DruBo: I know what you mean
DruBo: I know what you mean with the arch, but I don't think I would really call it "arch support." It's more like they molded the arch area in order to hold that part of the shoe snug to the foot. yep, it can feel weird.
I've been wearing mine since mid-january both for running and as my regular every day shoe (I spend about 10 hours in them some days at work), and I still really like them although I have had some issues that I've been trying to work out. When I first got them the "rock plate" bothered me a lot, but over the last 3 months I think I've worn that part of the shoe in where I don't notice it as much these days. The width in the toe box hasn't been an issue for me, but after spending some long days wearing them I can totally see where all it would take is a tiny bit more width in my foot to make them a bit uncomfortable.
I've also struggled with the arch area, and still haven't found a sweet spot for how I want them to fit (left foot is great, right foot is slightly different and has trouble with all shoes). Some days I tie them so they are a little loose and they feel great, but other days when they are loose I slide around in them a little and start developing some soreness along the arch (it fefels like I tend to slide inward and get a lot of pressure there). On those days I will lace them tighter and the problem goes away, but for sitting around or walking around the office tightly tied shoes can get uncomfortrable (yeah i know they weren't designed for that
).
I've beaten mine in enough where road running doesn't feel that weird to me (I have probably 200 miles on them already), but I do prefer the road feel of my VFF Flows. I bought the Trail Gloves as a winter shoe for running in snow, and for that they worked extremely well (in my opinion) between the traction and since they made a much better rescue shoe than my VFFs for winter conditions (easy on/off). So the short version here is snowy roads/trails = win. Bare roads = ok, not great (and this is after many miles on the roads).
one weird thing I've noticed, and this might be becasue I'm still a relatively green runner, is that in the trail gloves I have a tendency to overstride ever so slightly and I start getting strains on the area just below and behind my ankle bones. barefoot or in my VFFs I have a really short stride these days and I don't feel any stress there until I hit around 15-16 miles (might be around when my form gets tired and lazy, but still investigating this). In my trail gloves it hits around mile 9-10. I think this is just a mental problem for me personally, but in the Trail Gloves I have the feeling of "wearing a shoe" more and I think it makes my form a touch lazier.
these issues are relatively mild for me though, except for the overstriding thing (whih i am working on), and generally I am happy with them probably 80% of the time.
overall though, I like mine enough where I'm going to look at the kids models for my daughter and will continue to wear them to work and in the winter (as long as my feet still fit them by next winter! ha!) or maybe if I head for some rugged trails. I still prefer barefoot to either the trail gloves or my VFFs.
sorry to get so long-winded. I've been wearing them long enough now where I thought my input might be useful to anyone checking this thread out. Sorry to hear people have had bigger issues with them than I did, but like they say, no single shoe will be perfect for everyone (I don't particularly care for the way my VFFs fit my toes, but many people really like them!).