So there are probably 3 practical reasons why someone would want to hike in sandals instead of boots or trail runners: very hot conditions, very wet conditions, or very muddy conditions. These sandals perform very well in the first 2 categories, but they are not functional in heavy, slippery mud. Because of the way that the strap is designed to cut through the toes, when you begin hiking through mud (especially with elevation change), your foot begins to slip around in all directions, rendering the straps as more of a nuisance than support. If you have to walk downhill when there is now slippery mud between the bottom of your foot and the sandal, your entire body weight will shove your toe webbing between your big toe and pointer toe right into the nylon strap. After a couple of steep miles, it's inevitable you'll be bleeding. When it is not muddy, there is enough traction/friction between your foot bottom and the shoe face that your toe webbing is not driven into the strap. I would try to make a diagram of what happens and attach it to this review, but I think it's pretty easy to visualize.
It is common that products originating from kickstarter have some design flaws, and these sandals were amazing when I was hiking in less muddy conditions. I'm sure that someone could thru-hike the entire AT in these with no problems since there wouldn't be much mud. In Hawaii, however, good luck on any tough, wet hikes. Considering muddy hiking is one of the ideal use-cases for sandals, I would consider this negligence a severe design flaw. That being said, I really love the sandals and hope that Bedrock will make a model with an alternate strap system that secures the foot laterally. I trusted these sandals in the pouring rain on lethal ridgelines since they were somehow more stable/better traction than my trail running boots. From my opinion, the construction, tread, vibram sole, and overall combination of these sandals is all but perfect and better than the competition. I purchased these because they are zero-drop as I'm sure others have. I hope that Bedrock can make a new style that keeps the same features but enables hiking in wet mud!
Summary: Mud hiking is impossible in these! Please make a model with a different strap style but the same tread and barefoot/zero-drop style features! Would be 5 stars or more if they could be used in mud. Really banking on bedrock making an alternative because the overall construction and style is top-notch
12 Mens / 13 Womens / Black
