Well, I finally did it. I bought a pair of "Red Head" hiking boots at Bass Pro for $38 and some aftermarket insoles at Wal-Mart for $20 and after a few weeks now I like them better than the last few pair of Merrell boots I've bought. They're certainly more comfortable than the Merrells I tried on right out of the box.

I tried on every pair of hiking boots they had there, including some costing $200+ and they all had crappy insoles and were not comfortable at all. Some just flat out sucked.

I've only hiked around my yard but it's as rugged and steep as anyplace around here so I'm pretty happy. I'm sure they'll be fine on the trail for my 2-3 nighters but if these cheapies blow out on me I'll let you all know.