Sealskinz...any good/worth the money?

[Greg]

I have a pair of Sealskinz that have a loop stitch lining that are designed to be worn without any other socks, I did this once on a days hike but since then I have worn a pair of thin socks underneath which has made the Sealskinz a pleasure to where. They fit snuggly to my feet and I have never had a blister.
I wear them all the time now instead of normal walking socks.

Sealskinz get the from me!!

 

[Goose]

Thought I had replied to this yesterday, post dissapeared!
I have a couple of pairs of porrelle dry socks and I think they are great! They are similar to the sealskinz but cost less than a fiver a pair off ebay. I have used them under dessie boots and for canoeing and they do keep the water out and breathe pretty well. My walking boots are waterproofed and I found my feet got sweaty and damp when wearing the two waterproof layers, and the waterproof socks weren't needed. I carry them as spare/emergency socks, the thinking being if my boots gets soaked I can wear the waterproof socks under my boots till they dry out.

 

[Chance]

My gloves leak; possibly linked to an impromptu high-side dismount while mountain-biking, although there's no obvious surface damage.
Before then they were OK, but not suitable for the top of the hill in Winter. Don't know if it's the windchill, but my hands were useless until I popped riggers' gloves over the Sealskinz.

 

[Voivode]

My walking boots are waterproofed and I found my feet got sweaty and damp when wearing the two waterproof layers, and the waterproof socks weren't needed. I carry them as spare/emergency socks, the thinking being if my boots gets soaked I can wear the waterproof socks under my boots till they dry out.

Not really replying to you, just using you as a springboard here...

My millitary cousin says him and his buddies ditched the Gore-Tex boots as they consider them useless unless you're standing around a camp fire (like a bunch of lazy hunters, he said) and use the waterproof oversocks all the time along with some sturdy (non-waterproof) tactical boots. At the beginning of the day, they wear the boots with no waterproof socks. If they come across water, they just plow through and quickly change into their dry pair of socks and add the waterproof socks to keep the wet boots off their (now) dry feet. They carry on, plowing through any water that is shallower than their waterproof socks. If they hit deeper water, they stop, switch back into the wet socks and cross, reinstalling the dry sock/waterproof combo on the other side.

This way, they don't care what happens to their boots and they always have dry feet.

 

[Beer Monster]

Not really replying to you, just using you as a springboard here...

My millitary cousin says him and his buddies ditched the Gore-Tex boots as they consider them useless unless you're standing around a camp fire (like a bunch of lazy hunters, he said) and use the waterproof oversocks all the time along with some sturdy (non-waterproof) tactical boots. At the beginning of the day, they wear the boots with no waterproof socks. If they come across water, they just plow through and quickly change into their dry pair of socks and add the waterproof socks to keep the wet boots off their (now) dry feet. They carry on, plowing through any water that is shallower than their waterproof socks. If they hit deeper water, they stop, switch back into the wet socks and cross, reinstalling the dry sock/waterproof combo on the other side.

This way, they don't care what happens to their boots and they always have dry feet.

That’s what I do as explained in post #6 on the thread I don't think I explained it as well as you did though.

On the same army course as the sealskinz glove folk (see post #6) a large number of folk had invested in shiny new gortex lined lowa boots (the "in" boot to have at the time), they soon realized the error of their ways when they were crawling along waist deep water filled ditches on day 1 effectively rendering the gortex useless. By day 5 their feet were a smelly mess as their boots never fully dried out. Those of us with plain old nikwaxed leather boots and sealskinz were laughing all the way to the mess as they dried out overnight!

On another note, for those with gortex lined boots I’ve heard quite good things about the Dampire Boot driers. Take them out with you, stick them in your boots overnight and they are dry (I won’t go as far to say bone dry) by the following morning. I suppose they are only really effective used once in the field (as you have to put them on a radiator to dry out the crystals), but hey, two days dry boots is better than one!

 

[Voivode]

That’s what I do as explained in post #6 on the thread I don't think I explained it as well as you did though.

Err... Yeah, so you did. My bad.