Jim Green African Ranger Barefoot Boot Review/The Most Durable Barefoot Boot??

Barefoot boots are a bit of an oxymoron boots are meant to be heavy duty pieces of gear to protect your feet from the elements while barefoot shoes aim to reconnect you with those elements as much as possible the vast majority of barefoot boots out there use materials and construction methods that prize weight reduction and flexibility Above All Else leaving fans wishing for more durable and repairable options noticing in need the market the South African Boot Company Jim green set out to create a Barefoot boot with durability as a top priority could the African Ranger Barefoot be the ultimate Crossroads between zero drop wide toe boox Footwear and traditional durable boot construction let's find out what's up everybody Welcome to the sons of sier YouTube channel where there's no such thing as bad weather only bad gear my name is Eric and today my brother Chris and I are going to be talking about a very unique Barefoot boot this is the Jim green African Ranger Barefoot and to be completely honest it's a shoe that really wasn't on our radar and fortunately for us we've got amazing fans out there and everybody was commenting and saying hey you guys really need to look at the barefoot African Ranger and so we connected with them and we'd like to give a big thank you to Jim green for sending us a couple of pairs that we could test out and review for all of you as always there are time stamps down in the description of the video so if you want to go and jump around then feel free to do that Chris and I are going to take turns pingpong and back and forth talking about the things that we like and what we don't like about the boot but before we get into that I do want to talk about the specs of the shoe so you know what you're getting into and what you're looking at and also want to discuss a few of those construction properties that make it so different from the other Barefoot boots out there as I mentioned in the intro of the video a lot of barefoot boots out there are built to be as minimal as lightweight and as thin and flexible as possible and that just means that their durability really takes a hit and it's kind of frustrating to pay you know $180 $200 for a boot that wears out within a year and you can't fix it so seeing that need Jim green decided that they were going to build a Barefoot boot but make it as durable as possible so the specs on this are going to be a little bit different than the specs that we see on other Barefoot boots that we've reviewed so far and the first thing is the weight these are definitely a little more Burly than the rest of the boots out there that we've reviewed these are 1.17 lb and that is for a US men's size 9 and that's a pretty big departure from some of the boots out there that are like 11 oz or something like that when it comes to stack height these aren't the thinnest or thickest of the Barefoot boots out there it's got 13.5 mm you have an 8 mm rubber outs soole a 2 and 1/2 mm rubber slip Sole and then a 3 mm veg tan leather insole and again one thing that makes this really cool among Barefoot boots is the fact that this sole could be peeled away and you could glue another one on you could take this to any good cobbler and they could fix it for you they are just about zero drop and I will talk about that in my dislikes and they are very flexible which is really nice and they do have wide toe boxes so we do like that about them just a few other things to talk about as far as those construction methods go that make these a durable boot the toe cap on it is a true toe cap so you actually have double the material right there which will definitely make them last longer if you're going around hiking with these and kicking stuff or using them in the shop that your toe can get a little bit beat up but having that true toe cap on there is going to help a lot another thing I thought was cool was if you look at the eyelets right there they are on their own separate piece of leather that has been sewn to the shoe so if you were ever somehow to break an eyelid on here that wouldn't be the end of the story for the boot you could actually take it and go find another piece of leather that you could just replace that one with so there are all these really cool things on this boot that have made it a very durable and very repairable boot which is one of the reasons why we love it but now we really want to get into our experience with the boot so I'm going to send it over to Chris so that he can start us off getting into my likes of the barefoot African Ranger the first thing is it feels pretty good right out of the box one thing you'll hear a lot of people say about barefoot shoes in general is that they don't really take any break in time now one thing I will say is that the leather is very soft and pliable out of the box but the insole itself does take some molding to your foot now that is one of the advantages of having a leather footed which is something I also like about this you could put an insole in here if you want but I've noticed that the material inside the shoe has started to mold to my foot and when my foot slides in here here it almost fits into it like a well-worn glove in my opinion that's kind of cool I really like the toe box the volume of the shoe is really nice in general I do feel like I have to lace these things up pretty tight however it is almost as though it has too much volume but I personally like the way it feels on my foot and I can lace it up to the tightness that I like so the toe box and the volume are both good to go for me and my feet these things are resellable which is so freaking cool the ability for a cobbler to go in there and service these over the years put on different soles and different traction patterns it almost makes them customizable to you so as long as you take care of the leather upper and all of the stuff that's going on above the sole this shoe could last you a really long time there's actually a cobbler on my delivery route that I used to deliver to and so I kind of want to wear through this Soul just so I can have the experience of going and having this thing resold by a cobbler the next thing I want to talk about is the outsole I don't know that there's anything super special about this pattern I don't think things are particularly slippery in Africa they may have to deal with rain from time to time obviously but they're not going to have to deal with ice or anything like that I deal