Muck Boot continues along the path of crossing over into the walking market with their ‘hiking shoe trainer welly boot’ Outscape lace-up shoes. For welly crossovers these look really quite appealing, you could easily wear them about town and down the shops without being embarrassed.
When you put them on, they don't quite feel like trainers or wellies or walking shoes. They retain some welly-like attributes, especially in the material around the heel and tongue area which is only very lightly padded. This isn't ideal for walking, especially over long distances where the lack of padding starts to become uncomfortable. Having said that, the heel and toes do get a very robust neoprene style bumper which protects shoes from abrasions in the garden.
The insole and midsole are reasonably well cushioned providing a bit of protection and support and they feel energetic enough to walk in. We wouldn't however choose to wear these if our primary purpose was going for a walk.
We found the grip to be excellent, the lugs are quite low profile so they're not very good at mud shedding, but on all other terrain, the Outscape holds fast. Of course, being a welly shoe crossover the Outscape shoes are 100-percent waterproof and thoroughly dependable at this.
If you want a waterproof shoe with decent looks that you can wear around the garden and for the odd walk, then the Outscape is not a bad option, but rated purely as a walking shoe, the Outscape has too many compromises to be a genuine consideration.
