Review: Solite 6mm Custom Pro Booties

Summary: Solite booties are some of the best river surfing booties I’ve found despite having durability issues. Continue reading for the full review…

While Solite booties aren’t perfect, they are better than any other booties I’ve tried in the river. They are nice and warm, offer protection from sharp things, provide a good connection with your board, and stay on your feet. In addition, they are better than any other bootie I’ve tried in a couple of ways.

The ankle cuff on Solite booties seal up super tight and won’t let water in even if you wear your booties over your wetsuit. When river surfing, sometimes I’ll drag my feet while catching a wave on my stomach to stall the board before popping up. All other booties I’ve used fill with water while stalling my board. The Solite’s seal up so tight that even dragging my feet in a rapidly flowing river won’t cause them to fill with water!

The other area Solite booties shine is during the popup. One of the things I’ve always hated when wearing booties in both the river and the ocean is getting my front foot caught during my popup. I find that the top of the bootie drags against the board during my popup, causing the bootie to get pulled part way off my foot. The Solite’s don’t have this problem. The material on the tops of the booties is less sticky than regular neoprene and I’ve yet to get them caught during my popups.

The biggest problem with any surf booties in the river is that they don’t stand up to the abuse. River surfing requires a lot more walking up the shore or eddy and standing around than ocean surfing. In my experience traditional ocean surfing booties last about one season before they start getting holes in the bottom. If I continue to wear them, they are in riddled with holes by the middle of the second season and are nearly unusable. Here’s a picture of my previous pair of Xcel booties with two seasons worth of use:

Unsurprisingly the biggest problem with the Solite booties is their durability. Just like every other set of booties I’ve tried, they can’t handle the extra stress of the river environment. My pair of Solite booties developed a hole after just 4 days in the river. It’s likely that I stepped on something sharp while getting into or out of the water.

Solite was nice enough to replace the booties under warranty. While the new pair of booties didn’t fully develop holes before the end of the season, they do have a few cuts and tears developing in similar positions to my first hole.

The soles of Solite booties are made up of four super durable panels. These panels show almost no wear after a season of use. The problem is the panels don’t cover enough of the bottom of the bootie. The edges of the panels also seem to be a weak spot. The hole (and near holes) that developed are all near the edges of these panels. If they could just extend the panels a bit further in each direction, I think Solite booties could be durable enough to last multiple seasons in the river.

My booties are from the 2020 season and are 6mm thick. For the 2021 season, they changed their lineup. Solite now offers the same high cuff booties in 3mm, 5mm, and 8mm thicknesses. Unfortunately, the design of the bottom of the bootie appears to be unchanged.

If you’re looking for river surf booties, Solites are the best I’ve found. Don’t expect them to last more than a season (maybe two), but the same can probably be said about any ocean surf booties being used in the river. Hopefully Solite will change their design in the future, until then these booties will have to do.