I’ve had a pair of Rogue Ranger boots for about 10 months now and it’s time for a bit of a review.

I bought them from John Muirden at http://www.unbeatentracks.com/. This meant that I was taking a bit of a risk by buying them on-line, but with an assurance from John that I could have an exchange or full refund, I accepted. http://www.raymears.com/ also sells them for about the same price.

The boots are advertised as a light hiker/trail boot and are made entirely of leather. This means they are a non-technical boot and therefore a little heavier than some modern boots you can buy.

The Rogue range, including the famous hats, appears to be made in South Africa by Selke Leather for Rogue. There are a couple of other boots in the range; notably a new lightweight tracker boot and the more robust Trans-Africa.

When they first arrived I was surprised at the softness of the leather uppers and knew that these boots wouldn’t take much breaking in. Indeed, it was only a couple of weeks before they were as comfortable as any other boots I’d owned including some of the boots I had in the services. I’ll explain how I broke them in on a later post.

I would reiterate that these are a non-technical boot and I had to do a bit of work covering them in dubbin and wax to make them somewhat water-resistant; but despite this under nominally wet conditions (rain/damp) I’ve not had any serious ingress of water. For really wet conditions and stomping through puddles I wear wellies. For an “extreme” test I deliberately stood in a puddle for a good couple of minutes before I felt water seep through the seams of the uppers.

This winter, I have found the boots a little cold even with a couple of pairs of socks; but perhaps this would be the same with any boots apart from something offering a thermal lining. But even so, I don’t think they are suitable for a full winter season.

For a comfortable 2 season or 3 season light trail boot as described these boots are the tops. The strange, soft rubberised soles allow you to feel your way across the woods. They are in fact pretty good for stalking for this reason. I’ve not tried them at any distance on tarmac, but I would think the sole would wear down pretty quickly. For climbing or scrambling (not that I do a lot of this either) the sole is also ideally made providing good grip on smooth surfaces.

The soft leather uppers don’t really resist brambles and scratches too well, but I don’t buy boots for keeping them in good looks. I just slap polish on, cover them in dubbin and we’re ready for the off again.

The supplied laces are diabolical, fraying at the sight of a bramble, but the metal lace holes are pretty robust. The top 4 holes are a D-type swivel arrangement. (Please excuse me if I’ve not got the terms right.)

Technically, the inside of the boots are as basic as the outside and I suggest you might need some superior insoles to suit the shape of your foot. You might also wish to consider that the boots only comes in half sizes. I take a UK size 8 (Euro 42) but had to buy a 8½. Taking into consideration a replacement insole, an additional thin pair of thin socks and thicker wool socks, this was not a problem at all for me.

All in all, the Rogue Rangers are a comfortable, all leather, soft terrain, 2-3 season trail boot. At £59-00 they will probably be the most comfortable boot you would have bought at the price (if a bit heavy.) I will certainly be wearing these for the next few seasons.

Pablo.