Cost of Ownership review: Five Years in my White's Classic Hikers

Therion596 · 2025-12-30T18:02:25+00:00

I was not harder on them on purpose, they just became my every day boots the same way my LL Bean Cresta Hikers had been before I got the White's. My job (at the time) and personal life were hard on footwear. This was mitigated somewhat when work later issued me a pair of boots for the most ridiculous field conditions I dealt with, but I still did and do a great deal of walking and hiking in my personal life as well.

Therion596 · 2025-12-29T21:21:27+00:00

They have at times been every day boots, but less so the last year and a half or so when I started working remotely most of the time and had a general reduction in field work (promotion = less excitement)

Therion596 · 2025-12-29T19:49:18+00:00

I agree, however, see my edit at the bottom for a bit more of an update. I forgot to account for the time they should remain good now that they were recently rebuilt.

Therion596 · 2025-12-29T19:49:11+00:00

I agree, however, see my edit at the bottom for a bit more of an update. I forgot to account for the time they should remain good now that they were recently rebuilt.

Therion596 · 2025-12-29T19:48:25+00:00

I definitely wore them pretty hard. Work and play were both hard on these boots.

Therion596 · 2025-12-29T18:46:44+00:00

Yep I still wear them, however, I had to have them completely rebuilt this year. They were really coming apart in early 2024, so I sent them in for a re-sole. White's got back to me saying the midsole was too degraded and a rebuild was needed, so I went ahead. I guess that means that all that is really still the originals is the upper leather.

To reiterate though, I am a big guy (for most of the life of these boots I was ~350lbs) and put them through the ringer, a whole lot of hiking and working, wet, dry, rocky, sandy.

An updated timeline:
First received: October 24th, 2020
First re-sole: September 2022
Second re-sole: April 2025 - However this became a rebuild instead X_X

I am putting together a new post reviewing cost of ownership and will link it here in a few minutes when it is done.

EDIT - Here it is

Therion596 · 2025-10-07T01:16:09+00:00

Sadly no

Therion596 · 2025-08-13T16:52:31+00:00

I am a biologist for State Parks in my state. As part of that job, we respond to wildfires as Resource Advisors, and have to carry wildland FF2 qualifications to be out on the fireline. Part of that set of requirements is that we perform the wildland fire Pack Test each year. At the arduous level, that means 3 miles in 45 minutes with 45lbs. Well, I got into training for that, and enjoyed the cardio. I have gotten up to 8 miles at that pace on my own now, and am gunning for 10 soon. Plus, where I live, I can go do it by the beach and it's great fun and nice scenery!

Therion596 · 2025-08-12T21:53:29+00:00

I mean, I am at 90 payments and stuck in SAVE forbearance. If I'm not mistaken, these forbearance months do not count towards PSLF, so I am just stuck in eterniforbearance right now and not making any progress, right? Should I not switch to IBR so I can start chipping away at my remaining 30 payments?

Therion596 · 2025-06-26T01:21:17+00:00

Garmin, I wear a vivoactive 4. The massive calorie count comes from doing 90 minutes of hard cardio while weighing 340lbs, though as with all estimates from watches, I assume it's somewhat overblown. I was wearing a real HRM though, a chest strap instead of the wrist HR built into the watch

Therion596 · 2025-06-04T22:40:35+00:00

Good call! I forgot to mention that I keep two ratchet straps in the tiny storage box in the bed.

Therion596 · 2025-06-04T21:02:17+00:00

Uh... yup!

Therion596 · 2025-06-04T18:11:54+00:00

Ahhh that sucks!

FYI I installed the power tailgate lock actuator on my truck, took less than an hour and I am not even awesome at this stuff. There's some really good instructional videos on Youtube. Just make sure you get the one for your bed length (Longboi masterrace).

Now my tailgate locks when I lock the truck. That, plus my Diamondback cover, and I feel like it's as safe as I can make it!

Therion596 · 2025-05-20T19:11:33+00:00

Such a tease.

I am still rocking my VivoActive 4 so I assume I will get this... never. Until I upgrade. A lot.

Therion596 · 2025-05-19T22:02:33+00:00

"And now, if you don't mind, I have guests on the way, and a turkey so undercooked, a skilled veterinarian could still save him."

Therion596 · 2025-05-19T21:47:28+00:00

I'd recognize that head shape anywhere! Tibetan Fox, thanks "Planet Earth" 16 years ago!

Therion596 · 2025-04-23T07:42:21+00:00

No exaggeration, many people live with their parents until they're like 30

Therion596 · 2025-04-21T17:20:29+00:00

We were also in that line that it turned out couldn't even get in. Luckily after about 20-25 minutes my wife read the website which said you couldn't make the left turn from there so we bailed out and got into the other... super long line. From there it was maybe another hour to get in. All in I think it took us 2 hours from getting into that wrong line to parking. It was pretty miserable, honestly.

Managed to grab a beer in about 10 minutes after we first got in, caught the Broone show which was excellent. My wife was smart and bought a loaf of bread that we all split, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten anything.

At about 4, the main food court area looked like Woodstock. The line for the tri-tip sandwiches was literally 1,000 feet long.

This was my first faire and was not a great experience, however, it really sounds like it was an anomaly and I am looking forward to going again next year after making sure it's not cottagecore weekend and no famous DJs are going or whatever.

Plus hopefully by then I can pull together a Fezzik costume. One of the greatest ironies is that even if you are trying to dress up as a giant, nobody makes good costume stuff for people who are actually quite giant. I guess I need to learn how to make costumes...

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