New Meindl Dovre Extreme Boots

Meindl Dovre Extreme Boots Review.

I know it has been a while since I did a boot review and everyone who knows me knows
that I am a monster when it comes to wrecking boots. It’s not just tough terrain like
clearfells and peat bogs but it is lack of time to issue the proper boot care in a regular
enough period to keep good boots good, I wonder if I managed to kill these ?
We will get to that in a minute but first let’s go through what makes up the Meindl Dovre
Extreme boots.

Specs
Seasonal Use: Fieldsports year round
Construction:
Upper:Meindl hydrophobic nubuck leather
Rubber toe-cap and full randing
Stitched with anti-wicking thread
Anatomic design with Air Active ventilation
Lining: Gore-Tex lined – Guaranteed waterproof
Sole: Meindl double density Vibram PU & rubber Nylon midsole
Sizes: M5-12 with half sizes plus13-14 whole sizes
Colour: brown
Care: Meindl Sportwax (cost£5.99 plus postage)
Made in Germany
Retail Price: £390

Anyways now that bit is over and done with.
So we all know I am tough on boots and I have only stuck by two trusty brands over the
years , Bestard and Gri-Sport, mainly because they are the only boots that have out
performed me everytime.

Let’s take you back a few weeks, Toby at R Macleod asked me if I would review a pair of
boots for another company that supplies them , I was like “sure”, until he told me the
brand. Meindl, which I had a brief love/hate affair with at least 10 years ago, so
immediately rolled my eyes.

I was involved in large forestry culls and working mostly in clearfells and I was struggling
to get a pair of boots. I tried all the top brands , Harkilla, Sealand, Haix, Le’Chameu and
Meindl.

Some of you may have heard me rant about it all over social media complaining that I
couldn’t get a decent pair of boots and I was paying a fortune for them and a week or
two later I was taking them back and asking for my pennies back, it was getting stupid,
until Ballistech in Ireland reached out to me and asked me to try Bestard BG3 Explorers
and I fell in love.

Let’s get back to why I had a short love affair with Meindl, well unlike the rest Meindl
really did stand up material wise and was able to at least hold up to the abuse a
Highland Clearfell could throw at it but my feet couldn’t. I was in pain, so much pain
that I actually could barely walk, 2 weeks I had the boots and wore them daily and still
couldn’t break them in it was horrendous, and because of the pain I started to walk in
them badly, this created more pain but it also meant that I was walking in a way that was
damaging and stressing parts of the boot.
Between hotspots on my big toes and heels causing blisters to the rubbing on my calves
literally ripping the hairs out my legs I couldn’t take it anymore I had to take them back.
Needless to say I had a lot of things publicly to say about the big brand name boots in
the hunting market at that time. Even though I felt Meindl were the best of a bad bunch.
Fast forward 7 to 10 years…
So when Toby asked me to test these boots I was sceptical to the point of almost
refusing, but, he assured me Meindl are now looking to get back on top and they are
hoping to come back from the bad spell they have had so I agreed.
Now I know over the years many people have swore by the quality of Meindl and some
have also complained, I went into this with an open mind and the memory of the pain I
had the last time round.
Now I shoot literally every day, whether that is on the estate or in forestry that is all I do.
It is ideal for testing equipment because I just take it to work, and the Meidl Dovre
Extremes were no exception, literally the evening I took possession of these boots, they
were laced up and on my feet.
Immediately I felt strange and had concerns, the high calf boot was not very flexible,
that new boot feel was there, it had me panicking that 1. They were going to hurt me and
2. That the boot was not flexible enough walk properly over tough terrain or up and down
hills.

I wore them anyway!

Driving initially was hard, but I soon got used to that as I drove to the estate, first stalk
was a light walk through the woods. I had my usual pair of boots in the back seat of the
truck just in case, I just wanted to see how easy they would be to break in.
To my surprise the Meindl boots were comfortable from the get go, their high calf design
hugged my calves with little movement and seemed to take the weight of the boot off
my feet a little, so the weight was distributed up my legs instead of all on my feet.
Walking comfort was relaxing, the inner padding of the boot was just right enough to feel
comfortable in without making you feel suffocated and most importantly there seemed
to be no break in needed. This really did surprise me.
As the days and weeks went on I felt no discomfort wearing the boots. In the periods of
extreme heat my feet did not sweat or become uncomfortable and when there was
period of extreme wet likewise my feet stayed dry. In the end my experience was turning
out to be a good one.
I wore these boots going through gorse, over barbed wire fences, in the wet, up hills and
down hills and I only came across one problem with them, going down hill.
Walking downhill was the only time that I really had to think about how I was walking.
The toe of the Meindl Dovre Extremes is hard, and when you are walking downhill you do
find it a little uncomfortable on the toes due to the hard toe of the boots, I did overcome
this problem by putting thicker socks on, but, my first experience of this hard inner toe
caught me by surprise and I almost fell. As I said I fixed this issue with some thinker
socks.
Another nit pick that I came across while wearing them was feeling the ground when you
walk. You might have heard the saying “feel with yer feet”, it is a technique that most
keepers and stalkers use when stalking and spying over their terrain. It is quite hard to
do that with these Meindl’s because the soles are so tough and sturdy, so feeling the
ground and the contour of the ground below you is hard, but again after a while it got
easier.
Around 4 weeks of constant use daily, going through gorse and whatever else I could
throw at it without treatment caused the leather to start to fade and soften up, this is
understandable in the end, but, treatment to restore the boots back to condition was
easy. I purchased the recommended clear Meindl sports wax, this is a beeswax formula
and after only one application brought the boots back to like new.

In summary,

Meindl’s Dovre Extreme boots have come a long way from the boots that really hurt me
all those years ago, with little or no break in and comfort from the get go these are
proving to be tough and durable but comfortable.

Pros.
Lightweight, comfortable, well made, plenty of ankle support and protection from
everything but still being breathable and less suffocating even in warm weather.

Cons.

A little too hard on the toes when walking downhill, thicker socks help this.
At £390, I do recommend these boots with 4.5 out of 5 rating. They have definitely come
a very long way.