wish they had better traction when wet. overall great comfortable shoe that has been tested on hikes of around 4 miles, did an elevation gain of 1100 ft steeply up rocks. they did great. we knew there were going to be some brook crossings, so wanted a shoe that would dry quickly. drawback is you do occasionally have to stop to dump a rock out, hence my search for the apparently discontinued Merrell Men's All Out Blaze Aero Sport Hiking Water Shoe for the man in my life. I have the woman version and love. Merrell, can you hear me? produce more of those. people apparently want them if they are sold out! duh. short answer to this particular shoe is its great. I love my woman version. he likes these man ones (except for the occasional aforementioned rock)Excellent sandal. Even wore them on a few small hikes and was pleased with their performance.These things are great! I have bought regular water shoes and worm plenty of sandals but these take the cake. The foot always feels supported and never do I feel like I'm wearing a cross trainer or sandal. Even when wet they are not freezing your toes of from evaporation. Have plenty of traction on mossy rocks. They don't get sucked in on boggy soil. The are comfortable enough to take a short hike. Used them to swim with did not once think they would slip off. Only thing I can complain about is on dry sand the do underperform, filling with sand to the point that you better off barefoot. In wet sand or fully submerged underwater though they get the job done. Keeping most sand at bay with a good flow of water. Toes arch and heel equally protected and for a someone who has a wide foot 10 1/2 EE size is perfect.I purchased these for a canyoning trip at Kawasan Falls in the Philippines (beautiful and extremely fun trip that I highly recommend) but I found out rather quickly that they were wrong for the intended purpose. First, lets talk about why these are great water shoes. Even Superman has one weakness and mine just happens to be the bottom of my feet, which are very sensitive to pain when I step on things like pointy rocks, Legos, etc. While planning for the trip and watching some videos of those who have gone before, I knew that I would need to plan on having a pair of water shoes that would decrease the potential of pain while walking over stones of varying sizes so after reading the reviews I went with these. The size was true to my standard shoe size, and I was really impressed by the quality of the shoe for the prince (I paid $69.99 for mine, but I see they went up in price recently). The waxy coating on leather gives them a rugged look and solid feel while the neoprene collar keeps your foot nice and snug. The sole on these suckers is hard! I didn't feel any discomfort caused by stepping on stones through the sole during the 2 hour canyoning excursion and would highly recommend these as great shoes for hiking when stream crossings are required.Note the end of my last sentence: "... I would highly recommend these as great shoes for hiking when stream crossings are required" because honestly I wouldn't recommend these for canyoning. In fact, the constant immersion of my feet in water softened my skin and the hardness of the sole gave me two of the worst blisters I have had in my life right on the ball of my feet. Our guide had opted for and even offered us anti-slip diving boots, but we turned them down because we had our own shoes, and hindsight being 20/20 I should have noticed and mimicked the seasoned professional rather than thinking I knew better. The other reason why I regretted my choice is because while the soles were fantastic at gripping the dry portions of our trek as well as protecting my sensitive soles, the hardness of the sole did not help out with the slipperiness of the constantly emerged stones. At times it seemed like I was trying to walk on ice with how often I slipped on the algae coated stones and I'm positive that having a more flexible sole designed for constant immersion would have been much better suited to the canyoning adventure.So in sum, I learned my lesson the hard way but these will still be amazing summer hiking shoes on trails that I know cross streams. With a little breaking in I also anticipate that the soles will be come a little more broken in and increase the grip potential, but I will update this review later if that isn't the case once I get an opportunity to test the theory!These shoes are awesome! They fit well, are easy to put on, and (seeing how I live in Phoenix) I wear them almost all the time. Since they are a sandle I rarely use socks. I've had them more than six months and there is no sign of weakness.Purchased these for a little bit of light hiking whilst on holiday and ended up not really using them as intended. I wore these whilst driving up to Fort William due to their airy design. I had planned to wear my proper hiking boots once I arrived there to actually climb Ben Nevis.Once we had arrived at Fort William I realised that in my rush to leave the house I had forgotten to