In reply to GarethSL:
> I think they're ugly as hell and whilst unique,
That's an interesting one. I don't like the look of the approach shoes but I'm coming round to the boots' looks. They remind me of Lundhags, well known in Scandinavia and British military circles I believe - as Lundhags have a rubber foot pieces so it is low profile and matt black like the Boras.
> I've also heard they smell really bad after time.
That would surprise me as they are so washable. No issues with mine even after lots of sweaty footed miles.
> and put their time back into making real AC2 packs
Embarrassed to ask but what is an AC2 pack?
> As wbo says, I think these are very niche and an Arc'teryx attempt to re invent the err... shoe?
I think there is something too this - they wanted to do something different and they have. How well that fits our conditions, I don't know though. Some reviews note people trying them out in snow (snow shoeing for example) found snow gets into the outer boots and leads to some slippage between the two layers. Not had chance to try them in snow myself though so can't comment. Confusingly the Arcteryx video promoting them shows someone wearing crampons leaping over a crevasse - but I don't think the boots use in that shot are in the current line up; it seemed confusing - like they were suggesting the Boras could be used for glacier travel, but I really don't think they would take a crampon well.
Durability of the outer boot, I'm not worried about. It's not leather but there are synthetics around that seem to be possibly even more resistant.