# What are the best survival shoes



## icantthinkofausername (Feb 7, 2014)

I have been looking for the best survival shoes for years now and have gone through dozens of them. I have recently purchased a pair of justin slip on work boot and I am pretty happy with them but are there any better options?

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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

For what type of weather?


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## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

The best shoe for surviving the shower room at the gym without getting atheletes foot is a pair of flip-flops from walmart, replaced at regular intervals...

As Mr. L alluded to, 'the best shoe' is going to depend a lot on whatsort of environment you are planning on operating in, and then what sort of operations you are planning on, and then your body size, your feet, load carrying ect...


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## rf197 (Jul 19, 2009)

Ok, we do agree on something.
Good advice obese tire


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## icantthinkofausername (Feb 7, 2014)

Ok I live in texas and spend most of my time dragging my shoes through the underbrush. I'm huge into backpacking so you rarely see me without my backpack also mud and I are no stranger

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## icantthinkofausername (Feb 7, 2014)

I forgot to add I put a lot of miles behind me when I walk

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## Cabowabo (Nov 6, 2012)

I have a pair of Rocky SV2's. I have a couple thousand hours in 'em, and I'd recommend them to anyone. Its getting about the time I have got to replace mine.


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## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

Yeah the S2V's are on my list, havent found a place I can try on a pair tho. They do get really good reviews.


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

I think the choices are somewhat personal due to fit, environment, usage, etc. The key if you are prepping is clothing, including footwear, may be something to stock up on. In my case every BOB has a pair of comfortable boots and I have multiple BOBs, so I will run out of something else before I get desperate for shoes.


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

icantthinkofausername said:


> I have been looking for the best survival shoes for years now and have gone through dozens of them. I have recently purchased a pair of justin slip on work boot and I am pretty happy with them but are there any better options?
> 
> Sent from my SCH-S968C using Survival Forum mobile app


the best all around shoes are military combat boots, they are well evolved over centuries to what they are now.

I like the Belleville "Sabre". 
the rubber soles wraps around the edges to give you extra traction in difficult terrain.
The upper sides have extra padding to help mitigate possible traumatic injury of the ankles.
And it being a military style boot you get good ankle support.

I think I paid $145 for my pair at the PX so maybe expect a bit more on the outside.

Comes in half sizes and different widths.


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## Cabowabo (Nov 6, 2012)

http://uspatriottactical.com/tactical-military-boots/
I personally like this place as far as buying boots from. Might be worth checking their return policy as far as what you get.

Good boots are nothing to skimp on, so be prepared to spend some coin on the good ones. I will say this I prefer rockies, just a great solid boot, but expensive...


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## jnrdesertrats (Jul 3, 2010)

I have the Rocky C4T and they feel like wearing tennis shoes. I love them.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

two choices, Carolina log walkers or bedroom slippers and stay home.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

I walk 4-5 miles a day for exercise. Years ago I started hiking in Colorado in the mountains. Everyone was telling me to get these boots and those boots. Every year I tried different boots, All were OK. Then one year I just used my walking shoes which are just $30 dollar Walmart tennis shoes. These were and are still the best. The last time I was in Colorado we hiked 16 miles and 5000' vertically and back down again all over 9000' of altitude and all this in 12 hours. I had a 30 pound back pack. I carried spare socks and changed them half way, while the ones I took off dried out hanging from my pack. I started the hike with 2 gallons of water and ended with none. 

If I have to cover allot of ground fast and with a minimum of damage to my feet, I wear my $30 Walmart tennis shoes. 

BTW everyone else used the recommended hiking boots and all of them had blisters and foot damage that took days to heal. I could go hiking the next day.


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## wtxprepper (Jul 30, 2013)

I agree with blueZ military style boots are great mine have vibram soles and GoreTex liners, they are waterproof and let your feet breathe and they have lasted me the past 5 years of everyday wear

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## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

As with any boot or shoe, comfort is bar none the most important factor...if your feet ache or worse, are blistered, you will be slow to move. Durability and traction come next, depending on what type of environment you will be walking in. Personally, I prefer the heavy lace-up boots for added ankle support. I have a pair of steel-toes for work that are relatively comfortable (I wear them for 10-14 hours/day, non-stop). These boots also work well for adding wool socks (spares in my BOB) in cold weather, so they're my go-to at the moment...actually, I've been wearing this same style of boot for the past 4-5 years now. I wear out the heavy, deep vibram soles walking on sharp rock surfaces, metal stair grating and cat-walks, otherwise they'd last longer than the 1.5 year average I get out of a pair. They work for me, and if it ain't broke, I don't fix it. I would not hesitate to wear these if I had only one choice for foot-wear when SHTF. Remember, comfort first...no one with sore feet achieves peak productivity (including hiking to your BOL or hunting/gathering).


