After 30+ years of rigging big takedowns, like many others here I spend the money to get the best, which are of course Wesco Highliner boots.
Unlike others though, I have Wesco build mine unusually tall, 19 inches tall, right up to just below my knee so my steel spur stays wrap around the very top of the boot for extra comfort, a high priority for me.
I've found that the wear and tear at that spur stay upper boot juncture is huge, the forces at play are enough to actually bend the hooks for the boot laces out of shape as well as wear out the felt padding of my Bashlin steel spur stays over time.
With almost 4 years of wear on my current custom Highliners, I've struck a bartering deal with the owner of my local Wesco dealer to put a dead Pinus radiata (Pitch Canker) safely on the ground that's 75 feet tall and leaning directly over his house. I get it safely on the ground, he and his sons clean it up at their leisure. One days work for me and I get 450 bucks worth of custom Wesco Highliner boots.
This time however I've decided to go whole hog and pay my leatherman/Wesco dealer an extra 100 bucks to modify my Highliners in an attempt to solve my high wear problem at the spur stay boot juncture by having him sew a very large thick leather tongue on each boot that will completely cover the laces and hooks, kinda like some of the modern motoX boots. These leather tongues will be sewn on one side with slide in steel clasps on the outer side, again copying motoX design.
I know many of you think shelling out 550 bucks for a pair of climbing boots is crazy, and maybe it is, but climb a mile in my boots before rendering a hasty judgement on my logic.
Stay comfortable and work safe!
jomoco