Truly live up to the hype. These boots basically spoiled me to where it's hard to wear any other footwear. Within the first couple of weeks of these being a birthday present from my wife, I put it to the test in various conditions during a week long PNW trip. Snow, dirt, rain, rocky terrain, and salty Pacific water! It's not only impressive in its durability, but seemingly impossible quality of being so comfortable, it becomes the kind of boots that you WANT to keep on, even after all day wear! As far as sizing goes, I'm 8.5D US Brannock, so I decided to go .5 down from that size for this pair of 8D Backcountry's. Absolutely the right call.