Dr Martens as walking boots?

I've never worn a pair of Dr Martens, but I do a lot of street walking (sometimes more than 15 miles in a day, though usually around 5) and am looking for comfortable walking boots. Would DMs be good, as after a lot of searching I've read lots of people saying they're perfect whilst others say their reputation for comfort is very overrated in an age of gel insoles and the spongy cushioning materials that many other heels are now made from?

I don't mind the weight of DMs. My main problem with with most shoes and boots is aches in the balls of my feet rather than the heels (unless they rub and cause blisters). What I find most comfortable at the moment is monkey boots with gel insoles, their only problem being that the caps rub the tops of my toes raw on those 15-mile walks. DMs seem to have more toe room than Monkeys.

Monkey boots are also very cheap!

I'm in the UK and have also been looking at boots in places like Debenhams (example), Office (example) and House of Fraiser (example). They look good, but I wonder if many of them are as well made or comfortable as DMs and monkey boots, or just designed to look good and wear out quickly?

What about breaking them in, is that as much of a nightmare as I've read?

And does it matter which kind of DMs I get, as long as they have air soles? I like the Gilberto and Chris styles, as well as Sawyer, which look like desert boots. Are the thin air soles of the DM 'Sawyer' boot more comfortable than normal desert boots with solid soft rubber soles?

Well I finally went to buy a pair and, typically, they didn't have my size and style in stock. I'll go elsewhere tomorrow.

However, while I was in the shop, I had a good look at DMs. The far-eastern ones do look almost identical to the 'Vintage' range, but the stitching looks different, and there's a slight texture to the Vintage leather.

But are DMs waterproof? I don't know the technical name, but there are folds of leather stitched between the edges of the tongue and the underside of the eyelet tabs. I assume these are to stop water getting past the tongue and into the boot. But there are clearly gaps in the stitching in the corners.

In the above picture, the highlighted stitching going across the bottom of the tongue doesn't go edge-to-edge, and I could almost poke the tip of my little finger through the holes, so surely a little water will get in here? I noticed the gap was smaller on the Vintage boots, but still there. I only started to care about this later when walking in light rain for a few hours wearing Monkey boots got my toes wet, probably due to it getting up past the tongues.

DMs were also much lighter than I was expecting, after reading about them being such heavy boots on various sites and forums!

And is there any noticeable difference between Vingate DMs, Solovairs and NPS? They seem to all be made in the same factory, with the DMs and Solovairs even using the same air soles.