As per Woofgang it's a personal thing, I have found the effectiveness of Goretex really depends upon how much you sweat, I sweat a lot(including feet) and find it isn't much use as it can't pass the sweat out fast enough, my partner however sweats very little and it works well for her. Full leather boots tend to be heavier as well which may also be a problem for some whereas the manmade ones tend to be lighter. I've got a pair of Dachstein's (full leather) which are nearly 30 years old and I don't really look after them and they're still superb, it also depends on what you consider faff, if you're the sort of person who polishes their leather shoes weekly then caring for walking boots won't seem like a lot of work. Your best bet in my opinion is to not spend too much at first to see whether the walking is going to be something you're going to do in the long term and then upgrade as necessary, if you spend £300 on a pair of boots that you wear three times you'll kick yourself :-)