Reviews > Footwear > Sandals > Keen Newport H2 > Colleen Porter > Initial Report

Initial Report

May 25, 2004

Keen Newport H2 Sandals

Manufacturer: Keen LLC

URL: www.keensandals.com

Year of Manufacture: 2004

Listed Weight: 10.9 ounces/309 grams per shoe (size not specified)

Actual Weight: 10.6 ounces/301 grams per shoe (Women’s size 8)

Product Description: A closed-toe sandal with Ghillie-style lacing.  The exterior straps are waterproof polyester webbing, backed with a “hydrophobic” neoprene-like foam fabric.  The laces are made of shock cord and do not tie, but are threaded through a cord-lock that allows for easy tightening and loosening of the laces.  Underneath the laces, running up the middle of the shoe, is a tongue made of thin synthetic suede, with the same foam fabric underneath it.  The soles are non-marking carbon rubber, and in the front of the sandal the rubber extends up and over the toe area, forming a protective cap over the wearer’s toes.  The anatomic footbed is anti-microbial EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate), to inhibit odor.  There are small webbing loops on both the single rear strap of the sandals and at the top of the lacing, to assist in putting on the shoes.  These loops reflect light in dim conditions.

Tester: Colleen Porter (biography at end of report)

Arrival:  The Newport H2’s arrived in a plain brown box.  When I opened the box, there was another box – a black Keen shoebox, just as I would expect if I had bought the shoes at a store. The shoes were in perfect condition – brand new.

First Impressions:  I had requested the sandals in black, but Keen was out of black in Women’s size 8, so I chose the color Plum as my backup.  Opening the box, I was surprised by the brightness of the shoes - a berry-ish shade of magenta.  By looking at the Keen website, I noted that the highlight colors on the sole are different for each color of shoe.  On my Plum-colored sandals, the soles are black, berry and orange (with the name Keen in small yellow letters near the center of the sole). 

Details:  Let’s start from the toes and work our way to the back of the heels.  One of the things that makes the Keen design so intriguing is the turned-up front of the shoes, coupled with the rubber cap over the toes.  It reminds me of Persian shoes, whose turned-up tips were also designed to protect the wearer’s toes.  So far the toe caps work brilliantly – I’ve even taken a few test kicks to various hard objects and nary a toe injury has occurred.  There is plenty of wiggle room in the toe box, but as I haven’t had a chance to test these in the field I can’t comment on whether that wiggle room will translate into too much room on a steep downhill. 

The lacing starts just after the toe cap ends.  The laces are made of shock cord and are connected at the ends by a permanent plastic cap that keeps them from separating.  A cord lock keeps the laces at the wearer’s desired tightness.  Underneath the laces, running up the middle of the sandal, is a tongue apparently designed to keep the laces from making contact with the wearer’s skin.  The tongue is attached to the sandal and cannot slide to the side, as the tongues of many shoes so often do.  The exterior side of the tongue is a kind of synthetic suede in the same color as the rest of the shoe. At the top of the tongue is a small webbing loop designed to help the wearer pull the shoes on. 

Next are the webbing straps.  Something interesting about the webbing is that it isn’t the same width all the way through – it tapers as it approaches the lacing.  The straps start at the side of the shoe, where the sole/footbed (hereafter referred to as the sole) rises up just a little bit to better cup the foot.  They extend up about 2 inches/5 cm until terminating in the loop that the lace runs through.  There are four webbing straps on each side of the foot – three attach directly to the sole, while the fourth attaches into a “hub” just underneath the ankle, made of the same faux suede found on the tongue.  This hub is attached to the sole, and then a single webbing strap wraps around the back of the foot and connects to the hub on the other side of the shoe.  The Newport H2’s strapping system is derived from ancient sandal designs, dating back to the Roman Empire and beyond.  My brother-in-law, a cobbler who specializes in medieval and renaissance reproductions, calls them “Techno-Ghillies,” as in his opinion they are modern-day versions of the Ghillie sandals worn in Scotland.  But I digress. 

Underneath the toe cap, straps, and tongue is a thin layer of a foam-type fabric that feels similar to neoprene.  I assume this foam layer is to protect the foot from the webbing, which in my experience can literally saw into skin that has been wet for some time (like on a river rafting or canyoneering trip).  I still have scars on my feet from previous all-day wet-foot hikes, so I’m really excited about the prospect of maybe having shoes that won’t eat my feet up in day-plus wet conditions (although the thread used to sew the foam on could still prove to be abrasive).  Keen claims this foam is “hydrophobic,” and that it won’t absorb water.  I hopped in a swimming pool to test this, and I’m sorry to report that the shoes did get wet, and did hold that water for at least an hour, even after being set in the sun to dry while I continued swimming.  I realize that isn’t the most scientific report, and I will definitely test the sandal’s water-resisting qualities multiple times in my field use.

