I sent the first pair back - the rubber was delaminating from the leather out of the box. The 2nd pair? I've put them through a lot of abuse and love them. I do a lot of urban exploration, exploring and photographing abandoned buildings,and the like. Climbing all day over debris and rocks. Miles of stairs. Rubble and timbers, bricks and tiles. Rarely a level surface.  If I wear them for a couple of hours, they were great. But for several hours, they started to get uncomfortable. The steel toe rear edge started digging into my foot.  I was ready to blame the boot. Then I did some research and applied a little common sense. A boot is a shell - like a ski boot. The lining, in this case the sock, makes a world of difference.

First, I paid $45 for some custom fit insoles (I'll guess that $15 ones would have worked) - wow - that made a HUGE difference.  Then I purchased socks made for steel toe boots (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Thorlo-Unisex-Moderate-Cushion-Safety-Steel-Toe-Socks-with-THOR-LON/dp/B000AHH7UO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Thorlo Unisex Moderate Cushion Safety Steel Toe Socks with THOR?LON</a>) - no more steel toe pain. I can wear these for 16 hours straight and don't have a single complaint.  The SOCKS were the biggest help. The insoles were probably going a little overboard, but since I was almost never on level ground, my feet were shifting inside the boots. Try walking on 2" gravel strewn about a concrete floor for 30 minutes and see how your feet feel. Add insoles and try it again. The 8" height also adds some ankle support, and that helps as well.

I've worn these for about 250 hours and can't imagine exploring without them.