Quote Originally Posted by mudd View Post
Are Doc Martens really that good? I have heard that they are over-rated and the quality has gone down of late. I've never owned a pair.
I've never owned a pair. The flap about how the quality is going down stems from about 10 years ago when Doc Martens became a subsidiary of Nike. For boots, I tend to buy surplus field boots. Until my last boot purchase, that is. I broke down and bought a pair of Western Chief zip sides from Sportsman's Guide. They may be considered a "no-name" brand, but for $30 I got some of the best boots I've owned. The quality on them is as high or higher than the surplus field boots I usually get, and a pair of field boots usually lasts me about 4-5 years. All that being said, if I ever break down and spend the $$ to get a pair of name brand boots, I'm gonna get Bates, not Docs.