I am with the second pair of the Whitehorse. Not what you are asking for, but the system is the same. And the system is where the problems are ! The shoes themselves are very light and would be comfortable with conventional laces and with glued soles.
To be honest, I wouldn’t buy another pair. Not only one reason - several:
- Broken laces. On the first pair, the laces broke two times, on the second after short use once. Not funny to stumble back to the car in the night with broken laces, I can tell you...
- The thin laces are cutting through the material.
- The metal laces are only anchored on one place and are freely moving. No differentiation in lower or higher pressure to the feet. For good ankle support in a wading boot we need higher pressure in the upper part without too much pressure in the lower parts. It’s only possible with conventional laces, more and different anchor points.
The Boa system is fine for skiing and the stiff skiing boots, but definitely not for softer shoes to which wading boots belong to, also exposed to sand and gravel and everything out while fishing.
- The changeable sole system is also not funny, when wading in mud. You need a lot more power to bring the feet out again, because mud is between shoe and soles additional. In consequence I lost one sole while sunken deep into mud in slow water, but was happy I came out without lost of rod or life. To be fair, that happened only once, but it was enough.
- Useless and dangerous rubber soles for wading (the ones they are delivered with). Maybe good for walking, to safe the felt soles. If one likes to carry interchangeable soles, replacement kit - and willing to take the time for the changing process between walking and fishing... If not, the rubber soles stay mostly unused and are a completely unnecessary lost of resources and will end with the boots in the rubbish container.
- Felt soles wear down all too fast. Not only because they are thinner than any other felt soles on other boots, but they need to be thrown away as soon (better before !!!) the outer edges of the hard plastic under the felt gets into touch with the ground ! If one waits too long, it’s like skiing, believe me !
No problem at all on any other conventional boots with felt attached to the lower sole parts, mostly made of soft material.
I do some sports and mountain hiking and know what’s needed in a good boot for comfort, protection and safety.
If one wants an easy in and out boot for not the toughest of fishing it’s okay. Be prepared with the Boa replacement kit. I bought two replacement laces and got the third from Boa company free of charge after only a short E-Mail. Unluckily it was the wrong length (too short)...
I can’t say anything good or bad about the service of Korkers, because I didn’t try. But what should they do? The problems described are system immanent and hard to solve. Even if they are generous with a new pair after a warranty case in exchange one gets the same problems again.
I use the second and last pair as my „evening jump only“-boot for trout fishing at a nearby river with easy access, but don’t take it with me for serious fishing, salmon fishing and any sort of longer excursions. If something happens after some wear with conventional laces, it can be seen, not with the metal laces. In case of a breakage conventional laces are changed at the water within minutes and on it goes. Also not that easy with the Boa system.
I didn’t try every wading boot and label on the market, but after 30 years of trial and error with other labels I came to some pairs of Simms boots and didn’t have many complaints. After some other models I am in the third pair of the old G3 model. I got some pairs in reserve of this old model because I couldn’t wear the new model of the G3 with it’s hard and stiff hard plastic edges exactly on the ankles. But every foot is different. Try before you buy in the office or at home !
For serious fishing I wouldn’t recommend the Korkers and Boa. And for every other label or boot model, one have to try for individual fit. Every model is different within one label.
Hope this was some help.
Safe walking and wading !