Here is an excerpt from a review that Fly Fisherman Magazine published on their website in 2007.
Simms turned heads this year with its new G4 Guide Stockingfoots, boasting increased durability, design and features, and a $700+ sticker price to reflect the claim of “the most advanced fishing wader on the market.” On the nonzippered front, Simms has revised its Guide Stockingfoots ($359.95) for 2007—an update on its original guide model wader.
The remainder of the review gives additional details gleaned from the Simms website. One might as well be writing for the J. Peterman catalogue.
Hardy, yet athletic, full length zipper for streamside elimination. Form fitting in 25 sizes to complement your rugged, good looks. Anglers will leave the stream as dry as a martini at the end of the day.
I want to be clear. I am not trying to denigrate Simms. Indeed, just as George Costanza would drape himself in velvet if it were socially acceptable, I find myself ensconced, nay, buried in Simms products. There are various reasons. I usually pick things up at the end of season sales and I think that they make good, reliable stuff.
Nor am I a Fly-Fisherman hater. Occasionally, they have good articles from knowledgeable authors. Sometimes their writers try to sound too much like A River Runs Through It, though. I always figured that it was better to leave that sort of stuff to Norman MacLean. Most times, a cigar is just a cigar and a stream is just a stream. Although I think Fly Fisherman is worth the price of the subscription, they do consumers, and the manufacturers for that matter, a disservice with their superficial reviews. They do not extend any sort of standard to the products, they do not test the reliability. How are we to know whether a product is worth the amount of money that you are going to have to plunk down? Given the fact that most gear is not cheap, it would make sense. Fly Fisherman is not alone in that regard. I cannot think of a review that I have read in a fishing magazine that really got to the heart of the matter. Most are just like the following excerpt.
In the biggest breakthrough in years, Simms has teamed with Vibram® to give you easy to clean, great-gripping rubber compound treads on their wading boots and river footwear. The G4 Guide™, Guide, Rivershed™, Headwaters™ and Freestone® boots feature the Simms StreamTread™ sole to keep you upright in wet, mossy wading environments.
Those of you that are perceptive will note that this is actually not an excerpt from a review. Rather, I took it from the Simms website, changed it from first to third person, and viola, instant review. You are pretty much getting the idea now…so here is a no BS review of the Simms Guide Boot with the new Vibram sole. I purchased these boots myself. I have no biases based on receiving freebies from the company. I have used these boots since April in large rivers, streams, and creeks across the nation.
Advantages - Somewhat easy to clean. Easy to see if there is still crud on your sole. The sole has a honeycombed pattern that needs a little attention (a heavy brush would be handy to have in your kit for cleaning). Works well in many angling situations. Nice wide boot. Nothing has broken, ripped, or come apart on the boots since I have used them.
Disadvantages - Not as sure footed on slick rocks as felt. Heavy. Not available in half sizes.
Here is the bottom line. The StreamTread sole does not, IMO, work as well as felt soles on slick rocks. It works well enough to use, but I found that I was not as sure footed on the rocks with the StreamTread soles as I was with felt.
I used these soles extensively on the Chattahoochee River in Georgia and the West Branch of the Ausable in New York. Both of these rivers require very firm footing; they have stretches where the bottom is littered with nothing but slick boulders. I found that if you could get your sole on a level section of a boulder, you’d be fine. However, I could not get traction on the inclining surface of a boulder and my sole would often slip until it found the bottom of the chasm between boulders. At one point, on the Chattahoochee, I slipped on a slick boulder and went under. In all fairness, I was in some pretty deep water and the current was fairly brisk. However, I have been in similar situations during the past few years while wearing felt and have not slipped. After that incident, I began using a wading staff. Indeed, I would not use these boots on river such as the Ausable or the Chattahoochee without one.
Cleaning the StreamTread soles is fairly easy; the honeycombed pattern on the sole can make removing some of the crud a challenge, though. A good stiff brush would be a good addition to one’s kit. I used a pocket knife to get those last few bits of goo out from the tread. It is also easy to verify that your soles do not have any crud on them. A quick glance will reveal that. Felt hides crud that gets ground into the matte. It’s the crud that you’d be worried about, it may hold didymo diatoms or whirling disease spores. Also, when the soles are dry to the touch, they are dry. With felt, the surface may feel dry, the matte may still hold moisture.
The Simms Guide Boots are heavy. Normally, you may not notice this when you are wearing them. You do notice it when you are carrying your boots on to an airplane. Since the soles are not felt, however, the wet weight is not radically different from the dry weight. The uppers seem to dry at about the same rate as other synthetic boots. The Simms Guide Boots are, with a suggested retail price of $199.95, pretty much at the high end of the wading boot cost spectrum.
Other than slick rocks, the the Guide Boots with StreamTread worked well. They are well made. They have a nice neoprene liner on the inside of the boot that grips your stocking foot well. They are easy to lace and have speed laces beginning at the ankle. They lace up ankle to the lower part of the shin. This provides good ankle support. The boots have a wide toe box and will slide right on without a struggle. Even with several pairs of this socks. The wide toe box has another advantage. When I wore my previous boots, boots that had a fairly wide toe box, my feet would start hurting toward the end of the day. My toes would feel smashed. With the Guide boots, my feet have felt fine.
Simms boots are only available in whole sizes. My dealer recommeded a size 12 boot (I wear a size 10 1/2 shoe) based on the formula one full size greater and round up. I thought that was a little on the high side at first but, after testing it out in the showroom and several months of use, I’d say it was the right size.
For anything other than slick rocks, these will work well. If your regular stream includes slick rocks, I would not recommend these boots from a functionality standpoint. If you do choose to use these boots on slick rock streams, I would highly recommend getting, and using, a wading staff.
The StreamTread soles are, however, easier to clean in comparison to boots with felt soles. Most importantly, it is easier to verify that the boots are clean. If you can be certain that your boots do not have any crud on them, you can be certain that you are not transporting aquatic nuisance species from stream to stream.