Discussion: GoreTex shoes life

I have Salomon XA 4 COMP GTX for 1.5 winter seasons w 250 miles on them. Shoes still look like new,but seems like not protecting from water any more :(
How long usually Goretex shoes last long?
Tnx

Did you washed them with detergent and / or heat dry them?

Nikolay: when you buy new Salomon gore-tex shoes, there is a small instructional booklet in the box that warns not to dry the shoes with an external source of heat, such as a hair drier or even the sun. I think it warns that the warranty was void if such treatment was applied.

Interkosmos: alot of people purchase from REI because they can return the item anytime in any condition, no questions asked. At a recent garage sale event, all returned items, there was an unusual high count of Keen Targhee boot, with the label stating "customer complains not waterproof as stated by product description"

@Nikolay: :) No,I did not washed them w detergent and/or heat dry them :)
I was told by Stephen Regenold aka Gearjunkie http://gearjunkie.com/ that Goretex shoes last just about 200-300 miles,what is true in my case. But I was curious about other people experience.
@Sherpes- I do know about REI return policy
one more time-how long Goretex shoes usually stay waterproof?

Goretex in shoes is worse than useless in my opinion. Wool socks if you can tolerate wet but warm. Rubber boots if you can't.

There are two different durations I've been researching. Short term and long term. Short term, I've found that Gore-tex last 90-120 minutes in wet conditions before my feet are soaked. This is with new shoes, with a waterproof gaiter on, of course. The membrane is not "waterproof", not like a rubber boot is.

Long-term, I've found that they only last 200-300 miles before that duration gets cut in half. Sometimes even shorter if I'm orienteering and I'm in an area with thorns and such.

After 300 miles, their waterproofness is more or less gone, lots of holes/tears or something, I can't tell you why they don't last, but they don't.

I'm betting the pores in the goretex are stretched and enlarged as the shoe breaks in eventually allowing water to come in through pores that are only supposed to allow only vapor to pass.

My waterproof Icebugs started leaking after about 20 hours of use in the woods. No biggie, as I use neopreme socks in the winter anyway, but I was surprised at how quickly the waterproofing was trashed.

I have had a few pair of GTX salomons and they all seemed to be waterproof for about 300-400 miles. Then it wore off, but they still repeled water a lot better than just a normal shoe would. Great for the days when there is a bunch of dew on the trails

Goretex (and similar membranes) coats don't take well to use in prickly environments. Lots of small holes reduce the membrane effectiveness. I would expect this would be an even greater problem for shoes if they are used off trails.