I am with you Old Man.I wear hip boots and wool pants durring the winter!The hikes I do,you get to hot in anything else!during the summer I wear a pair of carharts cut off right below the knee pading and my hiking boots.My wife loves when I wear thenm around town!Everybody that goes with in the summer always insist on wearing there neos and end up with borderline heat exaustion and wetter on the inside than I got all day.

Thanks Crayfin called them a bit a ago and the lady said that they were the 2nd quality boots,,,the first quality are $160.oo.
thanks

EGG'S

I use both neo and breathables, but if I had to choose 1 it would have to be breathables!

I got a pair of cabela's for $99 and have been happy. Plus they back up their stuff pretty well.

I don't have studs in my boots yet, but plan to in my next pair. Slipping on the bank when it's muddy is just too common - and a broken rod, leg, or hole in my waders is just an accident waiting to happen.

One reason I like breathables that has not been mentioned yet, is that they tend to fit more loosely, and I can slip them over my work clothes in the morning (for my pre-work fishing fix. Some folks just need coffee...) and not have to worry so much about wrinkles or even sweat like I would with neos.

Eggs---yea, they are second quality but it is almost impossible to find the flaw most of the time. Like I said mine have held up better than anything I have ever tried and they are still going strong! I am having them resoled and I will get another 3 years out of them. I figure buying them cheaper lets me get them resoled for free!

Something like that... I do stay very very toasty, warm and dry and do not sweat even if I am putting miles on my wading boots that day. I spend as much time as I can on the rivers, which at times, is alot. So I do what I can to be as comfortable as possible.

I mean think about it...you spend 1/3 of your life sleeping and look at how much you can spend on mattresses to be comfortable...I spend another third of my life fishing so why not be as comfortable as possible?

I own both. I get my high-end Gore Tex from a reputable shop that will exchange them if they fail. My friend returned his Orvis several times in 4 years and they always gave him a new pair, no charge. In winter, I like neoprenes because they provide warmth and also about 9 pounds of floatation, about half as much as a PFD. Two folks I know capsized a raft in January and were stranded on a rock. The one wearing neoprenes lived, the other died of hypothermia. Finally, they are fairly inexpensive. So, I think each has a place.

Its all good Rp!!!I just got hit with a severe case of sticker shock!After reading your post I went over to siims site and took a look!Looks like some nice sht!!
I do sleep on a $1400.00 bed which I argued against right up to the morning after I slept in it!!!

Do Gore Tex waders get as stinky as neoprenes? If so, how do you clean them? I don't own a set of breathables, but they are on my list. Another great advantage I see is that they pack better.

I second all the comments on studded wading shoes. They are like night and day compared to felt-only boots. The only problem I had was getting used to exactly how well they grip. I've almost gone down a couple of times because the studs grip so well I almost went down because of my forward momentum. The only spot I see that warrants extra caution with studs is dry smooth rocks - they are like ice when using studs.