In the Diskworld novels there is a character called Sam Vimes - Commander of the Watch in the city of Ankh-Morpork.

He has a take on buying boots which is slightly relevant.

A poor man will buy a pair of boots for ten dollars, and wear them for a year even though they started to let in the water long before then.

A rich man will buy a pair of boots for fifty dollars and they will keep the water out and last for a long time.

Ten years down the line the poor man has paid out double the price of a pair of good boots, and he still has wet feet.

Under his command, however, Vimes has an ex soldier who collected boots from the battlefields - from those who no longer had much use for them, and went into the second hand boot market, with sidelines in teeth and jewelry.

I supose it is all a matter of examining the options.....