actually put the hiking boots in the car.Faced with a bit of a dilemma I eventually decided to try the climb up UK's biggest Munroe in these glorified sandals. After all, how bad could it be?Turns out it was pretty good. The Merrell sandals were superb. Excellent traction underfoot gave me a huge amount of confidence whilst climbing. Despite not having any socks on my feet felt comfortable and the light weight of the shoes/sandals made climbing a realitvely easy affair.Once at the top my feet felt a little sore and my ankles a little weary but nothing to worry about.On the way back down I realised the weakness of these shoes. They have VERY little in the way of cushioning. After a near four hour descend in 28 degree heat my feet, ankles and knees were not doing so well. I developed two blisters on one foot due most likely to my feet getting wet whilst trudging through a patch of snow near the top.Inspite of this I feel I have to give the shoes five stars as they went above and beyond what they are designed to do and coped with rock terrain, snow, 28 degree heat and 9 miles of climbing and descending.Two blisters was a fair price to pay.The lacing system worked perfectly and the vibram soles are superb.If you're on the fence I would recommend that you get these. Since the climb I've used these as driving shoes, hiking shoes, beach shoes and training shoes.I'll be using proper hiking boots for my next Munroe though!These shoes are fabulous - my husband's second pair - the first only discarded because they were faded and scruffy, not actually worn out. His previous pair were bought in a shop on holiday and the seller said that Merrell didn't do half sizes so he had to endure a pair half a size too big until I saw these on Amazon. Turns out they do do half sizes after all and the seller in the shop probably didn't have the correct size in stock and was eager for a sale! These are a much better fit and look much nicer without a big gaping space at the back where his heel should have been!First of all, the base is made from a thick nylon material, supported with a flexible rubber-like material across the instep and oiled leather on the upper part for durability and stability. The whole shoe is like a comfortable, supportive sock with a neat bungee fastening - to lace tying to bother about! There are cut-outs along the sole which allow for water to drain away or if you aren't using them as water shoes, for the air to get in and sweat to get out and a padded heel 'strap' rather than a fully covered heel which make them immediately wearable without the need for any 'treading-in'.If you have problems with sweating, blisters or chafing whilst walking, these are for you. The sole is of a shock absorbing, water-suitable material and very, very durable. My husband's old pair were worn every weekend and for walking holidays on very rough, stony ground and the soles had hardly a mark on them. As I said before, he couldn't get the right size in the shop, plus, the shoes were sun-bleached and shabby - that's the only reason he got some more. I'd say they'd last, for leisure use, a good three to four years at least, it not more, depending on how hard you use them.The only thing I'd say against them is this: If you are rock-climbing or traversing very unstable ground, such as slate or scree, they would probably slip off. I have the same shoes and once, when my proper walking boots were hurting me, wore them on similar ground and the elasticated heel strap kept 'giving' and my feet were sliding around dangerously. On two occasions my foot almost slipped out but this isn't a reflection on the shoes themselves - I just wore them on unsuitable ground.Can't really say anything bad about these shoes and when my own wear out I'll be getting some more - they're so good and so very, very comfortable! When they get a bit scruffy, give them a good wash and let them dry naturally, then apply a little clear wax polish or leather cream to the leather parts which will completely revive and smarten them up!I really like this shoe, even though it absolutely shredded the 4th and 5th toes of both feet. But I think I'm to blame more than the shoes because I probably had unreasonable expectations of the shoe and also what punishment "unhardened" feet could take. Let me explain:I usually walk most long-distance hikes in shoes. I hate boots, particularly full-height boots. They make my feet sweat and they get wet inside anyway, but are more difficult to dry out. I don't need ankle support as I am an experienced walker and "never" (!!) have issues with ankle strain, no matter what terrain I walk over.I have had good success with fully ventilated trail runners, even in rough terrain, over long distance and in very wet conditions. I used Tough Mudders to walk the Outer Hebrides in Spring (peat bogs!).So I figured that as it was full summer in the UK, I could try walking in super-ventilated sandals when walking the Pennine Way. I'd walk in Merrell Blaze walking sandals. WRONG!!!I do an average of 20 miles per day and