Most people that read my blog have heard of 5.11 Tactical before. Either from reading the reviews I've done here or from wearing their products themselves in the past. 5.11 has long since established itself as a go-to manufacturer when it comes to "tactical" clothing and have for some years now, been a full-service provider. By that I mean that you can literally get complete coverage with nothing but 5.11 products!
That includes footwear and the footwear is what we are going to be looking at today. More specifically, we'll be looking at the desert version of their top of the line boot, the HRT.
As usual, we'll start with the specs.
The HRT is a very nice looking boot. I will give 5.11 credit for producing a boot that appears to have very high standards of craftsmanship. Seam lines are clean, stitching looks to be nigh perfect - with triple stitching in many areas - and the level of fit and finish is very, very good.
The boot has a protective rubber toe cap, that appears to be similar to the kind of rubber you'd see on a climbing shoe. The actual sole rand is textured and has little raised dots around the perimeter. All of these things appear geared towards increasing friction for climbing or hiking in rocky terrain. It would likely work quite well in an urban setting as well. The sole itself doesn't appear to be a Vibram sole, but rather a 5.11 proprietary sole. The pattern seems very effective and offers decent traction on a variety of surfaces. It starts out right out of the box as VERY stiff. Stiffer even than some dedicated mountaineering boots that I've had.
How it stacks up compared to a Vibram sole for long-term wear, I can unfortunately not really judge at this point.
The uppers are sturdy and well-padded, offering outstanding ankle-support. The lacing system is done fairly well, but I admit to being concerned a little over long-term durability, as the lacing holes don't seem to have any kind of reinforcements added to them. That may quickly become an issue, especially with heavy use in sandy or dusty environments.
Overall though, the boot appears exceedingly well-made and feels very sturdy. I was quite pleased with the apparent quality of materials used in the uppers.
Now, let's talk about comfort.
I have fairly wide feet, but the regular width fit me quite nicely, with decent room in the toe box. Lacing the boot up, it does fit quite well, without uncomfortable pressure points. It is perhaps a little on the warm side, but not too bad.
So far, so good!
But here's where I ran into a snag. 5.11 Tactical claims that you can wear these boots out of the box and have perfect comfort as there is no need for a breaking in period. I found this to be painfully not the case.
The very first time I wore them, I wore them for 5 hours at work. First couple of hours, no issues. Felt fine. But at the end of the shift, my heels - particularly my left heel - were extremely sore. This pain not only got worse the next day, but persisted for almost 5 days! It wasn't a blister, as there were no external signs of the source of pain, no, this was deeper in the tissues.
The pain eventually went away and somewhat reluctantly, I tried the boots again. This time, I kept my time in them down to a couple of hours at a time. After a couple of weeks of this kind of thing, the boots did indeed seem to soften up some, not just in the uppers but in the sole as well.
Eventually, I was able to wear them without heel pain for an entire day. Much to my relief!
In the following months, I've put some fairly heavy use on these boots. New Mexico mountains and rocks, sand, dust, heavy brush, urban use, etc. Throughout all of that, the boots have held up very nicely. With the exception of the breaking-in issue that I experienced, they've been flawless.
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| For a tactical boot, the HRT is a fairly handsome looking piece of kit. |
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| The proprietary 5.11 sole. Note the grooves at the toe and heel for added traction on hills and the texturing in the instep to provide added braking power on ropes. |
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| The inside of the upper is well-padded with a decently breathable fabric. Yes, these boots are made in China. Whoever 5.11 uses as their manufacturer does a very nice job, however. |
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| The 5.11 logo is a rubber patch stitched cleanly into the tongue of the boot. Also, note the plastic tips on the laces. That's a pretty nice touch. |
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| These vents are placed on the inside insteps on both boots. They don't seem to let in any dust or debris and from what I've observed, work as advertised. |
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| I was quite happy to see such a sturdy pull-loop. Far too often, this loop is either non-existent or far too flimsy! |
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| As you can see, the lacing holes are not reinforced. The material on the inside though is not real leather, but a smoother, synthetic material. |
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| The heel counter is very sturdy and has triple stitching. |
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| Triple stitching again on the toe cap. This is a very nice feature as the toe cap is a very common failure point for a lot of boots. |
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| The sole has a pretty good amount of heel lift. I would like to see this reduced just a little, bringing the wearer closer to the ground. Even with the outstanding ankle support that these boots offer, the tallness of the sole does make it more likely that the wearer might roll an ankle. |
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| After breaking in, the sole appears decently flexible. Perhaps not quite as flexible as I would have preferred, but once broken in, these boots are very comfortable.
After all is said and done, I'm fairly happy with these boots. Keeping a few caveats in mind, that is.
They do - in my opinion - require some significant breaking in. I can only imagine the agony that would ensue if you were to take these boots on a long hike or patrol right out of the box!
I would also have liked to see the lacing system reinforced better. The Belleville Kiowa's did an excellent job of this and something similar could readily be adopted for these boots as well.
So, in short, again keeping in mind the above-mentioned caveats, I would recommend these boots as a good purchase. Once broken in, there is little to complain about!
Thank you to the crew at 5.11 Tactical for letting me review these boots and for being so patient with the amount of time it took to get done.
Addendum: It was brought to my attention that this particular boot is not in the 5.11 inventory any longer. Their current selection of desert-type boots can be found at this page: 5.11 Desert Tactical Boots |
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