Where do people buy boots in Chch nowadays?

Montrail GTX are a goretex panelled boot. Tried some Colombia's with virtually a simple gauze panel, but the reciprocal of "letting the water out" is "letting the water in". Didn't like that at all !.

Checked out R&R and Mountain Designs. The staff at R&R were very helpful and seemed to know what they were on about, but the "only" boots that would suit me were the $700 ones!!!! They were very nice tho...

yeah teh good ones can cost a lot, so any decision on what you will buy? see if you can see what they cost overseas. gearbuyer.com theres massive markups in outdoor gear in nz... if you are interested in buying from overseas you might need a mail forwarding company like shipito.com to get around export restrictions to nz... teh distriutors here have monopolies on the good brands and can charge what they like for good products... and the retailers just have to pass that markup on

i just bought boots from amazon, even when you add the deliver fee, its lot more cheaper than buying it here... and only take about 10 days to get it from usa.

I was in Chch last week and thought I'd try a few pairs on while I had the chance (bugger all options here in Hawkes Bay). Ended up at R&R and walked out with a pair of Meindl Island MFS actives - more than I ever thought I'd spend on a pair of boots, but man they're good - make my Scarpas feel like a pair of redbands. The service at R&R was excellent, unlike the independent place across the road in which some grumpy old fart tried to tell me which size boots to wear (after he'd given me something way too big) before walking off in a sulk and leaving me sitting there. And they wonder why people go and buy online....

iv got garmont they are a good wide boot and very comty and you cant beat tramping in nz bush and have dry feet at the end of the day if you are ever up in the waikato there are plenty of places to try and buy and they are a lot cheaper than $700 sounds like someone is making atidy profit there good luck

I was also at R&R Sports in ChCh recently. (The Tower Junction shop) The saleswoman's service & knowledge was most refreshing after the lies/sales bullshit encountered at two well known sports chains elsewhere at Tower Junction. (not Bivouac Outdoors) After explaining my requirements I was shown two suitable options. She didn't try & sell my anything unsuitable. Looking at coats/jackets for track cutting work she is the only sales person I've struck that correctly said gortex would be unsuitable because sweat, dirt an oil would quickly render the coat ineffective unless it was cleaned daily. Regarding another product she told me to go to Bivouac because what they had would suit my needs better. I wasn't checking out the boots while doing the rounds of the Tower Junction sports stores.

you shouldnt have to clean gore tex daily for it to remain effective. eVent is the membrane you have to clean regularly.

Backcountry.com. Good prices and good reviews.

Waynowski she did say said Event fabric was even worse than Gortex for being compromised by sweat, dirt & oil! I haven't used an Event product. What I do know for a fact is that when contracting doing track cutting & other chainsaw work gortex leggings became useless after a matter of days. The water came straight thru them from the outside from rain or wet scrub. When doing such work I wasn't able to & didn't want to have to clean the leggings regularly so gave the goretex ones away. I reverted to chainsaw chaps, canvas leggings or sometimes techniflex ones if sweating was unlikely to be an issue. At the time a product rep said that the goretex leggings failed because I had worked in wet conditions whilst sweating profusely and that dirt & a film of oil from the chain bar lube was getting on to the outside of the leggings stopping them from performing. The R&R rep actually knew her stuff & this was only minutes after someone from another shop told me; Goretex never leaks, you'll never get wet in it, it will be ideal to track cut in etc.