I’ve had the Salomon Comet 3D GTX boots for about a year now and I thought it about time they had an “Update Review”.
I’ve just returned these to Go Outdoors and asked them to return them to Salomon for a warranty refund/replacement.
The two year warranty on the boots is excellent, as I’ve mentioned before and, as with previous Salomon boots, I was half expecting to have to call on it with these boots.
Initially I had no problems. The boots are far more durable than the Mission GTX boots I’d had for the previous two or three years and there’s nothing hanging off them, ripped, torn or flapping.
However, they stopped being completely waterproof after about 5-6 months and in the later part of last summer, even dew-laden grass would be enough to soak the leather uppers through and the water would inevitably start leaking through.
I have re-proofed the outer with Graingers several times and this seems to work for a few hours, but then, then next good soaking and the boots are sodden again.
Once wet, they weigh an absolute ton. I weighed them one day after a particularly wet walk and found they managed to soak up about 250g of water in each boot – taking their weight from a modest 650g each to an outrageous 900g each!
Apart from the water leakage these have been great boots though – they are lovely and comfortable, they have good grip and provide reasonable ankle protection. They are a mid-cut boot, which helps to reduce their weight, but they certainly feel more sturdy than the Missions and I’d be perfectly happy with them if they didn’t let in so much water.
I’ve done about 600-700 miles in these boots and the sole on them is still great.
As they are slightly more sturdy, there isn’t as much flex in the sole as I found in the Missions and this results in a sort of clopping experience as you walk on tarmac. Rather than the sole flexing with your foot, it clops down onto the pavement. Hard to describe. Not a bad thing, just an observation.
I’ve yet to hear back from GO as to wether Salomon will replace the boots under warranty, but as they have a Gore-Tex liner which leaks worse than a government department, I’m presuming they will.
I’ll keep you posted.