I have a pair of these same shoes I bought over eight years ago. They held up superbly and were like old friends that I always wanted with me. Finally my lovely wife suggested, more than once, that I ought not wear them away from the house any longer as they were showing their duty and service a bit too obviously. Well I stressed over this a long time. I would never find such a wonderfully comfortable and versatile shoe ever again! How wrong I was.

This new pair I recently purchased from Amazon were like the brothers to my old friends. They felt broken in by the third wearing and the fit, flex and form are like a glove. My old friends are still in the line-up, but they're doing duty for car washing and yard work now. My new friends are first in the line-up and are serving me admirably as a versatile all-purpose shoe. In my mind, Timberland is a mark of quality and the consistency of their product, over so many years, is refreshing. I don't know why I was so worried. (Written by Don L.)

UPDATE 5/14:
It's been two years of regular wear and I stick by my statements above, *with one exception*. Timberland's quality has taken a hit in the area of the pressed steel grommets through which the leather lace passes. On their new shoes these grommets are too soft of a metal and are prone to loosing their shape, bending and even tearing in such a way as to expose sharp, jagged edges. This is happening to the grommets along the sides. Either the leather is too thin or the grommets are not stamped tight enough, and when you lace up snugly the back edges of the grommets pull away from the leather. This makes it easy for them to snag on stuff, consequently bending and/or tearing.

The leather around the grommets holds up fine. Some of the grommets, on the other-hand, have become dangerous and I have twice actually suffered a cut. I constantly take the ball-paean hammer and gently coax them back into shape, only to have them later snag on something and become a hazard again.

I changed my rating from 5/5 to 3/5. I like every other thing about these shoes. I do! But I shouldn't have to worry about getting cut or scratched when I use them.