with a lot of frosted over driveways snow occasionally not so much so this winter but usually snow and Eric and I found that this outsole performed really well out in the Utah mountains that was whether we were going over gravel or we were Rock hopping or if we were taking a little slide down some of the icier paths that were up there especially on frosted over driveways at work for me I found this soul to almost be sticky to those surfaces so I think that the outsole works really really nicely the last thing I'll say is versatility I wasn't 100% sure how these things would come off in person when I got them but I thought to myself they are a low ankle leather shoe I should be able to wear these to church and I think they work for church fantastic they do have this just really nice almost formal look but then when you pair them with the right environment and the right clothes they look just as rugged so I love that I could wear these out on a date I could wear these out into the mountains I could wear these to church they can kind of be worn just about anywhere with all my likes out of the way now that I'm done gushing about this thing I'm going to pass things over to Eric to talk about his likes the first thing that I'm going to talk about when it comes to my likes is the comfort of the boot and straight out of the box this thing is very comfortable and it continues to get more and more comfortable over time so something that's really nice about it is the nice padded collar that you have around your ankle there and then it has really good Barefoot qualities so it has a wide toe box it's pretty flat and it's very flexible this is really nice and high quality leather that doesn't take a lot to break in it was comfortable right out of the box but it continues to soften up and become more and more comfortable and that's especially true with the vegetan insole so I really like that insole that leather starts to form around your foot so that every single time that you put it in becomes more and more like wearing a glove so it is a very comfortable boot a big obvious thing that I like about this boot is what we've talked about with it being so unique and that you can repair it and then it's been built with durability in mind so it's just really nice to finally get a Barefoot boot that isn't just going to wear out on me this is something that I know is going to last because of the way it's been constructed and it's something that I know that I can repair should it needed so it's something that's going to be in my closet for years to come and it has has those awesome Barefoot qualities another thing that I really like about this shoe and this company is the good that they're doing in the world so for every 10 pairs of these that are sold Jim green donates one to the African Rangers so it's always just so nice to find a really great product something that's very quality and has a lot of value but also provides a lot of value out in the world and is doing a lot of good that's obviously something that we really like about this boot and this company I really like how the boot looks too to be honest when we first saw it online it wasn't something that caught my eye and that I was really attracted to but after getting it and handling it and especially seeing it on my feet I really like how it looks I think it is an awesome boot it's something that can definitely be dressed up a little bit for Chris and I it fits into semiformal occasions especially church and then you can definitely wear it casually and you could wear this you know in the shop at work or in the office if that's what you're doing so we think that it is a good-looking and fairly versatile looking boot as well just wanted to take a moment here to talk about some of the Affiliates that we have going on with this Channel right now obviously we are big fans of barefoot shoes and we're lucky enough to have Partnerships with some amazing Brands out there the first one I'm going to talk about is sp shoes we really like these for casual wear but we think that these are some of the best replacements for Vans out there as far as barefoot shoes go they give you that classic canvas look but they give you white toe boxes zero drop platforms and very flexible Souls we really like spay we also love lm's shoes this is one that we're going to be reviewing soon we've reviewed a bunch of their other shoes but this is their waterproof all leather Chelsea boot so look for that one coming at you uh LMS has very foot healthy options for you that also look really really great I love how LM shoes look I think that they knock that out of the park and these things are always highly versatile products for us so we like limbs another one that is very similar to the boot that we are reviewing today although it does have its differences is the Barefoot Brewin so we do have an affiliate link to get to barefoot's website and if you're watching this then you need to go and find our toe-to-toe video that's going to have the Brewin going up against the JY green that's a comparison we've been excited to make because both of these have been constructed somewhat similarly they're kind of in the same vein and very unique among Barefoot boots out there so go and check that video out and go and click the link and check out barefoot's website and with that I'm going to send it over to Chris so that he can talk about the things that he does not like about today's boot talking about my dislikes of this boot I'm going to get the obvious one out of the way for people who regularly watch our Channel and it's the fact that I cannot set these things up to slip on and off my foot with we've had other fantastic models of shoe like the Barefoot Bruin that I also can't slip on and off it doesn't really deter me from wearing that boot just because of how much I like it and I'd say the same thing about this I like this boot enough that I am willing to tie it and untie it every time I want to put it on my foot but you guys know I'm not a huge fan of hook style eyelets that being said I understand the purpose of this boot and I think they are fitting the next dislike I have is that these things are kind of heavy on my scale they are 1B 8.6 Oz which is quite above the like 10 to 14 oz that we're used to with other Barefoot style boots from other companies that being said those boots are not resellable and they're not nearly as rugged as these things are so I understand the materials that go into making a boot that's so purpose built like this are