Hello ppl,
well, after a lot of hemming and hawing, and ordering, trying on and returning various brands/models, I decided to keep the Vivo Breatho Trails. They're pretty big, I thought they'd be too big when I first put them on in the living room, thought I'd be returning them, but the felt ok walking around the house and decided to try them outside. After three runs (5, 8 and 10 miles) in the week, with no socks, on a big variety of terrain, in the wet, in the mud, snow, rocks, hills, I'm pretty satisfied. No rubbing anywhere, no blisters.
The only thing I'd like to see is a little more room for the little toes. They have more toe room than most shoes, but still there's that inward-angle that pushes the pinky toes inward.
A nice plus for me: they're real easy to pull on and yank off, without fumbling with the laces. There's no tongue to straighten out. So, I can take them off when the terrain is ok for barefoot running.
On rougher and slicker terrain, wow, they really grip. And they don't retain little stones or even muck/mud at all.
There's a bit of arch support, but nowhere near as much as the Merrell and NB shoes I tried. Part of me wishes for zero arch support ala water shoes and Huaraches, but I think shoes like this need a little something there to hug the foot and keep the shoe from slipping. That seems to be the case with these things - just enough there to maintain fit, but not enough to interfere with the foot's motion (or cause blisters). Like I said, I ran without socks and had no issues with rubbing at all, even after splashing through deep puddles.
Drying time is good to great. After my third run, they were (intentionally) drenched trough, and I (intentionally) left them in the cool hallway overnight to see how dry they'd be. They were still plenty damp in the morning, but not wet, I could have run in them if I wanted to. In real life, I put my shoes in the bathroom under the radiator, and then they dry 100%.
Durability remains a question, we'll see. The toe on the left shoe seems to have been stitched a little incorrectly, I'm expecting to bust through the upper at that spot prematurely. But then maybe not.
Welp, I'm really happy with them so far. Ground feel, flexibility and all that stuff is fine, given the aggressiveness of the sole. My feet feel about the same as they do when I'm barefoot. Oh, on the first run with them, it was quite cold, well below freezing, but my feet felt plenty warm, yet ventilated.
I'd say these are shoes for barefoot runners looking for sturdy protection on trails. The others I tried would be for people coming from the other direction - runners looking to minimize after years of more built-up footgear.
well, after a lot of hemming and hawing, and ordering, trying on and returning various brands/models, I decided to keep the Vivo Breatho Trails. They're pretty big, I thought they'd be too big when I first put them on in the living room, thought I'd be returning them, but the felt ok walking around the house and decided to try them outside. After three runs (5, 8 and 10 miles) in the week, with no socks, on a big variety of terrain, in the wet, in the mud, snow, rocks, hills, I'm pretty satisfied. No rubbing anywhere, no blisters.
The only thing I'd like to see is a little more room for the little toes. They have more toe room than most shoes, but still there's that inward-angle that pushes the pinky toes inward.
A nice plus for me: they're real easy to pull on and yank off, without fumbling with the laces. There's no tongue to straighten out. So, I can take them off when the terrain is ok for barefoot running.
On rougher and slicker terrain, wow, they really grip. And they don't retain little stones or even muck/mud at all.
There's a bit of arch support, but nowhere near as much as the Merrell and NB shoes I tried. Part of me wishes for zero arch support ala water shoes and Huaraches, but I think shoes like this need a little something there to hug the foot and keep the shoe from slipping. That seems to be the case with these things - just enough there to maintain fit, but not enough to interfere with the foot's motion (or cause blisters). Like I said, I ran without socks and had no issues with rubbing at all, even after splashing through deep puddles.
Drying time is good to great. After my third run, they were (intentionally) drenched trough, and I (intentionally) left them in the cool hallway overnight to see how dry they'd be. They were still plenty damp in the morning, but not wet, I could have run in them if I wanted to. In real life, I put my shoes in the bathroom under the radiator, and then they dry 100%.
Durability remains a question, we'll see. The toe on the left shoe seems to have been stitched a little incorrectly, I'm expecting to bust through the upper at that spot prematurely. But then maybe not.
Welp, I'm really happy with them so far. Ground feel, flexibility and all that stuff is fine, given the aggressiveness of the sole. My feet feel about the same as they do when I'm barefoot. Oh, on the first run with them, it was quite cold, well below freezing, but my feet felt plenty warm, yet ventilated.
I'd say these are shoes for barefoot runners looking for sturdy protection on trails. The others I tried would be for people coming from the other direction - runners looking to minimize after years of more built-up footgear.
