When I first bought these boots: These boots are very comfortable and so stylish! They are very well insulated and have a good weight to them. They aren't too heavy, though. The black rubber gets visible scuffs and a bit of dirt on it pretty easily but you can just wipe it off. They don't look bad if you can't maintain it, just frequently worn. At first I had a lot of difficulty taking them off with my hands, but realized it was so easy to remove them if you just step on the heel with your other foot and slip right out. At first the rubber straps near the buckles was greased a little, but it was probably standard cleaning/pre-packaging prep so at first the buckles would slide around, but now they stay in place when you tighten them. It's mainly for aesthetics anyway, so the slippery rubber didn't do anything to the functionality of the buckle. I absolutely love the look of these boots - you don't need it to be raining to wear them! I'd recommend getting them and any other boots from Chooka.

IMPORTANT EDIT: I have used these boots ~25 times and have had them for a little less than a year and they are DESTROYED. These boots are poorly made, despite my initial impressions. The rubber is splitting from the base of the shoe and it actually ripping at the corners during normal walking motion. I'm really disappointed in Chooka in the quality of these boots. Durability was advertised and these boots don't even come close. For the amount of time I have worn these boots, and the amount of money spent, they should NOT BE RIPPING. I wouldn't recommend these boots at all, although they are cute, they aren't worth the 70 bucks!! Save your money to buy boots that won't rip, are durable as promised, and can actually be called RAIN boots. Heed my and
A. Woudenberg's advice in our reviews - the rubber is NOT durable and won't last more than a few months until you start getting rips and tears in the rubber.

ANOTHER EDIT: While I'm supper disappointed in Chooka's boot quality with this product, OneLittleBox has gotten back to me and offered a discount because they can't do returns/exchanges after a certain amount of time that the boots have been worn. This is understandable and I appreciate the helpfulness and understanding of this company. I would buy from them again because they clearly want to please their customers, just perhaps not Chooka items.