Are Hunter wellies as good as there reputation?

As I spend so much time traipsing through wet muddy fields walking my dog I though it was about time to sling my cheapy wellies I have had for years and invest in a decent pair.

Lets face it there are not many reviews for wellies by real people, yea there are plenty of generic reviews by people trying to get you to buy them, but I wouldn’t trust them to much!

So the only good quality welly boot I had heard of were by a company caller Hunter. It seems if your looking for a good quality welly boot then hunter wellies  are very well known and probably the welly boot of the upper and middle classes.

My partner Helen already has a pair, but she got the standard bottom of the range ones!! they seemed OK  and looked like a decent enough welly, I think she paid about £45 for them. Now I am no welly expert but I just couldn’t see what made them any better than a standard no name cheap pair. She assured me that they were extremely comfy and felt better than her previous cheap ones.

OK so I’m almost sold on hunters wellies, but I do like to research before I buy, so decided the best place to find out what real people are saying about hunters wellies were the outdoor forums like horse and hound for example. To cut a long story, there were mixed reviews about the Hunter boots but what I did find out was, if I was to buy hunter boots then go for the Hunter Balmoral and if your budget would stretch the Neoprenes.

I couldn’t justify the extra cost of the Neoprenes as it’s easy to put on a thick comfy pair of socks in the winter. So I decided on the standard Hunter Balmoral in olive.

 

You can see from the first picture how the Hunter Balmorals look next to the hunter original (excuse the mud But I do use them).

hunter wellies

Hunter Balmoral next to Hunter Original wellies

Bear in mind in the  above pic the Balmorals are male size 8 (uk) and the Originals are female size 5 (uk) so my Balmorals will be a bit bigger anyway.

The obvious difference is the sole the height they go up your calf and the adjustable side strap.

Here you can see the substantial difference between the soles of the Balmoral and the Original.

The Balmoral has a much more substantial and grippier ( is that even a word?) looking sole.

 

The adjustable side strap also serves a purpose. You can see from the two pics below that you can actually adjust the Balmoral if you have a larger calf (like me)

The strap on the Original doesn’t really do much.

I can’t say what the Hunter Original wellies are like to wear but I can say the Balmoral are very comfy. In fact they don’t really feel like you are wearing a welly boot, I would liken them more to a walking boot.

Initially I did struggle to get them off! as I have a high instep, but after a few days of wearing them they come off OK and there is also a slight lip on the heel that you can use to aid removal.

I also spent a considerable amount of time trying to find the cheapest online store. ( I did have a look around the garden centers but they were so much more expensive)

after a lot of research i ended up getting mine here Simply Hike

But have recently found them to be a little cheaper here.

 

I have been wearing these wellies everyday now for over three month and can say I am still 100% happy with them and would definitely say they are worth the extra money and they also look the part!

Her is the genuine  Hunterboot website http://www.hunter-boot.com/

And here is a fashion type advert by Hunter themselves!!

 

 

Nov 2012 update.

Just thought I would add this little update as I have had quite a few emails asking how my wellies are holding up.

well I have had them well over a year now and still use them almost everyday (we had a very wet summer) to walk the dog.

They are still as good as new! if I were to clean them up properly they would look the same as the day I bought them.

So big thumbs up!

I must say though I have a friend who bought the cheaper hunter classics, he walks his dog maybe 3 hours a day and he says the heels on his are wearing down. I haven’t actually seen them to make my own judgement though.

I do remember that the heel was one of my considerations in buying the Balmoral as I thought it looked an awful lot more substantial.

Any way I’m still really pleased with mine I will update this again this time next year to see how they are doing.

 

 

 

 

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