I have had to opportunity to try 5.11 XPRT Tactical Boot (Link) for about two months. I have and continue to recommend them to any Law Enforcement Professional without any fear that they will come back with a negative report.
My current assignment offers a unique testing ground for swat boots, since we are a soup-to-nuts contained unit. We set perimeters (long standing time), we make entries (dynamic impact, quick movement), we hold the scene (very long standing time), contain and process evidence (bending, flexing), searches (a lot of walking), we interview (long periods of sitting) and just about everything a boot can be put through, we put it through. My current record is thirty six hours on a take down and we did everything without outside help (long long day). But we also spend a lot of time in "soft clothes" and don't have our feet conditioned to our boots 24/7.
Here's the point. Most "good" boots do one of the previously mentioned things well. They are excellent to stand in and offer some modest protection but the second you have to run in them or quickly kneel on the ground for cover, they cut and chafe. Other boots offer maximum protection, an angry upright bull could not make you notice him while he trampled your toes, but stand in place for thirty minutes you soon find your feet, ankle and calves cramping and trying to escape. Finally, there are the boots that try to fill in all the gaps and end up doing most things fine but excel at none of them.
However I have found that the 5.11 XPRT excelled for my every need. I got the protection I needed, I got the flexibility and wear-ability I needed and I did go home raw and bleeding because I only put my boots on twice a week (calluses go quickly once you get out of day-to-day wear).
A couple of things I really liked. They're Bloodborne pathogen resistant. I was third in the stack, our entry teammate put the ram through the glass harder than he wanted. Glass broke, cut up his arms and I crunched through the door on glass and his blood, Great guy, but knowing his lifestyle I really, really, didn't want any to make permanent contact, if you know what I mean.
Second, the reinforced non-metallic toe. We made entry and were greeted with a house full of steel entry doors, each had to be popped open. Hit the door, door hit's the wall, hits my feet, feet fine. I stopped wearing steel toed boots because of all the reports of accidental amputation once the force of the blow was great enough to curve the steel back into the foot. It was very nice to get that protection back without that worry.
Finally they were comfortable. They fit, they stayed in place, they did not rub and they still held everything in place and tight.
They only thing I can not speak to is their durability. I have had great boots and other equipment that I loved for the first couple of months but as the wear and tear built up they began to fail faster than they should have and became the same as substandard new equipment. I do not see this in these boots but I will be writing a update to these boots six months from now followed by a third and final a year later to see how they fared in the long run.
Bottom line? Pay the money get the boots.
