sh1ft
03-24-2005, 09:04 PM
Danner Desert Eagle GTX
Got a pair of these a few weeks ago and although I haven’t given them a good work out in the bush yet I thought that I would share my impressions so far.
The boots are leather/cordura with a full gore-tex liner. Colour is a fairly dark – more of a coyote brown although the label reads ‘Tan’. Construction is solid and as expected from Danner, the heal and toe (rand) have an extra layer of leather for support and protection (hopefully this means that the toe box will hold its shape unlike acadias). The uppers are a lot stiffer than my desert acadias and taking longer to break in (probably a good thing).
http://img210.exs.cx/img210/4325/danners16ca.th.jpg (http://img210.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img210&image=danners16ca.jpg)
The sole is lightweight and cushioning without being overly flexible. They do not have a steel shank like acadias, helping the flexibility and reducing weight but potentially limiting their military applications if serious blast / fragment / spike resistance is required (interesting story on the Danner site (http://www.danner.com/dispatch_story.asp?id=9) about this). Although the tread is mildly aggressive I’d expect and want more from a boot for serious dirt work, especially at the toe, however for sandy terrain it may be sufficient. In comparison, grip in the dirt is better than Strikers but not as good as acadias and the sole flex is less than magnums. Unfortunately, the soles do squeak on lino floors when wet (not as bad as my desert acadias and some other boots I have) but so far they haven’t developed the annoying squeaks from the uppers that my acadias have. (I’m pretty sure that this is caused by the leather/plastic inside the toecap breaking and rubbing against the inner lining and the outer leather and so I don’t expect the desert eagles to develop the same problem due to the different construction).
The tongue has a strip of leather in the centre to protect the laces from rubbing though the cordura and making holes in the gore-tex lining, however I have noticed that care is need to ensure that the lining doesn’t get pinched when lacing up the boots. Although such a hole could be easily fixed with some seam grip I think that the leather strip could have been a bit wider to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
http://img205.exs.cx/img205/4862/danner22ms.th.jpg (http://img205.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img205&image=danner22ms.jpg)
Overall the desert eagles are comfortable enough to wear around all day and IMO a very nice looking boot with solid feel while still being lightweight (I have a bit of a thing for desert boots and these have to be one of the best looking out there). Being gore-tex I have found that my feet can get hot and sweaty by the end of the day if I’ve been inside a lot or the temperature is warm so I don’t know that I would particularly recommend them for use in warm climates. However for cooler places with urban, sandy or rocky terrain they’d be great where a lighter and/or waterproof boot is required. These are what magnums should have been and are fast becoming one of my favourite pairs of boots (Oh, and they are considerable cheaper than acadias).
http://img205.exs.cx/img205/5990/danner32go.th.jpg (http://img205.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img205&image=danner32go.jpg)
Got a pair of these a few weeks ago and although I haven’t given them a good work out in the bush yet I thought that I would share my impressions so far.
The boots are leather/cordura with a full gore-tex liner. Colour is a fairly dark – more of a coyote brown although the label reads ‘Tan’. Construction is solid and as expected from Danner, the heal and toe (rand) have an extra layer of leather for support and protection (hopefully this means that the toe box will hold its shape unlike acadias). The uppers are a lot stiffer than my desert acadias and taking longer to break in (probably a good thing).
http://img210.exs.cx/img210/4325/danners16ca.th.jpg (http://img210.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img210&image=danners16ca.jpg)
The sole is lightweight and cushioning without being overly flexible. They do not have a steel shank like acadias, helping the flexibility and reducing weight but potentially limiting their military applications if serious blast / fragment / spike resistance is required (interesting story on the Danner site (http://www.danner.com/dispatch_story.asp?id=9) about this). Although the tread is mildly aggressive I’d expect and want more from a boot for serious dirt work, especially at the toe, however for sandy terrain it may be sufficient. In comparison, grip in the dirt is better than Strikers but not as good as acadias and the sole flex is less than magnums. Unfortunately, the soles do squeak on lino floors when wet (not as bad as my desert acadias and some other boots I have) but so far they haven’t developed the annoying squeaks from the uppers that my acadias have. (I’m pretty sure that this is caused by the leather/plastic inside the toecap breaking and rubbing against the inner lining and the outer leather and so I don’t expect the desert eagles to develop the same problem due to the different construction).
The tongue has a strip of leather in the centre to protect the laces from rubbing though the cordura and making holes in the gore-tex lining, however I have noticed that care is need to ensure that the lining doesn’t get pinched when lacing up the boots. Although such a hole could be easily fixed with some seam grip I think that the leather strip could have been a bit wider to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
http://img205.exs.cx/img205/4862/danner22ms.th.jpg (http://img205.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img205&image=danner22ms.jpg)
Overall the desert eagles are comfortable enough to wear around all day and IMO a very nice looking boot with solid feel while still being lightweight (I have a bit of a thing for desert boots and these have to be one of the best looking out there). Being gore-tex I have found that my feet can get hot and sweaty by the end of the day if I’ve been inside a lot or the temperature is warm so I don’t know that I would particularly recommend them for use in warm climates. However for cooler places with urban, sandy or rocky terrain they’d be great where a lighter and/or waterproof boot is required. These are what magnums should have been and are fast becoming one of my favourite pairs of boots (Oh, and they are considerable cheaper than acadias).
http://img205.exs.cx/img205/5990/danner32go.th.jpg (http://img205.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img205&image=danner32go.jpg)