Too soxy for my Boots!?

I have wellies, thigh waders, and chest waders - all of which I've used with varying degrees of discomfort over the years. A fishing friend has recently raved about his neoprene chest waders for trotting in the river, sliding down banks, etc. and is more than happy with them - except for walking between swims!

I'm now thinking of taking his advice but am considering 'sock-foot' waders with separate wading boots to enable more comfortable journeys between swims - have any of the forum got experience of both and could advise on the best option to take? Is it worth the extra cost? Are there any drawbacks with the sock-foot waders? All contributions greatly received.
Tight Lines!

I always use sock foots and get on fine with them. Brand selection is important as not all suit every individual. Some may be tight in the foot and others too baggy, which can lead to discomfort and premature wear. Definitely don't buy off the internet straight away, you will need to try them on first. On the boot front, go for rubber soles with studs, unless you like slipping about and falling on your a*se.
On the negative front, they're dearer, not least because you have to buy the boots as well, and they also take longer to put on.

Sockfoot chestwaders every time. I have five pairs, two in a couple of thicknesses of neoprene, two in modern breathable material (just wear super thermals underneath if wading cold water), one a pair of more patches than original nylon fabric, non-breathable Redball Flyweights dating back to 1987 and with many thousands of hours of fishing and miles of walking behind them - "heritage waders".

A tip: I wear felt-soled and metal-studded wading boots with my sockfoots, but, if I'm having to walk considerable distances up hill and down dale (I regularly did fifteen miles a day on several Chilean rivers), I will carry a pair of lightweight nylon-canvas "rubber"-cleated boots that are the size and weight of a pair of old Converse All Star baseball boots - superlight and "scrunch-uppable" to go into my bag or fishing vest pocket. Okay I have to carry the ruddy wading boots on a hike, but this is far better than falling off a mountainside or summat (wading boots are hopeless and even dangerous walking boots).

---------- Post added at 21:12 ---------- Previous post was at 20:39 ----------

Here - http://3.imimg.com/data3/YQ/PG/MY-1498574/camouflage-shoes-250x250.jpg - is the walking boot I was talking about above, the Indian "Shikari", Hunter or Sherpa boot made by BATA and many others. My choice of footwear for all Indian mahseer and trout walking AND wet-wading fishing for the past 35 or so years.

I bought half a dozen pairs for a very few pounds each on my last trip to India, two of that six are still yet to be used.

I have been a good(ish) boy this year and hope to be proud owner of some breathable waders and boots very soon. I've been persuaded by advice on here previously to go for sock foot waders. Thanks for the extra safety advice re walking between swims.

Sock feet breatheable chesties, with studded felt wading boots, for me. I was warned about felt soles when bank walking. I'm generally pretty careful due to those warnings, but I've never had a problem.

I was also warned about how hot neoprenes can be when doing any amount of walking in them. As I primarily wade in the height of summer, that was neoprenes out of the equation.

On the waters I fish it's usually bedrock, cobbles or gravel I'm wading on. I've found felt soles to offer far superior grip to any of the alternatives.

However, if I were to do any amount of wading in the winter, I'd be quite tempted to buy a set of neoprene waders just for that.

Unstudded felt soles and close-cropped (in my case, Argentine sheep-nibbled) grass are a potential killer.

I was on the Chico stream in the Argentine far south one morning in the late 1990s, walking between pools and having some nice browns in a few of them.

At one pool, a grassy gentle slope came down to the water and, having knelt at its foot to cast a big Hopper dry fly up to a fish lying in the neck, I continued on my way, walking along its easy, grassy slope for a few yards before striking out across the longer grass of the valley floor to reach another pool on the tightly meandering stream.

Pfff! Gone! My feet suddenly went from under me and I landed heavily on my hip. Not merely on the snooker-table turf but on an old iron fencepost stub. Ripped a four-inch gash in my old Redball waders ("Yet another patch....") and left me with a hell of a bruised hip by the time I got back to the farmhouse a few hours later.

With care.