My experience is mostly with combat boots, however I've put some serious miles on various brands and have some thoughts:
Garmonts: Good quality, but very heavy. Leads to fatigue earlier. Don't recommend.
Bates: Fell apart in a month and ruined my feet. Do not recommend.
Merrell: Fantastic...
That's exactly where I was, but I've decided on the Mavens. Unless the reviewer here somehow got a bad copy, the central CA alone is enough to make me bin them as a choice. And we won't get more reviews/comparisons until they ship and people start getting them. Everything I have read on the...
Yeah, they're much heavier and longer than the other options. Given I want to take them on long, multi day hikes, the weight matters to me. Leaning towards either the B1.2 8x42 or the B6 10x50, depending on what magnification I settle on.
I've been DEEP DIVING shall we say on this segment of the market recently, and it looks like the Mavens or GPOs are still the ones to go for (and I'm leaning toward the Mavens due to the FOV and weight advantage).