going to be a little bit on the heftier side and I will say that the weight really doesn't bother me it is noticeable though the last thing I will say which also carries the caveat pretty much with all of my dislikes that I understand what this is built for hot African weather I don't love low ankle cut boots the one upside to a low ankle cut boot is that I could comfortably wear this in the summer with shorts and it's not going to look too goofy but here in Utah if I'm going up a mountain kicking up gravel or I am experiencing any snow odds are good I'm going to kick some of that up over the ankle and into my shoe there are different ways to mitigate this problem but my favorite way is to have a higher cut of the ankle I would love to see Jim green put out a high ankle version of this boot it doesn't necessarily have to be geared towards the African Rangers although I imagine that there are things that they kick up as they're trekking through and Bush whacking that may end up in their ankles as well I did notice however that the padding on the ankle does a pretty good job at hugging the ankle and doing its best to guard from foreign objects getting in there but I'm just a bigger fan of higher ankle boots that's just a personal preference of mine now I'm going to pass things back over to Eric so that he can talk about his dislikes of the boot there are a couple of things that I don't like about this boot quite as much in the first one that I'll talk about is the tongue so you can see it there and for me that's totally just a look thing I know why the tongue is the way that it is this is a lower cut Boot and because of that it's really good for warmer weather but they wanted to still keep debris out and so they made the tongue fully gusseted it goes all the way up to the top of the boot there but it just leaves it kind of bunching up and in my opinion not looking so great as comfortable as the shoes are I did find that they have a little bit too much volume for my feet and you might not be able to see that from that side profile right there but your feet do kind of fall deep into the boot and then I have a ton of room up and down and that made them just a little bit floppy was kind of the word and the feeling that I had when we were out hiking in them I think that their athletic performance took a bit of a hit because of that extra volume and the way that my foot was moving around in there but besides that they actually did a pretty good job out on the trail so this outs soole did a good job even in the snowy and icy Utah mountains whereas these things were made for you know the African bush so we took them to the opposite extreme and they performed pretty well but these definitely aren't going to be my go-to boot for hiking and I think that that knocks off their versatility just a little bit uh I think that they shine casually in the shop at work and not so much for me on the trail at least the types of trails that Chris and I are getting out on here in Utah and we're always just looking for the most versatile types of products that we can find the last thing that I'm going to talk about with my dislikes is that they aren't actually zero drop so the out soole is it's totally flat but Rose Anville when he cut into them and he collaborated on these things you should definitely go watch his videos about them and open it up you can see just along the heel there's an extra little piece of leather there I can't remember what he called it something a sock liner or something like that um but it's 2 and 1/2 mm and so your heel is actually raised just a little bit now that being said please don't freak out I didn't even notice that at all they felt zero drop to me and then when I watched the video I was like oh that's a little bit interesting they aren't actually zero drop but again again I didn't notice it I don't think it should be that big of a deal to anybody out there although I'm sure there are people now riding the boot off because I just said that so even with those few things about them that I don't like all in all we definitely recommend these things I think that for the Barefoot qualities that they have and the durable and repairable construction that they've been made with they provide an amazing value I'm going to send it over to Chris now so that he can close out the video before I give you the outro of the video I wanted to give you my final opinion of the barefoot African Ranger I think this thing is really cool I think it's solid I really like the versatility this is not going to be a boot that you buy and you only use when you go hiking or whatever it's going to be a boot that you buy and you can use it when you go hiking you can use it when you go out on the town you can use it when you go to church you can use it for a whole bunch of other things than just a hard use rugged leather boot that versatility and the performance that we've experienced so far makes it really easy for me to recommend this boot to anybody who's looking at it folks if you like this video or you found it helpful we would appreciate it if you would like and subscribe we would also appreciate it if you would check out the affiliate links down below we work with a bunch of fantastic outdoor gear and especially healthy Footwear companies consider checking out our patreon page there is some free content on there right now that is a sample of the exclusive content that we're going to be doing with a lot of the new products that we get in here that subscription is only $1 month and gives you a real closeup behind the scenes more indepth look into all the products that we're working with in real time consider following us on Instagram and especially on straa on straa we are starting to build a really awesome community of likeminded outdoor enthusiasts who are also very very into gear and the performance of gear on straa you can post about your adventures and you can post about the gear that you're using on those Adventures you can see each other's post it's kind of like a social media Network in that way and you can give each other encouragement and all that good stuff check out the link down in the description to go and follow us on straa and we will follow you back we're glad you're here we appreciate your view and as always we will catch you in the [Music] mountains

Channel: Sons of Sever

Views: 18,084

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Id: AlEI0t5FfRU

Length: 19min 23sec (1163 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 13 2024