cambrial linings are a joke. I don't know if you can buy the "original" Irish Setter anymore.

A boot thread; we have one with comments on less expensive boots, but it's hiding somewhere.

I've edited my post from the first page. I liked the Metalheads when I first owned them, but I grew to hate them. I still like Korkers stuff, so I got a different pair of their boots with normal laces this summer.