 G'day, welcome to Buddhist philosophy. My name is Tech. Now I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land that I live and work on, the Wajik people of the Nungan Nation in here in Perth, in Western Australia. Now this video I'm going to unbox a pair of grandstone boots, their field boots, and then I'm going to try them on and give you my first impressions. So this box has arrived from UPS and and it's come all the way from grandstone in the US. So these are the field boots, which I picked up as seconds and in Badalassie Carlos Saddleton. So we're going to open them up and have a look. Okay, so here we go. Now grandstone boxes are really well packed. They have two ends, door, and it's often quite difficult to figure out which is the top end. So I'm just going to take a 50-50 chance and open this in and we'll see if I've got it right. And the way I know I've got it right is the thumb hole, but of course it's upside down, and just pull it out a knife away. And as you can see the usual really nice grandstone box where the edges are beveled so that when you close the lid, it's a perfect fit. It's quite amazing really. Take the lid off. Usual thank you card from grandstone. If you have any questions, please email us. A grandstone postcard of a pair of boots, not the ones I've got, and wording about initial fit and so on, and the dispatch note. They always provide you with a cleaning cloth which is wrapped around the boot for extra protection. The boots come in boot bags and between each boot they put a piece of foam. Now this is really superb packing. It just goes into the whole grandstone ethos. So let's open these out and take a look. Oh, that's interesting. So this is the new-ish field boot in Bedel-Asi Carlos saddle tan. Now the reason why I said interesting is the saddle tan in their diesel boot when I first opened it was quite a lot more orange than this. So I'm not disappointed. I mean I quite like this darker brown color. Nice sort of cotton flat laces, wax cotton flat laces. Let's get the other boot out and have a look. That rattling sound you hear are these D-ring eyelets. First time they've appeared in a grandstone boot. So let me give it a box. So this is the field boot and as you can see it's a mock-toe boot with a finished leather roll across the mock-toe. There's an extra piece of bump-toe rubber, bump-toe leather, beg your pardon. Excuse me, that goes across a front of the boot for extra protection. I think this is a little higher than six inches. I'll measure it pretty soon. And there is a sort of suede leather padding at the top of the collar. I'm glad to see the tongue is semi-gusseted up to what the fourth eyelet. There are five brass eyelets and two D-rings. Obviously built on Grandstone's wedge sole, which is very different from the Vibram wedge sole, the Vibram Christy wedge sole with a grandstone logo. So these are seconds as I said, but I'm now actually looking very hard and I'm not sure I see what's wrong with them to make them seconds. I mean is it possible that in the clicking they chose some darker parts of the leather? I don't know. There is a tiniest of tiny scuffs there, if you can see that. Just there. But you know other than that, I'm honestly not seeing any faults. All right, well that's strange, but it's my good fortune, I guess. I'm going to try them on and we'll see what they like. So first try on of these boots, Grandstone's Settle 10 Feel Boot. They're quite roomy. These are in my usual size of 8D, which is the same size I take in all my Grandstones, whether in the Leo last or in the Floyd last. The Floyd last, the last one I had was their brass boot and admittedly the toe box, and that was a bit roomy, but the length was not, whereas in these I am finding them to be slightly bigger than I expected, and I'm wearing thin dress socks because I'm at work, but they're bigger than I expected. So I do know that the Floyd last is a roomy last, but honestly, this is quite a bit roomy than I expected, and I think I could quite as easily have gone down to a 7D, or 7.5D at the very least, because there's quite a lot of room in the toe box. I'm having some difficulty tying up these boots, these laces, because of the stiffness of the leather that's pushing up the laces before I can cinch them up. Definitely roomier than I expected. Very stiff leather. As I said, as I opened them, they're less orange than the diesel in Badalasi Carlo Minerba. This is the same leather, but it's as if it's a little bit bolder, and I wondered the height has been hanging around for a while. A little bit of heel slip, which is to be expected because of the thickness of the wedge sole, and also because I think it is definitely a little longer than I would expect an 8D in Grant Stones to be. But, you know, I can put an insole in this, an orthotic insole that fills up some of the volume. I can wear thick socks. There are various things you can do with a pair of boots that's maybe up to a half a size bigger than you'd expect. So there you go. I'll wear them for a little while and then come back at the end of this video with some quick impressions of what I think of them. So these are my initial impressions of these Grant Stone field boots. I've worn them now for just over a day, day and a half in the rain. It's actually winter at the moment here in Australia, or late autumn anyway, and it's been pouring down. So I've had a chance to wear them outside in the rain. They haven't got particularly dirty because I haven't gone anywhere, you know, particularly gritty or anything. But I thought that was enough for a couple of days to give you an initial impression. Obviously, I'll do a longer-term review after I've worn them for a few months and then a much longer-term review after that. So what are my thoughts? Quite comfortable. Remember when I first opened it just a few minutes ago for you, but a couple of days for me? My first impression was, blimey, these are big boots. They're not though. Once you get to wear them with thicker socks, I had dress socks on when I first tried them on. I think what happens when you look down, when you're wearing them, are the lines tend to attract your eye all the way to the toe, so it looks like a big boot. But when you've got them on, look, they're no bigger than the the Grant Stone Brass boot, which is also in