This might be a weird question, but how wide is your foot? IME I’ve found that Ariats fit my feet very well because my feet are narrow, however Tredsteps have worked for a few people I know with much wider feet. Idk if boot companies sell different foot widths, I’d assume they might but ???
I love my Ariats personally, the zippers have never given out, the leather is lovely and they’re super comfortable. I have a pair of the Heritage Contour II’s in Sienna which I absolutely adore (I’ve always wanted brown boots!) and my older pair were the Volants. Both are fabulous, if you want a more sneaker feel I’d go with the V Sport II (they’re closing out the Volants I believe) because they have a memory foam footbed but the Contour II’s are comfortable as well. The Tredsteps I tried on when looking for boots were comfy too, but too wide. Seeing as you’re willing to spend more Ariat’s higher end boots are nice too, I’m a sucker for bling so I love the Vortex boots but I can’t spend $500 on boots :o.
I don’t know how much you ride, but if you ride a considerate amount (3+ days a week) I’d stay away from Tuffrider boots, I bought them and the next month the soles were coming off and the leather was peeling.
I tried on the Ego 7’s that Dover had just for kicks and idk if it’s because my foot is just so narrow or because of the boot itself but I found them very sticky, if that makes sense? Like, there was no room for my foot except for where my foot took up. Could just be me, idk.
Obviously those are non-custom boot suggestions, if you want customs go for it but seeing as you’re getting back into riding that seems like quite a bit of money (Granted, I’ve always been told Custom boots are for pros :lol:). Like Erika said though, try on lots of boots 
if you can look at consignment stores too, a friend found a pair of really nice custom-made Fabbri’s for $250 that fit her exactly. Obviously that’s a rare case, but still, it’s worth trying!
