Review - Altama Exospeed Desert Boots

[Kokanee]

Altama Exospeed Desert Boot Review
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By Kokanee
May 01 2006

I have been eyeing the Exospeed desert ever since a trip to Bradley's Surplus outside of Fort Drum, New York about 2 months ago. Combining the light wieght and breathability of a running shoe with the traction and bombproof construction honed over 40 years of manufacturing combats boots for the US Army, Altama's Exospeed line instantly became a must have item for me.



Key features include;

- Breathable mesh upper
- Molded ankle supports
- light weight
- flexible ankle
- they look gucci!

Overall construction looks very solid and durable.



Torture Test = 5km RuckMarch
April 25th

Well my first day of gaming w/ these boots is still a few days out, so I decided to take these boots for a short little walk. I have a short running route around my neighbourhood that is perfect for a testrun.

Testing was done w/ a normal pair of issue OD wool socks, the exospeed boots and a 70lb rucksack.

After completing this route, I had absolutely no problems w/ ankle support, soreness in the arches (a sign of poor support) or fitment. In fact, these boots being so light really makes a ruckmarch more enjoyable.


Gaming Experience
April 30th


Yesterday was able to take these boots out for a spin during actual gaming conditions. Overall I was again very impressed with the exospeeds. The extremely light weight and breathability made them a pleasure to wear.

The field was still quite wet in some areas, and at some points during the day I chose to cross a small stream - and here we come to the only drawback of these boots.

Being a desert boot, they are not designed to be water resistant in any way. If you take them out in wet conditions your feet will get wet. And once I plunged my foot into the stream it was instantly drenched, as the sides of the boots have areas that are just a mesh material for breathability.

I wouldnt really call this a drawback, as again they were not designed to deal with a wet environment.

So on the whole, taking the march and my gaming experiences into account, I would highly recommend the exospeed line of boots to any player looking for a excellent desert boot. Altama also makes the exospeeds in black as well, if you are in the market for something a little more urban.

On a closing note, the speedlace system built into these boots makes them extremely easy for hospital staff to remove, if you are extremely unlucky in your airsofting adventures

Pros:

- Lightweight
- Speedlace system
- Breathable
- Excellent ankle support while remaining flexible

Cons:

- Not waterproof in any way

Overall performance 5/5 as a desert boot, 4/5 as a temperate boot

[gandar]

Something else to consider for these boots, if they're that light and fantastic, you could consider investing in those "seal skin" socks, they're designed totally waterproof, my friend has a pair up north fighting forest fires, so I'll get back to you on whether they're worth the $70 or not.

How much were these Koke? They look pretty sweet.

[Kokanee]

They retail for about $119-$130US, but got them for $89US @ Bradley's by fort drum

[gandar]

Not too shabby at all. Sound like they might be a worth while purchase. I remember seeing a very similar pair in black, though I don't think it's the exact same, for a reasonable price at the kit shop in Camp Grayling...

[spleen]

Hey man, I hope you're getting well - you had us all worried there for a while!

How do they fit, IE what size in these ended up fitting you, and what size are you normally - say in a shoe?

[Oddjob]

Just thought I would point out since the wise Kokanee already mentioned the Exospeed boots, Altama does sell waterproof EXOSpeed's on thier website www.altama.com, just beware the shipping.

Altama gets points just for having thier own size charts to help.

To Help You Order Please Note:
1. Desert, Jungle & Combat Boots Are Slightly Larger In Fit Than Your Normal Size
2. Tactical Boots Fit Very Close To Civilian Street Sizes (IE, 9C, or 9R)

[Kokanee]

Originally Posted by spleen

Hey man, I hope you're getting well - you had us all worried there for a while!

How do they fit, IE what size in these ended up fitting you, and what size are you normally - say in a shoe?

I'm soldiering on Cameron - T3's rock! haha

They fit a bit smaller than normal I found, I am usually a 11 1/2 but the 11 is what I went with.

[recon 2185]

How does this boot hold up traction wise in a forrest envirornment? That was my only concern when i bought it and if i test it out i might not be able to return it.....

[Kokanee]

A large number of Ottawa players (myself included) run this as their default footwear, unless it's excessively wet. Never had a problem w/ traction etc.

Might as well throw in a few more points since this got bumped;

- After almost a year of owning these boots, they're even more comfortable then when first bought, and I've often ended up just throwing them on for "around town" since they're so light, so they have seen a good amount of use.

- Only QC issue is that after about 7 months use, the rear pull loop on the back ripped it's stitches out while I was pulling the boot on. Truth be told, I should have undone the laces more, and I was in a hurry. No biggie, just brought them into my unit tailor w/ his big industrial machine and all fixed up.

[pwor]

im just curious why do alot of people buy desert boots.i dont seem to recall seeing alot of deserts in canada.

[Kimbo]

I wear them because when you're trying to be sneaky, black boots stick out too much in the bush

[Mud Gunner]

Got black boots- get them dirty- problem solved Nature provides some of the best camo ever, add camo unifrom and foliage- laughing as you can see your enemy a lot faster than they can see you

[Kokanee]

Originally Posted by pwor

im just curious why do alot of people buy desert boots.i dont seem to recall seeing alot of deserts in canada.

Then you've never been to Rawdon I take it!

Actually for me personally, it's simply because they rock so much compared to your traditional black boots (for example Canadian Mk III's). It gets really, really hot here in Ottawa in the middle of summer and these are awesome as they breath and are really lightweight.

I do plan on picking up another set of boots this playing season, something in brown w/ goretex for those days when it's wet and/or a bit on the cold side.

This whole trend towards desert boots that are more of a running shoe is really picking up steam. In addition to the Oakley assault boot and the Altama Exospeed, there are a bunch of new contenders out there, for instance the new Converse boot;