my max was 28 miles on the PW. I carry a full load for backpacking and wild camping (about 8 - 9Kg). So what happened to make my feet get shredded?Firstly, the fit - I take a size 11 and ordered a size 11. The reason being that there is no adjustment on the heel strap at the back, which is elasticated. The last thing I wanted was my heel flapping about up and down against a loose heel strap. With good quality thin synthetic sports socks this worked fine, but when going downhill, or when the feet were getting a LOT of frictional stress when walking over the peat bogs of the PW, the toe box was very unforgiving. There is little or no padding for the feet and a thicker sock, or 2 pairs of socks won't do if walking over longer distances like I was. The frictional forces on the 4th and 5th toes in the lateral part of the toe box, also the ball of the feet under the 1st & 2nd metatarsal heads were immense and although my heels were ok, my toes and forefoot were shredded after a couple of days.The ventilation was great! Wet feet all the way, but the shoes dried really quickly. The shoes are fairly light as walking shoes go (about 690g I think), but there isn't much cushioning on the upper sole and not much grip on the outer sole.I love the lace system, which is super-quick. Stones, gravel, grit and twigs were a bit of an issue, so over certain types of terrain this is a problem. Gaiters won't get around this problem.So, I guess it was stupid of me to attempt 268 miles in these. Although it felt great at first, the problems soon appeared and I knew I had to meet my "Trail Angel" (AKA my wife) to meet me for a rest day and bring other footwear for me to complete the hike. I swapped out to Merrell Cham 7 Slams at day 5, by which time my feet were shredded, but a size 12 Slam, with good arch support and plenty of padding really gave my feet a holiday - until my heels started to rub due to a completely daft and unnecessary plastic "band" that Merrell have put around the back of the heel on the Cham 7 Slams, which I very nearly cut off before I completed the PW. My toes were fine in the Cham 7 Slams, but not the heels! Glad to finish after 13 days on the trail, with pretty much continuously painful feet!So - will I throw away the Merrell Blaze sandals? No, absolutely not. They are a great pair of summer shoes that can be worn at leisure with or without socks, provided no serious long-distance trekking is contemplated. So, they will go on dog walks, they will go on holiday, they are much better than flip-flops and I can drive the car in these Merrells. They are great, but not for serious long-distance walking. I tried an experiment, but it didn't work and it was naive of me to expect they would be ok on England's toughest long distance walk.In summary, I love 'em, even though they beat me up a bit. I can't stand "Jesus booties" worn in hot weather, whereas these look good, they fit well and they are what I'm going to wear on holiday and generally in hot weather.Good for general use as very easy to slip on and off although i did go half size up.The criticism is they feel a little flat with no support around the arch area and as mentioned by some other reviewers they feel a little strange around the heel area almost as if the heel is collapsing as i walked, so loose the star rating for this.I wouldn't purchase again, and just use to pop to the shops etc so i may as well bought a cheap pair for what it's worth.My preference now is Keen sandals, much better support and feel better quality.Update.Although the sandals are still comfortable, the issue with the heel area feeling odd and collapsing a bit is annoying and also feel the ankle strap is too low and i am constantly pulling it up, as said previous i would not purchase again and i just use them to pop to the shops etc.I will always buy Keen sandals in future.I haven't owned these walking shoes long and wish I'd taken note of the negative reviews about quality. I've owned many pairs of Merrell walking shoes which were all excellent so I decided to purchase a pair of Merrell ventilated walking shoes for the summer and purchased a pair of Blaze Sieve. When they arrived I was shocked to find ends cotton sticking out all over both shoes nothing like the quality of the Merrell walking shoes I own, I assumed this would be as bad as things got and decided to wear them. After wearing them a couple of times I found the sewing on the heel strap on one shoe has started to come undone leaving a 2cm loop of cotton. I wear orthotic insoles with 8mm heel lifts which slide out of the back a couple of minutes after putting these shoes on so I fixed the orthotics in place which means I can't return the shoes for a refund. From my previous positive experience with Merrell walking shoes I'm finding it difficult to believe these Blaze Sieve shoes are a genuine Merrell product. It's a shame because they are comfortable to wear and before they started dropping apart I'd considered buying a second pair in another colour. My advise is DO NOT BUY these shoes.