REVIEW: Altama OTB Maritime Assault Mid

It's summer, time for the beach. It's not always as civilized as it looks here. At the wheel of the car, feet on the pedals. You can also come to the beach from the other side. These are "over the beach" operations, with the whole diver's equipment on the man.

Then the shoe looks like this. And you don't need to worry about it, because that's what it's made for. At home in both worlds, in the water and on land.

Freshly delivered in the Alatama box: we waited a long time for our dream pair in Mid Multicam. We found it at outer-limits, the diving equipment supplier for special forces.

From the front it looks like many other fabric shoes, like Chucks - with a rubber cap that is nicely sturdy here. The basic idea of the shoe is to put it on during dives and keep it on when you take off the fins and go onto land.

The Mid is laced in a classic way, the eyelets are non-reflective. Camouflage is half the battle...

Also great: the tab at the back. It helps with putting them on, here you can grip with your fingers and grab properly.

The shoe is lined with mesh inside, which serves to dry better, so when you come out of the sea and step further inland.

The condition for the inside to stay dry is that the water mass can drain off. Here you can see one of the two bilateral drainage openings. The whole structure is made of a fabric we almost forgot: 1000D Cordura. It allegedly survives atomic attacks, back when the joke was around that Gear was made from this massive material.

The insole is made of Ultron PU, relatively thin at the toes, almost thick at the back. It doesn't absorb water and helps to have a dry feeling on the foot soon after coming out of the water.

The sole has a good profile, flat but sturdy. This is so you can climb a ladder with it - the version with two ropes and small metal pieces between them. Think about boarding in VBSS.

In the field, the shoe is great with its sole. The firm sole prevents every stone from hurting.

Well, let's go where the shoe belongs...

Here comes the flood.

And back on land. The water drains out of the opening, the shoe soon looks completely dry on the outside, inside there is a squelchy feeling, kind of peculiar but not uncomfortable. You can now walk the "boots" dry. Another option: take them off and disassemble them for drying (remove the insole and stand them up), then it takes just over an hour in the sun until everything is okay again.

CONCLUSION: Extremely cool shoes, not only for amphibious missions, but also as tacti-cool pieces that will accompany you through your everyday summer. The Altama Maritime Assault comes in Mid (seen here) and also without a shaft in Low (seen in the video linked in the cover image). At the moment, they are still hard to come by for us, but Altama is coming across the pond. With the size, caution is advised. If you have intermediate sizes, definitely go for the larger size (we have US11 and the Altama here is US12).

You can find the Altama Maritime Assault Mid, for example, at outer-limits in Austria. Inquiries about price, available sizes, and colors (Coyote, Black, Multicam) can be directed to [email protected]

In Germany, Altama OTBs are available at www.tactical-protection-gear.com, Low starting at 69 euros, Mid starting at 75 euros, in various colors and patterns.

ALTAMA online: www.altama.com

SPARTANAT is the online magazine for Military News, Tactical Life, Gear & Reviews.
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