2019 SOLITE 3MM BOOTIES
In the military, boots are considered one of the most important pieces of gear after bullets and water. Without your feet you have no mobility and you are literally stuck. For surfers, that means absolutely nothing. In fact, before purchasing these Solite 3mm Booties this week we found that you really don’t even need to feel your feet while surfing. Peg legs (or the frigid perception of them) will get you down the line just fine. However, having sensation in all your little piglets is a nice luxury when the waves are pumping. So halfway through a pumping swell up north, Surf Only shelled out the $64.95 to give the 2019 Solite boots a go.
Boots can range in thickness, construction, and materials these ones seem about the middle ground for all the above (Solite does offer a gasket cuff 6mm option). The bootie itself is a welded composite consisting of an upper/lower that is made of neoprene/thermoset foam in a closed toe form that has an internal big-toe divider.
While the thermo-set foam lower portion of the bootie is the most eye-catching it’s the internal HEAT BOOSTER SOCK that got us wondering 1. How we got all this for $64.95 and 2. WTF we bought. What did wearing socks in your booties feel like? It felt like wearing socks in your booties.
We torched the boots in water at 7am and jammed our feet into the cuff (give it a quick spray of cool water first). 5 minutes later… wala… you’ve got some genuine foot soldier ninja boots fit to your feet.
In the end this review is simple. The booties were the warmest our feet have ever tried and this is saying a lot. Our tester is reptilian, he has no blood flow in his legs, complains all the time.
Do they feel weird? Yes.
Did we Slip? No.
Were they warm? Yes.
While these might not be an everyday go to for Southern California, if you’re in frigid waters, wearing socks and these boots are probably a good idea.
*December 20, 2018 UPDATE: After a couple weeks of riding in the Solite booties the socks are lost and the boots have stretched quite a bit. While this hasn’t exactly resulted in slippage , the feet do feel like they are swimming internally and quite a bit of water is trapped in them. While still warm these boots are definitely reserved for extreme conditions.
Perhaps sizing down a shoe size and then custom molding would help. The thermo plastic material seems to only grow and not shrink.
