I have been a FedEx courier for over 25 years. Keeping your feet warm and dry in Buffalo NY in the winter is impossible. I have tried ever known boot to man. Money is no object. In my job to have warm and dry feet is the holy grail. Someday soon when I retire I will know that feeling of perfectly warm and dry feet while watching the snow out my window. But until that day I will seek out boots that attempt to keep my feet warm and dry. First let me just say that when it says waterproof don't believe it I have not found them yet. My job is kinda unique in that getting in and out of the truck every few minutes to make 100 stops a day causes the snow that just got on your boot to melt in the truck heat and then reload more snow on top of the melted snow at the next stop. Any FedEx or UPS driver knows what I'm talking about. But I have to tell you these are the best boots I have bought in a long time. They stayed mostly dry and warm, even through that in and out of the truck cycle. It got down to 15 degrees for a week this past winter and my feet did get cold, but not too bad. This year we did not have a winter, as far as western NY is concerned anyway (about 20 inch's all season) so it's hard to get a good sense of how they will perform in deep snow over an entire real winter. But I bought some gaiters this year and was able to use them once or twice and they worked great in combination with these boots!(if you are a FedEx or UPS driver get a pair of gaiters!)Being a driver who is in and out of your truck ever few minutes and has too manipulate a gas and brake pedal you can't get boots that are too high, so the gaiters should keep the snow out of my boots in deep snow. These boots are a little high but ok. If I knew how the gaiters worked I may have gotten the next lower boot height. I had never heard about gaiters before this year, where have they been my whole life! My legs were even warmer wearing them. These boots straight out of the box seemed VERY lightweight, almost TOO light! Like they were not made well and cheap. But they are made very well of high quality and light weight which is a good thing when you do the job that I do. They took a few weeks to break in too which surprised me, boots usually break in faster, but they got there and are very comfortable now. With boots that have that plastic like shell (like my last pair of Merrick's) they usually split on the side's just past the toe cap at a point where my boot is flexing the boot up and down on the gas and brake pedals. These boots are designed so that is not an issue because they are made of leather and suede and where the bending occurs the seam is solid and flexible, and at the heel this boot is designed great and able to flex easily as well. Nice design and engineering work. In the end even though we did not have a a "real" western NY winter my sense is they will work well. I will get 2 seasons out of them which is unusual and speaks well to the quality of materials and construction. They are a good value at a good price and have performed well. I would reccomend these boots to my fellow couriers out there.
Update: 2/12/16. I have been through a few hearty winters with these boots and they are holding up strong! Best boots I have ever owned. AND I am finally retiring in 18 days! Time to look out that window I was talking about and watch it snow!!