I live in a very wet climate, and the past two years of training in the rain has eventually got me frustrated enough to ditch the traditional shoe/neoprene bootie in favour of a serious winter shoe.

I know of three brands, the Sidi Winter shoe (Hydro GTX and Diablo GTX for this year), the Lake (CXZ and MXZ) and the Gaerne Eskimo.

I know a guy locally that tried the Gaerne Eskimo and didn't like it. Anyone have any opinions? I'm mostly looking for something that's low-hassle, fairly waterproof, and comes up high enough so I can slip my leg warmers over the top (I think that's the problem with the Eskimo, is the rain drips down between the shoe and leg).

Thanks.