Proud to present an article from Leland Keane, our gear review guru from the Nova Scotia.
I read Steve Balestrieri’s review in Loadout Room from 2019 on the Salomon XA Forces Mid-Boot, with interest when planning to write this review. The boot in his review is similar but not waterproof. -(https://loadoutroom.com/117606/a-green-berets-take-on-the-salomon-xa-forces-mid-boot/)
I purchased the XA FORCES MID GORE-TEX Ranger Green / Men’s on sale directly from Salomon in June of 2023 for $187.50(CAD) down 25% from $250(CAD) with free shipping. I was further charged $28.13(CAD) in provincial and federal tax.
(Canada is awash in many layers of excessive taxation by our increasingly kleptocratic municipal, provincial and federal governments. It’s been an especially unpleasant tax regime since a Federal Liberal-NDP Government under Justin Trudeau was elected in 2015.)
In the 1980s and and to the middle of the 1990s the police department I worked for was resistant to letting folks buy and wear their own boots. Between the rigid top-down procurement policies of the department and political interference in the adoption of contracts on such items as kit, there was no real appetite for serious examination of the value of footwear and its relationship to the health of employees by the department.
This is not an article on the importance of proper footwear on the spinal health of police officers carrying heavy loads on their person, and professional activities and the impacts on their health. Suffice to say, policemen have bad backs.
When there was finally an appetite to loosen the apron strings on boots in our department, most of my colleagues and I involved in actual police work had no issue spending a few dollars on proper footwear. Like many of my colleagues I wanted comfort and less aggravation of my ankles and back.
I wore many brands both on the “street”, paved and unpaved and in the unforgiving concrete environment of flat and not-so-flat firearms ranges. Working outside was the true test of any footwear. Memories of damp cold feet from working in a rainforest, fording rivers, being stuck to the asphalt after walking through gallons of fish oil spilling from a tanker truck at a collision all flood back to me.
Having broken ankles 3 times related to duty as well as other musculoskeletal injuries and having adopted orthotic inserts, choosing a product required reliable supportive footwear about a size bigger than normal.
I wore models from Oakley, Scarpa, SWAT, AKU and others I can’t remember and lastly Soloman. I always returned to and eventually stayed with Soloman for a number of reasons;
COST ; At work, I remembered they needed to have a toe cap that could be polished, be black, and look “professional” in order to qualify for an annual subsidy of between $100-$250(CAD) depending on unit and department funding.
COLOR; When a unit did not require the color to be black, there was more choice of products.
RELIABILITY, COMFORT; Essentially it had to last for a year before, be comfortable, be waterproof, be light and be able to put on and remove rapidly. Quality boots typically wear out in the sole only in my experience. Solomon is no different.
Since retirement in 2019, I still wear orthotics. I hike, shoot and walk a minimum of 6KM a day just walking my dog.
Working and living on my acreage in all 4 seasons, I still favor a boot that is light, reliable, priced reasonably, and most importantly be; comfortable, light and waterproof. The speed of putting them on and taking them off is not as important but certainly desirable. Soloman’s “Quicklace” system is so convenient and does not fail. AKU’s lacing is very similar but the laces are not elastic.
Solomon has removed the loop at the rear of this boot intended for ease of putting them on , likely to prevent it snagging on anything as has happened to me in the past at least once.
My choice of green is cosmetic, as wearing a black ankle boot in my opinion screams, “cop” in my experience. The boot is a delight to wear and is so light, you barely notice you’re wearing it.
I’ll continue to wear XA FORCES MID GORE-TEX as long as it suits my lifestyle and It’s not made in the People’s Republic of China(PRC).
Lee Keane
Nova Scotia
