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welcome to boot spy my name is william and today we got ourselves a boot battle in this corner we got the red wing iron ranger and in this corner the timberland premium six inch waterproof boot i'm gonna compare these guys these icons head to head prepare the leather quality sole quality durability price and ultimately figure out which of these two boots are worth your hard earned money let's get into it [Music] thank you so much for joining me if you haven't already please hit that subscribe button down below and also give me a thumbs up both things are super helpful for the channel i really appreciate it as i said today we're comparing the red wing iron ranger to the timberlin premium six inch waterproof boot uh there is a lot to talk about these boots are both iconic they are worn by hipsters they are worn by workwear enthusiasts they are worn by construction workers the whole thing these are two of the most popular boots in america today and so what a better time to compare them head to head so let's start off by talking about the style of these two booths the red wing iron ranger is a classic cap toe service boot style and the inspiration of this boot goes back to early 1900s and the boots that iron miners wore in minnesota red wing they're based in minnesota so they took a lot of those old concepts of those old really hard rugged boots they turned it into the iron ranger it has quadruple stitching along the toe cap this external really sturdy heel counter right here with triple stitching all along the upper and then these nickel plated eyelets it's a very rugged looking boot and it's also a very rugged wearing boot it's got quite thick leather which i'll talk about more a little bit later but it also has a 270 degree goodyear welt so that means you can easily resolve this whenever you need to the timberland premium on the other hand how can you mistake this man you see this coming from a mile away a very iconic look this is a plain toe boot it's got quadruple stitching along the upper here and along the heel counter it's got this grip stick heavy rubber lug sole also a couple other things about this it's got the hexagonal lace eyelets right here a leather padded collar and then it's also insulated with 400 grams of primaloft insulation it comes to style these two booths it's really hard to give one brand a point over the other because they're just both so iconic they both have totally different applications i think at this point timberland this is more of a fashion boot i'll talk a little bit more about why i think that later whereas people still wear the red wing to ride motorcycles or just out on the street walking around town or for even construction work so when it comes to style i personally prefer the red wing iron ranger i think this works a little bit better in my wardrobe so i'm going to give red wing the point though you know you could also easily give that point to timberland as well so put it on the board as for the leather quality the red wing iron ranger is made with in-house tanned leather by the sb foot tanning company this is oil tan full grain leather it's super soft super supple i've been treating it with venetian leather balm and that is great for getting out the mix and scratches but yeah this leather is super high quality about two millimeters thick around just even the thinnest parts whereas the timberland premium uses i believe this leather is from the honduras but it is a nubuck leather one thing you do get with that timberland and that nubuck leather is that it is fully waterproof that's one of the best benefits to this boot right here and so if you pour water onto this boot it just slides right off on red wings on the other hand it is not waterproof it is weather resistant this oil tanned leather is very resistant to water it's not going to soak up a lot of water but if you stand in a puddle like it's going to get wet it's going to soak through but because it's so oily and if you treat it every so often you don't have much risk of damaging the leather but uh you know in that area timberland is definitely superior when it comes to like weatherproofing or waterproofing the timberland boot is completely waterproof but if we're strictly talking about the quality of the leather between these two boots i have to give it to the red wing iron ranger that sp foot tanning company oil tanned leather is just so nice so soft so supple and it's going to last ultimately a lot longer than the wheat nubuck here on the timber let's talk about the soles of these two boots now the sole on the red wing iron ranger this is a vibram 430 mini lug sole quite hard there's almost no shock absorption throughout this boot at all this is not a very comfortable boot if you're standing on your feet all day long uh it's basically got the amount of shock absorption as a red brick so you're not getting a ton of flexibility in there that said this sole is fantastic in terms of durability i've been have this for about six months and the heel hasn't worn down at all so this is one of the better in terms of durability soles um that i've that i have that i've owned the vibram 430 mini lug really durable and i haven't had any issues with it scraping away or wearing down the timberland sole on the other hand a lot more grippy this softer rubber this does so much better in wet weather that and you also get the deeper indents and ridges here the timberland outsole much better for wet weather or any sort of slippery situation whereas the red wing iron ranger outsole much better for durability so when it comes to giving one of these two boots a point for their soul quality i'm gonna actually skip that because i think they both serve very different purposes comparing the durability of these two boots i've kind of already covered it but for me the timberlin it's got uh it's not a full solid midsole and outsole there is some space in there this softer rubber is gonna wear down a lot quicker along the heel whereas that leather insole and this really hard rubber outsole you know it's a lot less comfortable offers a lot less shock absorption but when it comes to straight durability the sole is definitely gonna be a lot longer lasting and what this really comes down to is that the red wing iron ranger has a 270 degree goodyear welt what that means is when the sole eventually wears down you can replace it easily with the timberland premium uh it's not the same story this has a bond welt which means basically this this outsole and midsole is just glued to this piece of leather up here and what that means is that when it comes time to resold these you're going to have a harder time finding a cobbler who can do it now some people can resole uh timberlands it's been done before but it's not as easy of a proposition as say with a red wing or any sort of goodyear wilton comparing the prices of these two boots the red wing iron ranger goes for 330 full price retail whereas the timberland premium goes for about 190 full priced retail for both of these you know red wing you can find factory seconds or b cuts um sometimes you can find them at certain retailers on sale timberland you can for sure find this on sale sometimes for like 150 140 so ultimately uh this one's an easy one timberland certainly wins on price so which of these two boots should you get i think it's a pretty clear case of who should get which boot if you prize durability if you prize construction quality and you want to have a boot that's going to last you 10 to 15 years invest in a red wing iron ranger however if you stand on your feet all day you want a really good boot for winter that's insulated very warm offers a lot of grip completely waterproof but it's going to last maybe two or three years maybe up to five years if you take really good care of it then the timberland premium is also a really solid value i like this boot a lot however i just don't like it as much as the red wing iron ranger when it comes down to the boot battle the points they tell the whole story so the winner of this boot battle is the red wing iron ranger even though i prefer the red wing iron ranger i still think there's a time and place for the timberland premium again that waterproof this sole it's just makes it a great great winter boot especially if you keep it nice and crisp and clean so there is a time and place if you can find it on sale it's an even better value but great boot but in my opinion better boot if you enjoyed this video please give me a thumbs up and also hit that subscribe button down below both are super helpful for the channel and i really appreciate it until next time put your best boot forward
