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Gortex in runners - as an alternative to boots? 24-Oct-2011 At 5:57:26 PM citationx

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I find it interesting that they put goretex into shoes. What's the point? Certainly not for breathability. For starters, goretex breathability occurs better when you've got a big temperature/moisture differential (great for alpine, not good for singapore). Secondly, shoes are cut so low that you're still not going to be able to walk through a puddle, let alone a creek.
About the only reason you'd wear goretex shoes is to keep the water from making your shoes water logged and soaking your feet that way - that is, as long as you have some sort of dry pants action that stops water from dribbling down your legs and into your shoes anyway...
So anyway, some sort of water proofing action may very well be good, but chances are if it's heavy enough precipitation to warrant goretex, it's heavy enough to get into your shoes anyway if you don't have appropriate clothing to boot.
Drying, i dare say, is going to be about the same as any other shoe, because goretex shoes only have an extra membrane in it - they still have the synthetic outer and inner stuff keeping the shoe together, which is what gets wet and takes forever to dry.

So, having said all that, it seems these days shoes only come in two flavours (except the seemingly awesome Salomon X-overs that I'm about to buy) - goretex, or "lightweight running" with mesh that does two thirds of SFA to keep your feet remotely dry. So I guess if you want any form of waterproofing you'll have to buy the goretex ones :-)
(I like shoes over boots too, and I've walked a fair bit in Tassie with only shoes. If/when I do frenchmans and/or south coast track, I'm likely to stick to boots and gaiters though - the overland track seems to be becoming a board walk more and more so i probably wouldn't bother with boots)
(These are all my opinions and anyone who has worked in the retail industry more recently than 5 years ago may have differing ones)