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