Possibly. I think the real question is, why do I have to repair it? For a boot that expensive, should it be failing, shouldn’t it be addressed as a common known failure, and shouldn’t they be extending repairs for the life of the boot for those failures? This is the second pair (different boot type, the other was a woman’s variant of the tracker) with a similar failure. They have a known design problem that results in the same failure point that they aren’t addressing. Perhaps they will extend a warranty repair to me, but it won’t mean much knowing it’s going to happen again.
I’m curious what kind of cactus you had get through the sole? I’ve had spines go through the leather, but not the sole. I’m about 500-600 miles in on a pair and am noticing the sole is thinner and more flexible than it used to be. Getting to the point where I can see a mesquite spine might get through. Have a new pair in the closet that I haven’t broken out yet. If you are getting sole punctures you can cut out a 1/4” leather insole to fit for some extra protection. That won’t help on the busted eyelet though.
Good old fashioned prickly pear. It went between the treads. I can see mesquite or yucca easily going through too. The leather I wouldn’t call any more of a barrier than a pair of tennis shoes. I spent all my time head down worrying about stepping on or kicking another cactus after the first time.
I wear mine 3-5 days per week in the desert here. They have hundreds of miles on them just in desert terrain.
Seems like there is some probability that you can hit the bulls-eye with a 90-degree hit between the lugs anytime. I have not had issues with prickly pear penetrating the soles of mine yet and they’ve been in the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mohave, Great Basin, and Colorado River Deserts this year, plus a lot of mesquite country in the southern high plains. I have poked jumping/teddy bear cholla and prickly pear through the leather uppers. Don’t know what to say about that. You might avoid that if you are wearing armored footwear, but doing so creates other problems. I have not had cactus be a giant issue for me in my last 14 months of wearing the Tracker ESCs, but have and continue to deal with issues from wearing stiff boots with narrow toes for the last 30 years. I think it’s a pick your poison sort of thing. For me, I’ll take an occasional poke.
I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive to make a near barefoot boot with reinforced sides and a more robust sole. A 90% barefoot solution would solve a ton of issues. And for the love of everything sacred, make a work boot with a steel toe.
I know how much you run around the desert, and it’s hard to believe after my first time with cactus, that I got a tread puncture before you did! There is a lot of “between the lug” real estate on these boots. Mine went right through here:
There are a lot more options out there now than their used to be. But you lost me at reinforced sides and steel toes.
That was for work boots.
I tried Ian's Secure Schoelace Knot for a couple days.
You’re going to like the Jim greens then. They make a safety tow version of the barefoot ranger as well.
Aron Snyder has mentioned hes working on a Barefoot style boot. Hopefully it is this
I missed that on their website. I’ll go check again