Printed on the footbed are the words “anti-odor anatomic footbed.”  The footbed is soft and quite comfortable.  It does not seem to retain water.  So far, after seven days of sock-free, admittedly non-grimy city use, the sandals don’t stink at all.  The footbed is contoured nicely and doesn’t rub my foot in the wrong way at all.  I do have relatively high arches, so the footbed does not come up high enough to contact my entire sole, but I’m very used to that so it causes me no problems.  There is a small raised ridge in the toe area, which when wearing the shoes runs pretty much perfectly along the underside of my toes, between where my toe pads touch the footbed and where the ball of my foot touches it.  I assume this ridge is meant to give the feet less slippage on the footbed in wet conditions.

Lastly, the sole.  It is carbon rubber, in a 3-color design.  The ridges on the sole are not especially deep, nor are there a lot of them.  Looking at it, my gut reaction is that this is not a sole suited for rough and rocky trails were deep-lugged traction is necessary.  However, I have no field data on which to base that assumption and I am looking forward to hopefully disproving my hunch.  I can say that the Newport H2’s offered excellent grip on my floor test – I have slick, glazed tile floors that offer a tremendous safety hazard when wet, and the H2’s gripped that wet tile like it was a dry sidewalk.  Very impressive.  I am really, really looking forward to using the H2’s on slippery, slick trails.

The H2’s appear solidly constructed, although on the left shoe there are some loose thread ends, and on the right I can see two threads that seem likely to come loose soon.  There are a few small spots where tiny filaments of glue are visible.  These are the only flaws I can find in the shoes, and they are so minor as to cause me no concern.

Test Strategy:  Fit, durability, and function are my foremost concerns.  I plan to work these shoes hard.  Is the interior of the sandals soft enough so as not to blister me or rub me raw, but snug enough to keep my feet from slipping around inside when they are wet?  Once the shoes have become wet, how quickly will they dry?  Must socks be worn with them, or do they function as well without a sock to add cushioning?  Is the tread equally grippy on wet, slick sandstone as well as dry, glacier-polished granite?  What about loose pebbles or slick, shallow mud?  Will the soles hold up under the daily workouts I plan to give them?  I hope that the laces will prove easier to tighten or loosen than the laces on my boots.  I like that the laces are toggled, rather than having to tie & untie them, but this presents a possible failure point and I am anxious to see how durable that cord lock really is.  The reflective property of the pull-on loops may make the sandals easier to put on or take off in the dark, but I suspect the reflecting is more of a cosmetic feature.  I’ll make a point of reporting on that.

How cool can my feet stay in the Keens?  In the temperatures I’m expecting this summer, my feet get uncomfortably hot in fully enclosed shoes.  Ventilation is key when walking in full sun, on ground that quite possibly is hot enough to fry an egg on.  My other hiking sandals do an excellent job of keeping my feet cool, but I wonder if the closed toebox of the Keens represents a tradeoff – less ventilation in exchange for better toe protection.  The closed toebox also presents another potential problem – will the top edge of the toe cap rub against the top of my foot on steep trails?

Keen claims that the Clarino™ Serdia™ anti-microbial footbeds “help keep foot odor under control.”  I will report on whether the Keens eventually develop a stink  – how quickly, and after what kinds of use – or whether they manage the daunting task of keeping even my foul feet smelling decent.

Field Information: I will be using the H2’s throughout southern & central California, northern Arizona, and southern Utah.  I will be on at least one canyoneering trip in Utah this summer, and will be doing an ultralight death march (18 miles/29 km a day) along the High Sierra Trail in August.  The Grand Canyon is also a possibility in August.  The H2’s will be used on the beach, on the Pacific Ocean in a kayak, in most major S. California mountain ranges (I hope to summit the highest and third highest mountains in S. California this summer), and of course the Sierra Nevada.  They will be exposed to just about every type of soil, rock, and terrain that the southwest has to offer.  I may even try them for mountain biking.  A chance exists that they will see some backcountry action in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, as well as boating and wet-rock scrambling on Montana’s Flathead Lake.

Although most of the daytime weather I will be encountering will be hot (over 90 degrees F/32 C, sometimes well over 100 degrees F/ 38 C), in the high mountains there is a very real possibility of sub-freezing temperatures at night, as well as hail and possibly even a dusting of snow in the afternoon storms.  The H2’s will see action at elevations ranging from sea level to 14,500 feet/4420 meters.  They might be used to cross small late-season snowfields in the Sierra Nevada.  They will definitely be getting wet.

Tester Information

Reviews > Footwear > Sandals > Keen Newport H2 > Colleen Porter > Initial Report