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Discover this informative blog post about Pokeboo Packable Boots featuring a review from Hasches Adventure in Germany.

Pokeboo rubber boots – the super compact ones for your pocket!

Mobile and foldable rubber boots are super practical, but still very rare to find. And even if they are foldable, you still end up with a piece of luggage that takes up a certain amount of space. The Japanese rubber boots from Pokeboo rely on an ultra-compact design and want to solve exactly that problem!

Blog translated from German / Deutsche into English using Translate.

Read the blog in situ here:

https://hasches-abenteuer.de/pokeboo-gummistiefel-fuer-die-tasche-im-test/

Pokeboo rubber boots – general information

The foldable Pokeboo rubber boots are equally suitable for men and women . So they are unisex. Unfortunately, children and women who are undersized are left out here, which is a shame because such mobile boots would be a great thing, especially for children. When it comes to sizes, Pokeboo uses double sizes. These start with size 35.5-36.5 and end with size 46-47 .

The color selection is manageable. You get your light rubber boots in two different shades of green and a strong blue. The price for a pair of Japanese rubber boots is around €85 .

Shop Pokeboo rubber boots now!

You can buy the foldable Pokeboo rubber boots for men and women at www.pokeboo.uk here :

 

How do Pokeboo rubber boots turn out? 

I'm not a fan of double sizes as they are often just a compromise. I ordered my Pokeboo rubber boots in size 44.5-45.5. I'm actually exactly between 44 and 45. Nevertheless, the light rain boots fit me very well. So they don't seem to be that big. The fit on the foot is quite slim.

What's inside?

Pokeboo rubber boots are made from natural rubber . The advantage of natural rubber over conventional plastics is that in most cases it is more ecological. Manufacturing takes place in Thailand. This is of course not optimal from a German perspective, as the transport routes to us are very long. But since these are Japanese rubber boots, the place of production makes perfect sense for the company.

How mobile are Pokeboo rubber boots really?

Before we look at the workmanship, I'll take a look with you at how compact and mobile Pokeboo rubber boots really are. Because that is the core element and will affect all assessments in this test.

As you can see in the photo, the rubber boots are really super compact when folded. Here, mobility is uncompromisingly at the forefront. All of the other foldable rubber boots we have tested so far had a very stable edge around the foot, which sometimes took up a few centimeters of height. That doesn't exist here and so the folded boots on top of each other are only a few centimeters thick.

The concept seems really well thought out. Of course I can't say anything about durability yet, but Pokeboo has cleverly eliminated the typical weak points of other foldable rubber boots here. I will show you in the following sections that this also has disadvantages.

Due to the many requests here as a supplement, the weight of the Pokeboo rubber boots. My pair in size 44/45 weighs 617g with the transport bag . For comparison, my Hunter rubber boots weigh 2256g without the bag.

The processing

The workmanship seems very good at first glance. However, due to the special design, these can hardly be compared with other rubber boots. So far I haven't been able to find any points that I could complain about here. The biggest question with boots like this is how well the material will hold up in the long term. The answers to this can be found in the practical part.

The rubber is extremely thin, which means that neither the shaft nor the foot section offers any stability. Nevertheless, the rubber in the foot area is a little thicker. But that has to be the case in order to achieve maximum mobility. The shaft height is considered high, even if they don't set a new height record. The shaft height is easily enough for everyday wear or a trip to the sea.

The shaft is relatively wide. Thanks to the fabric part at the upper end of the shaft with an elastic band, the Pokeboo boots can be adjusted to your leg. This means that the very soft rubber does not slip down. But I still can't get the shaft completely tight with my thin legs. The thin inner lining is made of nylon.

Even with the thin rubber sole, saving space is the top priority. It is completely flat and has minimal profile. This saves important millimeters! With these properties, the Pokeboo rubber boots are particularly at home in everyday city life and on the coast. But more about that in the practical test. The boots have an amazingly high-quality removable insole.

The design

The Pokeboo rubber boots won the Good Design Award in 2018. You can win an award like this with rather unusual looks and this characteristic applies quite well here. The design should simply follow the requirements of mobility.

Personally, I wouldn't describe the light rubber boots as beautiful and when worn they don't fit me perfectly either. But that's not the goal at all.

