5.11 Men’s Company CST Boot for EMS/Firefighters

Author: firefighteslifestyle@gmail.com March 26, 2016

I got another review for you guys!

Now I believe this review will be more practical and helpful for you guys than the last one. In my last review  I talked about the NO-Xplode prework powder and if you have read it then you know I use that stuff almost every day. I like that pre-workout, but it wasn’t really “firefighter” related.

As you can tell from the picture and title, I will be reviewing the 5.11 Men’s Company CST Boot’s. Obviously, I use these boots every day when I’m at work (and sometimes even when I’m off shift).

I have had the same boots from since I’ve been a firefighter explorer when I was in high school, till I was 3 years into my full-time position as a structure firefighter. That’s 8+ years in those boots, too much time to be using the same boots.

My old boots

About 5 months ago I decided I finally needed some new boots. I actually wanted to get some good ones because I knew that I will be using them for years to come. Working as a firefighter, I was able to ask a lot of my co-workers what their thoughts were about the boots they were wearing, just to get some ideas about what I should buy.

After about a month of doing research, I decided to go with the 5.11 boots. I have bought boots from 5.11 before and I like their company and the reviews and referrals I got were all great.

The reason my review is coming out this late is because I wanted to have some time with my feet in them so I could really find out what I like and what I didn’t like about them.

5.11 Men’s Company CST Boot Complete Review:

As I did in my last review, I made a list of what I wanted for my next purchase of a boot. When I first started doing my research I would refer to my list to see if it met my needs. Here’s what I wanted:

1. Comfort
2. Easy to take off/on
3. Black
4. Light in weight

That’s it. If you are currently a firefighter then I assume your list would look almost identical to mine unless your protocols disqualify one something on my list.

To be straight forward, I found all of these things in my new boot and more. If you haven’t figured it out by now I really do like these boots and would recommend them to anyone.

Let me unbox them for you.

I will be honest with you guys and say the first pair of boots I got were sent back. The size was too big for my foot and there was just too much movement when I walked in them.

I normally wear 11 US shoes so that’s the size I ordered for the boots, sadly I didn’t know they run a little big. I sent them back that same day and ordered a half size down (10.5 US).

I boguht the boots on Amazon.com. I did have a prime membership so I got my boots after 2 days. I paid $129.99 + $10.04 tax for them. That was the same price as they were on the 5.11 website but I decided to buy them on Amazon because, lets be honest, I buy everything on Amazon.

When I finally got my new pair of boots (again) I decided to try them on right away to make sure they fit.

They did this time and I loved them.

I was a little nervous how they would feel being that I never tried them on but they fit great (after getting the right size). As you saw on my list, that was the number one thing I was looking for, the comfort.

The boot is tight enough that it stays on your foot for any firefighter activity, but not so tight that your waiting to take them off at the end of the day.    #1: √

My number two category that I wanted was that they slipped off/on easy. I personally feel like they are quite easy to put on if you are using your hands and using a little force. I’ve seen some of my co-workers be able to put on their boots just by slipping their foot right in. You can’t do that with these boots. That being said, I’ve never had any trouble putting them on or taking them off, just know they aren’t as easy as some other boots out there.     #2: √

The third spec. I was looking for was that the boot was black because we have to wear black shoes as that’s what our policy states for our department.  Obviously that was easy to find as I only looked for that color.    #3: √

Last but certainly not least, I didn’t want my next boot to be weighing my down all day. Most of the boots I was looking at weren’t that heavy at all so this spec. was easy to find and this boot is actually very like (at least compared to my old boot). At just 4.2 pounds I don’t have any trouble moving with these on my feet for 12+ hours a day.   #4: √

These boots do have a steel toe(ish) to them which 5.11 calls their “safety toe”. They work great and don’t bother your foot when using them and also meet steel toe requirements for any career, ems or fire.

Now the bad stuff.

I mentioned this a little bit earlier, but one of the minor downsides of the boot is that it won’t just slip on by moving your foot back and forth until it slips in. It does take just a little effort to put these on and to take them off, but not much. To be honest, it’s just a minor flaw that hasn’t bothered me too much.

One other small situation you might run into with these boots is that they are only 6 in. Some fire departments or ems agencies require you to have an 8 in. heel or higher. I don’t mean to mention the obvious, but if your agency that you work for requires higher than a 6 in. heel then these are not the boots for you.

There is really one more complaint I have about them, and this complaint won’t even matter for most of you guys. The complaint is that these boots don’t do great in the snow. I work in a department that has a lot of snow during the winter months and though I haven’t fallen yet, I have slipped a couple times.

Pros:

• The comfort of the boot
• Lightweight
• Affordable

Cons:

• Ease putting on/off
• Slippery on the snow

Click on the image above to check out the boot on Amazon.
I’ve put these boots through a lot in the past couple months and haven’t had any major problems with them. Never have I had a problem with my feet getting wet from holes, or have them fail on me in any situation. I highly recommend them to anyone who is in the market for a new pair of quality boots that won’t break the wallet.

If you have any questions about these boots, please send me an email and I will give you a response as soon as I can. I will try to answer any questions you might have. Also, if you would like update on more reviews to come them please subscribe to my blog or newsletter. Thanks for reading!