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## theswissarmyprepper (Feb 8, 2014)

Boots or shoes which is better?



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## icantthinkofausername (Feb 7, 2014)

I think I'm keeping with my justin slip on work boots. Not the best for running however they are comfortable, tough, and I love that they are american made.

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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

theswissarmyprepper said:


> Boots or shoes which is better?
> 
> Sent from my iPod touch using Survival Forum


No comparison.
the heavy military boot style will rpotect your ankle sin difficult to terrain.
You do NOT want to injure your foot in SHTF.

Also the amount of debris that can be around and is threatening your feet is much better mitigated with a proper boot.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

BlueZ said:


> No comparison.
> the heavy military boot style will rpotect your ankle sin difficult to terrain.
> You do NOT want to injure your foot in SHTF.
> 
> Also the amount of debris that can be around and is threatening your feet is much better mitigated with a proper boot.


If the only reason for selecting a boot is for protection of the ankles then you lose the argument. Good high performance shoes will allow you to run faster and longer with less damage to the soul of your foot. You can carry another pair of shoes easily (not boots) for stream crossings this becomes very helpful.

The military issues boots because of the wear Vs expense issue. Boots last longer and need to be replace less. Boots were not issued to save your life, they are issued to save money.

I have even noticed that SEALs and Delta force have been wearing shoes more then boots. Watch the actual footage from the middle East!


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

Tweto said:


> 1)If the only reason for selecting a boot is for protection of the ankles then you lose the argument. Good high performance shoes will allow you to run faster and longer with less damage to the soul of your foot. You can carry another pair of shoes easily (not boots) for stream crossings this becomes very helpful.
> 
> 2)The military issues boots because of the wear Vs expense issue. Boots last longer and need to be replace less. Boots were not issued to save your life, they are issued to save money.
> 
> 3)I have even noticed that SEALs and Delta force have been wearing shoes more then boots. Watch the actual footage from the middle East!


1) Its a major reason. Operating in difficult terrain with a load a wrong step will injure you much easier in a shoe than a boot. And very badly too. Not a good thing in SHTF...

2) Not true. Primary reason is to prevent injury to troops.
Boots are more expensive than shoes and as resources to equip troops have gone up in the last 100 years all militaries have gone to boots. While I am not usually a friend of blindly adopting military equipment (and therefore requirements sets) for prepper use in this case its a no brainer.

3) I can not speak for what these units do and dont do and neither can a youtube watcher. It stands to reason many of them get helicoptered to objectives also likely many of them also do very short term raids in urban areas.

Neither of which has anything to do with a footwear requirements set that matches that of a prepper in SHTF.

Sure you can run faster in shoes and if you have access to unlimited resupply like they do, you can change footwear between every mission.

But all that has nothing to do with the environment a prepper will operate in SHTF, who BTW will also have no easy way to replace his footwear.

The highest priority for a prepper in SHTF has to be to wear solid footwear that will minimize the risk of injury while providing good footing when transversing challenging terrain such as the woods or a debris strewn beat up city.

That's why solid military style lace-up boots are the rational choice.

Just going out for single tactical training day in anything but ,military lace up boots is questionable.
Never mind trying to last thru the apocalypse.


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

Depending on the scenario you're going to need different equipment and as individuals we will have different preferences. I think the image that comes to mind for SHTF is having to walk a long way either to get home or to bug out. I admit I think that way and keep boots with my GHB in my car for that reason. (No they aren't military issue. LL Bean is fine with me.)

If that isn't the scenario then you may need something different. What if the condition is comfortable while riding a bicycle? What will be comfortable while gardening?

If you can store a year's supply of food, you'll have more than one pair of footwear. You probably have most of what you need already, but if you're not an outdoorsy type normally, you may need to add a few things.

