- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- Messages
- 1,998
... up and down mountain trails, through rocky terrain, muddy paths, pools of rain from days earlier, crumbled asphalt, paved asphalt, swampy wetlands, and good old dirt, and I must say, I was rather impressed.
They're KSO Treks, recommended to me for hiking. It was almost a five-mile hike, long hike for me in my shape with a 40-pound backpack, and my shoulders gave out to the strain from the pack before my feet did. In fact, my feet never did. Then again, my feet have always hurt in regular shoes and adjusted immediately to KSO Treks without pain at all, save for my pinky toe (I have a crooked pinky toe that curls under the next toe wen closed and it does not align well in FiveFingers, whose target audience seems to be the perfect, archetypal foot).
Here are my observations that are not what they already told me in the ads:
:thumbup: Even though they got wet easily, they also dried out very easily. After failing to avoid most water in the first two miles, I noticed that every time they got soaked, they would eventually feel dry again after walking for only 5 more minutes. I stopped avoiding all but the nastiest-looking stagnant pools afterward. Once I reached camp and took them off, they were no doubt cold with dampness, but they do not retain water because of how thin the material is, as opposed to regular hiking boots thick with cushion and absorbent material, even waterproof ones; all it takes is for water to be higher than ankle or go in between the vamp and tongue.
:thumbup: A lot of people expressed concern over the protection the sole offers. I've come to realize that stepping on rocks hurts my feet no matter what shoes I have, but I actually have an advantage with these. With hiking boots, stiff in form, the pain is inescapable because of the support it tries to give. You step on a rock and there's nothing you can do about it, concentrating all that pressure on the arch of your foot, teeter-tottering back and forth in pain until you lose balance and fall. With the FFs, the pain comes because the soles flex with the terrain, and you can avoid the pain simply by just going with the contour of the ground and its assortment of hazards, flexing your foot around that rock. The flexibility of the shoe overall is why I bought them in the first place; all my other shoes have a good crack in the sole right at the ball of my feet. I stand, walk, and run on the balls of my feet and always have them bent.
:thumbup: Amazing grippiness. Not because of friction--any shoe can have a high-friction sole slapped on--but, again, this is because the flexibility allowed me to form my foot around anything on the ground.
:thumbup::thumbdn: The shoes slowed me down a lot because I had to keep looking where I was stepping. I know it sounds contradictory to what I've been saying about them hurting less on rocks, but the danger here is with the toes. They are pretty fragile out in the wilderness, and the shoes don't afford them much protection. However, slowing me down helped me take in nature, avoid running straight into spider webs, helped me stay on trail and not miss markers, among a lot of other things I would've missed if I marched through like a boss.
:thumbdn: I think they smell. I couldn't tell myself, but I left them in the vestibule of my tent and saw the flies having a grand time around my shoes through the see-through mesh. I did not smell anything all night, though.
:thumbdn: They stretched a lot and got looser and looser. Not having purchase in my steps slowed me down further. In fact...
:thumbdn: There was a point where it almost felt like a seam broke in my left big toe somewhere. The sockliner seemed to have suddenly given up trying to keep its shape. Moving my toes horizontally with very slight pressure, I saw that only the liner would stretch while the sole stayed pretty firm. This has me worried as I've come across a few reviews of the KSO Treks saying their shoes just completely gave out on them and that Vibram's customer service and warranty are anything but stellar. I did not notice this stretchiness the next morning--they are back to normal now.
Have any of you ever taken FiveFingers out on the trails before? I must say, I had quite a good time in them.
They're KSO Treks, recommended to me for hiking. It was almost a five-mile hike, long hike for me in my shape with a 40-pound backpack, and my shoulders gave out to the strain from the pack before my feet did. In fact, my feet never did. Then again, my feet have always hurt in regular shoes and adjusted immediately to KSO Treks without pain at all, save for my pinky toe (I have a crooked pinky toe that curls under the next toe wen closed and it does not align well in FiveFingers, whose target audience seems to be the perfect, archetypal foot).
Here are my observations that are not what they already told me in the ads:
:thumbup: Even though they got wet easily, they also dried out very easily. After failing to avoid most water in the first two miles, I noticed that every time they got soaked, they would eventually feel dry again after walking for only 5 more minutes. I stopped avoiding all but the nastiest-looking stagnant pools afterward. Once I reached camp and took them off, they were no doubt cold with dampness, but they do not retain water because of how thin the material is, as opposed to regular hiking boots thick with cushion and absorbent material, even waterproof ones; all it takes is for water to be higher than ankle or go in between the vamp and tongue.
:thumbup: A lot of people expressed concern over the protection the sole offers. I've come to realize that stepping on rocks hurts my feet no matter what shoes I have, but I actually have an advantage with these. With hiking boots, stiff in form, the pain is inescapable because of the support it tries to give. You step on a rock and there's nothing you can do about it, concentrating all that pressure on the arch of your foot, teeter-tottering back and forth in pain until you lose balance and fall. With the FFs, the pain comes because the soles flex with the terrain, and you can avoid the pain simply by just going with the contour of the ground and its assortment of hazards, flexing your foot around that rock. The flexibility of the shoe overall is why I bought them in the first place; all my other shoes have a good crack in the sole right at the ball of my feet. I stand, walk, and run on the balls of my feet and always have them bent.
:thumbup: Amazing grippiness. Not because of friction--any shoe can have a high-friction sole slapped on--but, again, this is because the flexibility allowed me to form my foot around anything on the ground.
:thumbup::thumbdn: The shoes slowed me down a lot because I had to keep looking where I was stepping. I know it sounds contradictory to what I've been saying about them hurting less on rocks, but the danger here is with the toes. They are pretty fragile out in the wilderness, and the shoes don't afford them much protection. However, slowing me down helped me take in nature, avoid running straight into spider webs, helped me stay on trail and not miss markers, among a lot of other things I would've missed if I marched through like a boss.
:thumbdn: I think they smell. I couldn't tell myself, but I left them in the vestibule of my tent and saw the flies having a grand time around my shoes through the see-through mesh. I did not smell anything all night, though.
:thumbdn: They stretched a lot and got looser and looser. Not having purchase in my steps slowed me down further. In fact...
:thumbdn: There was a point where it almost felt like a seam broke in my left big toe somewhere. The sockliner seemed to have suddenly given up trying to keep its shape. Moving my toes horizontally with very slight pressure, I saw that only the liner would stretch while the sole stayed pretty firm. This has me worried as I've come across a few reviews of the KSO Treks saying their shoes just completely gave out on them and that Vibram's customer service and warranty are anything but stellar. I did not notice this stretchiness the next morning--they are back to normal now.
Have any of you ever taken FiveFingers out on the trails before? I must say, I had quite a good time in them.
) I love the fact that they drain and dry out quickly, my dog loves running up and down little creeks and streams, and I can keep up with him a lot easier in these as opposed to more traditional footwear.
