Bought my first pair from LLBean years ago. At that time they did not have stabilicers, and I thought they were great. Since then bought w/ stabilicers for self and others and everyone loves them. Sure they look like frankenstein boots, but they keep you safe. It's great to take off these boots and have your shoes on not to have to step on a cold wet floor in your stocking feet. Oh, don't walk on marble or tile floors. By the way, I wear women's 10 shoe and got medium and they fit great.
Advice: Get a size or two up depending on the width of you shoe (I have small feat but have meat for tread so two sizes bigger did the trick).
Use: As a daily walker in a city metro (two hours a day, rain, shine, or other), my first pair of boots similar to this model wore holes in the heal in three months. THIS model of boot has lasted three winters and are facing their forth with no signs of leaking.
Bolts: The bolts wear down. While the boots come with a replacement set, the little nuggets of metal (in my opinion) don't really make or break for better stability on the ice. The thicker tread and texture on the bottom of the boot are more advantageous. Hence: I've never replaced them.
Warm & Dry: Yes and Yes. No problems thus far.
Comfort: Since I use them to fit over my standard walking shoes, it essentially like walking in my shoes with an extra "stomp." I prefer to use them in cold, cold, cold weather as, noted above, they are warm and toasty.
While you step into these just like the overshoes from the 1950s and beyond the material is much more flexible. Hence I can wear a variety of LL Bean footwear and they will slip easily into these overshoes. I often put them over my LL Bean slippers to fetch the mail. Tomorrow we are suppose to have freezing rain. So I will see how well the stablizer screws work.
Good fit, good grip, arrived on time for Christmas, we use the slip on ice stabilizers also but with these boots there is no worry about them falling off (we have a very steep driveway and it has been an issue).