My wife is from a warm climate and inclined toward sandals or dressy shoes. I've purchased some boots for her, but I suspect in a SHTF world, other than taking a long hike, she'd still be wearing the sandals.


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## HardCider (Dec 13, 2013)

Totally depends on your environment. No such thing as the perfect piece of gear for everywhere. Gun, boots, vehicle, boat or whatever. For my area it would be rubber knee boots until you went over them and then they would suck


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## cqp33 (Apr 2, 2012)

I am retired military and will never again put a pair of "issue" boots on my feet! For comfort they suck IMO, I wear what is comfortable, period! I have had my left ankle put back together after being stupid trying to surf the North shore of Oahu at age 36 and comfort and support is vital to me. I have 3 different kinds of boots right now, each are comfortable to me during different tasks/environments.

Bottom line here is you need to be comfortable in your shoes (as mentioned before in the post about blisters and foot pain) and they need to provide the support for the task at hand! Your feet are your foundation, a good foundation is needed for everything!


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

cqp33 said:


> I am retired military and will never again put a pair of "issue" boots on my feet! For comfort they suck IMO, I wear what is comfortable, period! I have had my left ankle put back together after being stupid trying to surf the North shore of Oahu at age 36 and comfort and support is vital to me. I have 3 different kinds of boots right now, each are comfortable to me during different tasks/environments.
> 
> Bottom line here is you need to be comfortable in your shoes (as mentioned before in the post about blisters and foot pain) and they need to provide the support for the task at hand! Your feet are your foundation, a good foundation is needed for everything!


Issue boots are not what they used ot be.
In any event I got the Belletine Sabre's from C&S which are a step above issue.
But they are the evolved style of the modern military booth which is designed for good mobility in combination with wear resistance and protection for feet/ankles.


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## alwaysready (May 16, 2012)

If I could only have one pick I'd go with boots. I can't speak on the current military boot but the one's I was issued 30 years ago were rough.We ran in those things sometimes 6 miles I'm sure they were not meant for that. It was really hard on the feet. For every day use I like Redwings
Good snug fit for ankle support and easy on feet.


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## ronald_stufflebeam (Feb 13, 2014)

*Best Boots*

Very pricey...but the last pair you'll ever need and every day is a joy to ware them! So I guess it depends how close you are to the grave whether or not they make sense in owning a pair.
http://www.whitesboots.com/


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## bbrider (Sep 27, 2013)

ronald_stufflebeam said:


> Very pricey...but the last pair you'll ever need and every day is a joy to ware them! So I guess it depends how close you are to the grave whether or not they make sense in owning a pair.
> http://www.whitesboots.com/


I have a pair of Whites, as well. I used them for years fighting Wildfires and now for daily walks and working on the property and hunting. They are not the best for running or stealth, but will last.

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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

Geek999 said:


> Depending on the scenario you're going to need different equipment and as individuals we will have different preferences. I think the image that comes to mind for SHTF is having to walk a long way either to get home or to bug out. I admit I think that way and keep boots with my GHB in my car for that reason. (No they aren't military issue. LL Bean is fine with me.)
> 
> If that isn't the scenario then you may need something different. What if the condition is comfortable while riding a bicycle? What will be comfortable while gardening?
> 
> ...


If your wife is into sandals, you are aware that there are sandals, and then there are sandals. I have some that are very sturdy, and some that are cheap, but go with certain outfits. I am a very practical woman, who is not all about how things look, but to a degree, I do.

I have a very well worn pair of crocs. In fact, I need a new pair as I bought mine at least 10 years ago. I do not think they are everything, but they are great for working in wet conditions and for many gardening purposes. I would not wear them on a hike, but once I was out in the pouring rain for half an hour, and I put my leather sandals in my backpack and put on my crocs. After I was out of the rain, I changed my shoes again. My leather sandals would have been destroyed by the water I was dealing with. I know people who hate them, but I have never considered them for fashion or daily wear. They serve a certain purpose for me.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

I have had "good to very good" experiences with Rocky and Magellan (both are imported, unfortunately)

I am saving my nickels and dimes for a pair of Danner boots.


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## NATIVEBONES (Feb 3, 2014)

Wow I am going to need some too


Survive and Thrive


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