I got my Korkers Vortex 1200 last night.
Long story short...I wasn't sure I liked them in the house but I do like them after walking to the pond and back on my snow/ice road and down and up the fairly steep section to the pond. @ 2 miles. Great support and traction. Glare ice test and long-cold-day warmth test to follow when conditions permit.
Short story long...
It seems that Korkers must have price control over their vendors because they're $239.99 everywhere. It would be easiest to order from Amazon but they weren't any cheaper anywhere so I kept searching until I found a business in Maine. Winterport Boot Shop in Brewer.
While searching, some places seemed to include the extra soles with the carbide studs. But many were out of stock. Winterport had them in stock and the description showed pictures of the extra studded soles and also mentioned it in the description. This was my main reason for buying the Korkers. For the studded soles.
When I got them they were just the boots with the standard soles. :-(
I emailed Winterport about this and he responded very quickly. It seems that Korkers had recently decided to stop including the extra soles but did not tell their vendors. So Winterport had not updated their website description.
Winterport shipped out a pair of studded soles to me almost immediately. No charge. You probably wouldn't get that response from Amazon. I hope he can get reimbursed by Korkers. They cost $69 retail. And it wasn't their fault.
So I wasn't in love with the boots at first when trying them on in the house. And I considered returning them and telling Winterport not to bother sending the soles. But I decided that I needed to give them a real-world try. And I felt bad about his predicament.
Now I think I really like them.
I have a short, but steep, hill to drag my sled up at the end of the day and my warm, felt-liner, Sorels are just so plush inside and bulky that the climb is miserable. I feel like for every step I mush back a bit and will never get to the top. Plus my ice cleats often come off (to be retrieved in the spring).
These Korkers have great support and traction and just feel lighter and have more control. I shined my headlight to find the slickest ice on the road and I couldn't get the soles to slide on it. I might not even need the studs unless it's glare/wet ice.
I order my leather every-day boots size 9 1/2 and these Korkers are size 10. There's room for a heavier sock but they were also fine with my everyday socks.
The last thing is that my Sorels that I'm used to are loose nylon from the top of the rubber and go above mid-calf and have a tie-off cuff at the top.
So these 12" boots seemed short to me. And they have nothing to seal the top. The ski pants that I wear fishing cover the whole leg and have a zip-up gaiter inside so I don't think I'll have a problem with the boot height or snow intrusion.
I'm looking forward to a -5 deg. day on glare ice to put them through the real paces.
Sadly, it doesn't look like that will be any time soon. :-(
