ChacoMen's Lowdown Slide Sandal

I came across these when Amazon had a super sale price on them. I needed to replace my old, falling-apart slide in sandals. Other sandals I tried as replacement either caused blisters over the toe area or I stepped out of them while walking. I had heard good things about Chaco sandals. These are comfortable to wear. Once you get the hang of adjusting the straps—not too tight—they stay put. I especially like the footbed. There is some arch support and there feels like almost zero drop from heel to toe, making these much more like a natural fit “barefoot” shoe, like I wear for running. The sole is thick enough so that you don’t feel rocks, etc. It appears to be fused to the footbed in such a way that I’m hopeful the soles won’t separate from the footbed like two pairs of famous-brand sandals did. The black straps and footbed go with anything, and their simple design appeals to me.

I was looking for a sandal that was slip-on, waterproof, comfortable, and durable. I wanted to be able to walk for a long time in them and also wear them when swimming in a lake. I previously had the EVA Birkentstock sandal which was everything I needed but not durable and they got holes after 3 years.These Chacos will clearly last a lot longer than 3 years which makes me happy from a sustainability and economic perspective. They take a little time to break in and get comfortable, but they do feel good now. For whatever reason I tried another pair of the exact same sandal in a different color and they were super uncomfortable and kept coming off my foot when I walked. But these stay on firmly with the straps firm but loose around my foot. I like these a lot.

Just wanted to set the record straight here because the mixed reviews on these sandals were almost enough for me to not try them.I typically wear a Men's 8 sneaker, sometimes 7.5 or 8.5 if the brand has sizing considerations like that. I am a perfect 7 in these. So I imagine for most people you'll want to size down.I'm not usually a "slides" guy because I hate the sensation of having to scrunch my toes to keep the things on my feet. But I need sandals for a resort vacation where I didn't want to be loosening and tightening straps every time I got out of a pool.I am happy to report that these are not only extremely comfortable, but stay on your feet well if you adjust them right. I walked probably 3 miles in them when they arrived and never once felt like they were falling off. As other reviewers mentioned, the key is to actually keep them fairly loose. I probably only had an inch of slack at the buckle. This allows your in-step to lift up against the straps when you walk rather than just push into them causing your foot to slip out.Seriously, I futzed with the straps for all of 10 seconds and found the sweet spot. Later in the day I tried tightening them down snug and experienced what everyone else did where my foot felt like it was slowly creeping its way out.In short though — keep the straps loose and these are a great hands-free slide and plenty comfortable for walking around in. I plan on living in these on vacation and expect to even take them on some non-technical hikes without issues.

I'm sure that for most people this product will at least be okay. But I'm disappointed with the fit, I'm disappointed with the shoe itself and the branding surrounding this shoe.For context. I walk around barefoot more than I wear shoes if I'm not at work. Outdoors, on gravel, mud, sand, grass, everything. I wanted these as something I could slip on for when it's cold or if I needed to run in the store but yet, they are harder to "slip on" than my bedrock sandals.Once you get the straps tightened correctly to be relatively secure, it's difficult to be able to slip them on/off. You can loosen them a lot but then then they are constantly falling off my feet, and even with the straps tightened I still found them falling off my feet as I walked around.I find it to be kind of a misrepresentation of the product for chaco to consider this their "low down" "thinnest" model but yet are still about as thick as my work boots.A sandal should not be as thick as boot. Maybe people like that, and if you do, more power to you. But I do not.The arch support is also obnoxiously intrusive while wearing the shoe. Feel like I'm standing on the corner of a rock the entire time I wear them.I really don't like the popularity of obnoxiously thick sandals in our era, and these are no exception yet ironically marketed as a lower thinner sandal. I can't imagine what normal chacos would be like wearing. Rubber clob stompers that at least let water out?With my rant out the way, I know the general public wouldnt find some of the same critiques I have, however take my comment as a different perspective.The only thing positive I can really say is the style is decent and the foot bed is soft and relatively comfortable aside from the arch support acting like a rock under the sole.I'll definitely be going back to my bedrocks even in circumstances I want a slip on shoe.I'm leaving this at 3 stars cause I know my use case isn't everyone's. But for me personally these are a 0 stars.

Good for the price but straps don't tighten enough for my feet unlike regular Chaco sandals.