| General: I have
been using the Keen Taos almost exclusively since May and have found them
to be a very versatile, comfortable, stable shoe for all of my activities.
They are my shoe of choice for most trail walking, almost all trail
running, work, play and day-to-day. I have been extremely pleased
with these shoes and regularly find myself recommending them to complete
strangers who have noticed them on my feet. I can think of no better
praise to give any product.
There is no significant wear in any of the visible areas
of the shoe (tread, upper, bungee, reflective straps, stitching).
They no longer look new but hey, they're six months old and heavily used.
I have regularly and confidently used the Keen Taos
Sandals in heavy rain, mud and very wet conditions (paddling) and find the
grip of the shoes to be outstanding. My months of use have led me to
trust the Taos as if they were a part of my feet. With equal
regularity I have used the Taos in dry dirt footpaths, mulched running
trails, paved sidewalks, and tiled floors inside buildings. The Taos
have served admirably in all conditions.
I have noticed a loss of cushion in the footbeds, but no
increase in odor. I would like to replace the original footbeds with
the exact same but as of now, Keen does not offer footbeds for sale.
I have also noticed that the cordlock on the bungee doesn't hold fast for
as long a period of time as it did just two months ago. Neither of
these are issues so much as observations.
I do not consider the Taos to be comfortable without
socks. The only time I ever wear them in this fashion is when I'm
doing a task (getting the mail, visiting the neighbor, etc) which requires
me to put shoes on, but which will only take a few moments. I
suspect that this is less of an issue with the Taos than with me since I
feel the same way about tennis shoes and bare feet. In fact, the
only shoes I ever wear without socks are my Keen Newport H2's and a pair
of flip-flop type casual sandals.
In my two previous reports, I brought up and addressed
in some detail all of the issues I discovered in my testing of the Taos.
You can read my Initial Report by clicking here:
Taos IR . You can read my Field Report by clicking here:
Taos FR . None of the points I describe were serious enough
issues to compel me to abandon these shoes.
- I expressed skepticism about the bungee closure
system to keep my feet securely in the shoe over a long trail run.
- This has been of mixed result. The bungee and
cordlock worked quite well up until the last couple of months.
In this recent time frame, I have noticed some minor loosening of the
straps.
- I developed a small blister on one of my first
sock-free uses of the Taos.
- since I rarely wear them without socks this issue
is basically moot, but the shoes have also broken in enough that I am
no longer concerned that this might occur in the future.
- I discovered that while I normally wear a size 10.5
U.S., in the Taos, I fit comfortably into a size 10 U.S.
- No further information is available regarding this
point since I have neither purchased new shoes nor exchanged the ones
I initially received.
I would like to thank Backpack Gear Test and Keen
for the opportunity to participate in this test.
Rami Benhameda
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