Merrell Trail Glove Shoes

I have been wearing the Merrell Trail Glove for over a year and use them hard almost every day. I was suffering from a terrible bout of plantar fasciitis and decided to give these shoes a shot for my once a week trail run to help strengthen my foot muscles. I stopped running for 60 days and got the Trail Gloves for my 50th birthday. These shoes are now my "daily driver".
I tried 5 Fingers and sent them back after the seams ripped in the toes after only a month of light running. I had a hard time getting my toes inside the impossible "finger" slots. The novelty of looking like Spider Man wore off in less than 5 minutes. I felt more like a dork!
The Merrell's lasted a full year before I even thought of retiring them. I used them 5-6 days a week for nearly an hour a day doing the Beach Body Insanity Exercise. They worked great for all the side to side motion as well as jumping. I walk 2-3 times a week with my wife and kids and I don the Trail Gloves for the walk.
These are often incorrectly termed bare foot running shoes. Barefoot shoes are free and most people are born with a set of two. I was running "bare foot" sprints back in the 70's on grass football fields and city parks before it was cool. I started running sprints bare foot 3 times a week in the grass and carry my Merrell's in the even that I get an injury. One one recent run my feet blistered on the way to the grassy field where I run due to the heat. If you think that is bad, I also stepped on a bee and got stung! I was thankful for carrying the light weight Trail Gloves for an emergency.
The Trail Glove resembles track shoes that I raced with in the 70's & 80's. They are a welcome change to shoes that resemble Sasquatch shoes.
Here is what I don't like about the Trail Gloves
The laces always come untied unless you double lace them. Come on Merrell, give us some good laces.
If you adverse to dirt, you will not like the dirt always coming through the ventilated fabric.
I would order them again, but Back Country was selling the Merrell Trail Glove Sonic for $88. This is $5 less than the Trail Glove! The Sonic keeps the dirt out better because the fabric is tighter and water resistant. s

Best shoes I have ever owned. I will now be collecting the glove series to see which ones i like the best to suit my needs. Somehow I feel these will not be topped. Used to run in Brooks shoes...Sized down by .5..Fit perfect Although I think keeping the same size would be fine as well. HUGE toebox which is great for me cause I gotta fat splay..I use them when I weight train in the gym, for tabatas, on the tread mill, and a little bit on the roads. Cannot wait to wind sprint in the grass when the snow melts here in MT..best ever..Backcountry your cust. service is the best....If you read this whole review::good on ya'...wish i could wear them on fire.....
Update
getting used to this shoe takes a little bit when you come from a trad shoe. I found that a lot of uphill drills worked for me as you are pretty much force to run on your toes and mid foot. Used a tread mill and decreased incline until I was at 0. Helped a lot. Buy this shoe!!!

If I had to sum these up, I guess I'd say "zero drop minimalist shoe with a minimal, yet noticeable, rockplate". The fit is terrific - snug around the heel, yet with a wide toebox. The toebox actually feels much more comfortable than the Road Glove, which seems much narrower to me than the Trail Glove. I've used these for walking, road running, trail running, and running stairs. It feels most "barefoot" to me on trails. For me, the rock plate is easily noticeable when running on or even walking on hard surfaces. This serves to diminish the "barefoot" feel a great deal from my perspective. Also, when walking on a hard surface the molded arch creates a rather odd sensation - sort of like there is something underneath your foot, but not exactly. I still like them a lot and wear them also to the gym or when just running errands. Overall a very good shoe.

For all the talk on size I wear a 9 and bought a 9 and it fit just fine. The design does give extra toe room so without a sock it does feel roomy across the tops of the toes but that's by design. I got used to it pretty quick even though I prefer a heavier and tighter feel for actual trail running.
I bought and use mine to ride my non-clip-on hybrid bike and it was just what I was looking for. Thin, lightweight, breathy (for desert heat coolness of my feet), easy to get on and off, sockless, and kinda fashionable. Considering the lack of material and structure these are overpriced...but whatever.

I like hiking in these quite a bit and have a put a fair number of miles on them in addition to using them as my everyday shoes. The uppers has proven to be surprisingly durable, but the sole is wearing out surprisingly quickly. Maybe because I am using them on concrete so much. Best thing about this shoe has to be the enormous toe box. I wear a 13 normally and bought a pair in size 13. I usually size up for long backpacking and hiking, but I honestly wouldn't size up to allow for toe splay and foot swell in this shoe. I just don't think I will need it. YMMV.

I originally bought it as a trail/ water shoe, for when I take my backpack and boots off on multi-day hiking trips. They seemed like they would drain fast and dry fast, that is not the case. They don't drain, are heavy in water, and don't dry particularly fast for such a thin shoe. No worries though, because I now use them for their intended purpose, running. On trails and roads, I also use them for shorter hikes when my pack load isn't so heavy. For those uses, these are nearly perfect. 4 stars because the inside lining of my left shoe came undone a bit. Wear a liner sock.