the same Floyd last. I take that in a size 8D, which is the same size as I take in Grant Stone's diesel boots. Now, some people have said the Floyd last is a bit roomier, and it's true. It's got a high, high toe box. But if you don't mind that, like if you want a really snug toe box, then maybe you should size a half down. But I don't mind that. I like this for hiking boots and I don't think these are technically work boots. But if you wanted that room for your toes to move and shift as you're kneeling and walking across rocks and things, I think the size is fine. If you take the same size as the diesel boot, also from Grant Stone in the Leo last. After a day, I'm still a bit surprised that this Badalasi Carlo Saddle 10 Minerva is not as orange as the diesel when I first got that. That's now browned off. But this is browner than I remember that one being. Steady leather. Really firm, sturdy leather. So much so that at least in the last couple of days as I try and lace up, the quarters fight me. You know, I sort of pull it tight and then they relax because the the leathers are still quite solid. Remarkably sturdy, I think, and like all Grant Stone boots, despite these being seconds, if you look at the stitching, you really can't see anything that's gone wrong. I just don't see why these are a pair of seconds, I have to be honest. There are some slight scuff marks way on this boot, I think. See, I can't even bloody find it now. But there was some really fine scuff marks. So maybe this is one of those that a model wore for some photo shoots. But I can't imagine a model would be would have a small feat as me. So look, it's a mystery. Comfort wise, they're about as comfortable as any of my Grant Stone boots, which is to say good, but not amazingly good, like Pacific Northwest boots, whether the arch supports really built up with a lot of layers of leather. But, you know, wearing these all day is not a problem. As I've never found it a problem with any of my diesels or with the brass boot. The wedge sole, I think, does make breaking in a little bit tricky. As I find all firm wedge soles to be, it's built on a leather midsole, veg tan. So both of those, I think, make it quite hard to bend. And obviously, when it doesn't bend, whereas your foot does, you will get heel slip. This has a heel pad covered with suede on the inside, which technically grabs your sock so that it sort of prevents heel slip. I don't think so. I think what it does is it prevents sock slip, but your heel is still slipping inside the sock. And in fact, I found it was starting to rub against my heel. And I had to be a bit careful that I wasn't particularly trying to to sort of walk fast in case it rubbed a blister into the back. I think with time, as the leather relaxes across the vamp and as the wedge sole starts to flex, I think it'll be fine. I find this little bit of padded collar. It's not a really thick padded collar like a Timberland six inch iconic yellow boot. It's actually quite thinly padded. But I guess it's not it's not. The idea is not that it seals your boot, your ankle in the boot like the Timberland does to keep it waterproof, even when the water goes above that. So it's fine. It's a design feature and it's nice and soft, suede and comfortable. I don't find the D-Rings problematic, although they are noisy. Some people said, oh, it's a bit fiddly to lace up. I don't think so. I think you sort of hold hold it with one one finger and put it through. You know, I don't think anything. There's any I think problematic about it. I this is the first Grant Stone's proprietary wedge sole that I've ever tried. I think it's a little bit softer than the Red Wing Christy Soul, the 875 Christy Soul. It's probably not as soft as the Thurragood wedge sole, which is their own. And it's definitely not as soft as a Vibram 2021, like on my Fortis collaboration boots. Those are soft. However, these are comfortable. I think they're I think they're a little bit more comfortable than Red Wing's 875 Vibram Christy Souls. The the corrugations provide enough grip at least in the last couple of days. What I do find is this leather patch that says Grant Stone. I don't know, it kind of scrapes against something when you're walking. And I I hear this scraping and I think, oh, I've caught a pebble under my soul. But I couldn't possibly have. It's a wedge sole. The quality of construction, as I've said, is is typical Grant Stone style. I mean, you know, I have no idea why these are seconds. Goodbye. Oh, hello. I found a little scarf. Do you think it's a scarf? It's it's smaller than my fingernail. I don't know. In a couple of days, I've worn them for two days. The creases have started to show, which I quite like. I mean, I think this is a field boot, so you do want to see some creasing. And as it breaks in, the shaft should break in. So it makes it a little more comfortable to walk around in. And the vamp should start to break in the. The rolled edge on the mock toe does make quite a quite a tough position for the flexibility, but it'll get there eventually. Initial impressions, I do really like these. They're really nice, good on foot, comfortable, not particularly heavy. But they really feel sturdy, particularly in this thick and quite sturdy battle as a veg 10 leather. So there you have it, guys and girls. There's now two point seven women watching this channel. So, you know, I'm hoping that they're not mostly men watching on their wives' logins. It's great to see lots of people on this channel and, you know, different different genders and so on. Look, boots are for everybody. We can all enjoy them. So that is my reasonably quick. Unboxing, try on an initial impressions of the Grant Stone field boot in Battle Assy Carlos Saddle 10 Minerva. Pretty good so far. I don't know what you think. So come back in a few months time. In fact, come back next week. I'm going to have more videos. But for these boots, come back in a few months and I'll give you my longer term impressions of how they work. In the meantime, if you like this video and I hope you did, don't forget to click on like and please, if you haven't subscribed before, click on subscribe because that will get YouTube to remind you to watch my videos as they upload and it'll help me to grow my channel. Until then, take care and I'll see you soon.