The Keen is the boot that wins on the numbers. It took dry traction at 106 lb, toe-cap puncture resistance at 151 lb, and electrical protection at 7,400 V; its outsole was never punctured at 660 lb; its carbon fiber toe carried 5,000 lb without cracking or deforming; it shrugged off a minute at 500 F; and it absorbed a 75 lb iron dropped from 23 inches with very little compression. It also came out on top when the boots were assessed subjectively for comfort. At $225 it is a lot to spend on a pair of boots, and it is the heaviest here at 2,453 g.
The value pick is the $51 Skechers, which beat brands costing two and three times as much. Its steel sole plate stopped the nail at 604 lb, its steel toe carried 5,000 lb with only slight bending, and it managed 100 lb of dry traction — 6 lb behind the Keen and ahead of the $140 Irish Setter, the $130 Carhartt, and the $140 Timberland. It also came out well on padding and comfort, behind only the Keen and the Timberland. The $50 Dickies is the other bargain worth a look: 134 lb of toe-cap puncture resistance, second only to the Keen, and 5,000 lb on the toe cap, though its 102 lb outsole was the easiest of any boot to puncture.
The rest is about matching a boot to the hazard. If the floor is oily, none of the headline performers help: the Timberland held 54 lb where the Keen managed 30 and the Skechers 21, and the Wolverine at 36 lb was the only other boot above the pack. Heat is its own filter — a minute against a 500 F surface left most of the field unmarked, but the Condor outsole began melting almost immediately, the Timberland fared badly, the Irish Setter just began to melt, and the Wolverine took a small amount of damage. For dropped objects, a 75 lb iron released from 23 inches left the carrot inside every boot intact; the Indestructible Shoe, which is a work shoe rather than a boot, let the carrot fracture in several places, and it is also the one item that did not reach the 2,500 lb toe standard. Worth knowing too that the Irish Setter uses an aluminum toe, which deformed considerably more than the steel caps around it, and that the composite toes in the Carhartt and Wolverine gave ground earlier than the steel ones — the Keen composite being the clear exception.