I love my steel toe Caterpillars... they were a little uncomfy, until I broke them in.
They have saved me from some pain and prevented me from dropping large quantities of swear words faster than a really pissed off sailor... several times.
Also, I wore them while I was working on a 1990's Chevy plow truck... cast iron cylinder heads. I felt good knowing that if I happened to lose my grip on one of those heavy bastards while heaving it over the fender, my toes are safe.
I have dropped rounds/splits of firewood on my toes while stacking/splitting... wearing tennis shoes... it hurts like a ##### when the very small pointed corner of a split comes down on the top of your toe...
These kicks were about 100 bucks at Meijers. Well worth it, and for that money, these are well made. Only the crappy shoelaces had to be replaced. I threw some Kiwi laces on and haven't had a problem since.
I don't notice the weight. I can wear them all day long, day after day. It ain't that hard to wear them, they really don't weigh that much more than a pair of regular boots.
My dad had a pair of non steel toe Cat boots that were 20+ years old when he finally threw them away since we got him new boots for Christmas. They were suede, but from years of wear, the toe caps shrunk and hardened up... they were as solid as a rock. They still had plenty of tread left. He wore those things every day back in the tire business, and to many more businesses as well.
Water doesn't do good on boots... especially leather ones... that's why I bought some of the good beeswax shoe waterproofing stuff... every now and then, there would be a little bee flying around my boots and observing them, occasionally landing on one as well... beeswax will do that...
Here is my theory on steel toe boots and toe decapitation... It takes a #### ton of force to collapse the entire toe cap, due to the way it's formed around the tip of your boot... the ass end (open end, where your toes come into the cap) will be the first thing to collapse from something really heavy, possibly resulting in the severing of your toes from the steel curling over and onto your digits. However, the bright side is that your toes likely will be mostly whole, and could probably be reattached to your feet, and thus you'd eventually be able to walk again.
If they are completely crushed without steel toes, well, there's no way in hell the docs can possibly reattach your beloved digits.
If you are wearing steels and get your feet crushed, you are really doing something wrong. If you crushed your feet (a lot easier to do without steel toe boots) without them steel toes, well, you probably ain't ever gonna walk again... it is nearly impossible to walk without your toes, especially your big toe and little toe on each end of the foot.
Don't hold back that "yank your foot/feet the hell outta the way" flinch you preform (hopefully) when something appears or is falling down, heading for your foot/feet. Keep it up, reaction times will only improve, and it will greatly reduce the number of times you drop #### on your toes.
***This safety notice has been brought to you by the Shop Monkey.