Overall, the design is pretty slick. The special features arise from the shape of the foot in which the rubber merges into the sole without the typical decorative stripes. In addition, there is the nylon part at the upper end of the shaft, which loosens up the super simple design and is something of a highlight.

But the fact remains that it makes little sense to make a purchase decision based on the design. That's not the point of Pokeboo boots.

My first impression of the Pokeboo rubber boots 

This test has been a tightrope walk up to this point. On the one hand, I want you to be able to compare the Pokeboo rubber boots with other models, but on the other hand, they are completely different than anything I have tested so far.

That's why my first impression is even more important here. Because with the Pokeboo rubber boots you get a pair of boots that radically follows the mantra of mobility. The Japanese manufacturer does not make a single compromise here.

And that's exactly what I love about the Pokeboo boots! They are simply perfect in what they are supposed to be. The rain boots are so light and so compact that they easily fit into almost any bag. In my case, this is ideal for taking photos when I don't know what to expect in nature or it's unclear whether it's really supposed to rain.

In cases like this, I've always had to either just go out with rubber boots and walk around unnecessarily with them, or take an extra bag with me for them. Even my foldable Hunter Tour back then still took up almost all of the space in the backpack.

The Pokeboo boots fit comfortably in the outside compartment or inside, along with provisions or whatever else I need. Alternatively, the rubber boots are also perfect for you if you have to go to the office on a rainy day. So when needed, they simply disappear into your bag without being a nuisance. There are of course many more such options.

But the question remains how long the mobile rubber boots will last in the end. The extremely thin rubber is of course not infinitely durable and probably not incredibly robust either. Ultimately, the shoes are not intended for 10+ kilometer hikes through the bushes.

I'm really looking forward to my practical experiences, which I'll share with you here as soon as possible!

My practical experience with the mobile Pokeboo rubber boots

Now I've been out and about with my Pokeboo rubber boots a few times and tried out the concept for myself. In this section I will take you into the forest as an example. It had rained the day before and all night long. The streets and sidewalks were still a little wet, but dry enough to wear my leguano barefoot sneakers.

When we arrived at the forest, a completely different picture emerged. Everything was still really wet, deep puddles all over the path and of course lots of mud. These are not conditions for wearing expensive barefoot shoes. That's why I had my Pokeboo rubber boots in my camera backpack. When folded, they either fit inside or fit perfectly into the outside pocket. Since we had my tripod and something to drink with me, I put the bag with the light boots in the outer pocket.

It's really fascinating how compact the rain boots are and don't bother you at all. When changing with your shoes, you always have to keep in mind that this mobility doesn't necessarily apply to your non-rainproof shoes and that they have to go somewhere. In my case this worked because the barefoot shoes are similarly compact.

So I started off with the Pokeboos. Thanks to the very thin sole, the wearing experience is really very similar to barefoot shoes. Since the cut of the boots is rather narrow, they are not barefoot shoes, as the wide toe box is simply missing. In the end it is also a question of your personal taste. Because on the one hand it's nice to feel the forest like that, on the other hand not everyone likes to feel every branch or stone through their sole.

I was also a bit skeptical as to whether the very soft shaft wouldn't slip down my thin legs. But thanks to the adjustable rubber at the top of the shaft, the boots stay where they should. Thanks to my warm hiking socks, my feet stayed warm despite the cool temperatures. But you have to remember that the cold comes through quickly here.

Normally I assume that rubber boots are tight. Since I had bad experiences with the foldable Hunter Tour, I would still like to briefly talk about it here. To do this, I climbed a bit into the lake in the forest and can confirm that my Pokeboo rubber boots are 100% waterproof.

The wearing comfort was also completely fine, even if after a few kilometers through the forest you notice that they are not long-distance boots. Then we have to talk about the flat sole profile. This is not ideal on muddy ground. Even though it wasn't really dangerous, I did slip a little in the mud several times. But on all other surfaces I had a stable grip.

My conclusion

I'm really excited about my Pokeboo wellies. But this only applies if you use the foldable boots as intended by the manufacturer. This means that they are not rubber boots that you regularly plan to wear when it rains. You should put your Pokeboo boots in your bag and wear them if necessary. They really are perfect for that.

This works very well in the scenario I described in detail above, just as it does for your way to work when there are reports of rain showers and you don't want to ruin your expensive leather shoes. I have a clear recommendation if you are looking for mobile rubber boots like this!

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