Customer Reviews

Keen Men's Newport Sandal

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of the most comfortable shoes or sandal I have ever owned. I first saw these on some ultralight backpackers I met in 2005, and they swore by them for comfort and strong enough to climb rough terrain. For a sandal, that just blew me away. I confess I have not used them to backpack, but I have used them on rough terrain and they are outstanding and amazingly "grippy". It has little nubs on the carbon outer sole that dig into or grip everything.
SIZING: I have read that most people find that they need to buy a half size larger than they do with other shoes, and that was my experience as well.
COMFORT: Tremendous arch support. The sandal has a wide toebox so that your toes are not cramped together, and the protective toe guard is great. I never stub a toe or catch a toe on anything with these, plus I can hide my ugly toes. It also has a little rise on the rear heel that cups your heel comfortably, but helps protect you against those people that step on the back of your foot in line. The sandal feels very secure once it is on and does not slip. There are no straps to fool with or Velcro to adjust, it has an inner lining that looks like the neoprene on a scuba suit, it stretches to fit. The rear strap does not hurt your foot. It has a no lace closure and you set it once, from then on it slips on easy. The footbed cradles my foot like no shoe I have ever seen. There is a little ridge on the inner sole that runs behind the toes and then in between your big toe and other toes, it turns out to add to the comfort of the shoe immensely. That ridge forms in a short time to your foot, giving you your own custom fit. With these shoes I find i can stand longer and walk longer.
GRIP AND TRACTION: It has an anatomical outer sole that is very grippy, with a nice athletic shape, it gives good traction on sand, rock, mud, you name it. It is not slippery on wet surfaces like the dock, and the sole does not leave any marks on floors. The tread does not hold dirt in any grooves to track indoors. It is great for water use, and can be completely submerged with no damage. If it gets wet,the material that wicks the water away fast.
ODOR: It has an anti-microbial treatment that takes away any germs, I do not know how long that treatment lasts though. They do not get sweaty or smelly like my Crocs do.
DURABILITY: I got my money's worth out of them for sure. When my H2's get dirty, I throw them in the sink, under the hose, or even in the washer and they come out like new. I wore these almost daily for 4 months straight with no evidence of wear. It has now been 4 years and I still use them more than any other shoe in the summer. I hope they are still made as durable as they were when I bought mine. This includes vacation, in which I am standing in line all day at theme parks and scrambling at the beach. These come in many colors. For a dressier sandal I also like the brown Dunham Moose Fisherman (actually designed by New Balance). These sandals were good enough to get me to buy two tennis shoes from the same company in the last 4 years, an in-town shoe called Austin and an ugly hiker called the Targhee II. In the end, I just can't say enough about these shoes, I highly recommend.

Even though these shoes are a bit expensive, I have never purchased a more comfortable or durable pair of shoes. Tough as nails. I have been using mine on a daily bassis for the past 18 months. I walk atleast 5 miles a day. Still holding up perfectly except for normal wear.

I bought a pair and have not taken them off since. Easy to slip on and off these are the perfect pair for someone on the go. The unique toe guard protects your feet like no other sandal of this type. They also dry very quickly so if you spend a lot of time around water these could be the sandals for you. (Although the Newport H2's dry faster) To top it all off they feel great on my feet. Do yourself a favor and try these out you will not regret it.

If there's a few drawbacks then why not 4 or even 3 stars? Well, let me explain...

These sandals are fantastically comfortable and if you get the bison leather, they're actually stylish enough to wear out (well, stylish enough for me, anyways...some might disagree).

Comfort is a 10 out of 10, without question. Really, really nice.

Convenience is a 8 out of 10. Even with the leather ones, you can get them wet, get them muddy, jump in a lake, do whatever you feel like with them. All it takes is a spray down to get stuff off of them.

They get an 8 because of the funk factor - they need a soap every once in a while because they will get a little ripe. If your feet sweat, these sandals don't have quite enough ventilation to let it all out. The footbed is apparently anti-odor and, all-a-round, is about as good as you can get. If you have sweaty feet, you'll need to wash them, but washing them is easy. The lack of ventilation is what must be traded for the support and comfort these sandals offer. It's really not that big of a deal.

Use for hiking - well...that depends where you're hiking. Trails and rivers and things, they'd probably be 10/10. If, however, you are hiking anywhere with sand you need to leave these at home and herein lies the one flaw with the sandal: stuff that gets in the sandal does NOT get out.

This is because of the toe design which is great for, well, not hurting your toes. But when a rock gets caught in there, you've got to stop and take off the sandal to get it out. If you don't mind stopping occationally to take them off and shake them out, there are no problems.

This flaw also brings up one other minor, but possibly relevant, point to a certain demographic. If you are diabetic and are attracted to these sandals because of the toe guard, you need to look elsewhere. The toe guard is great, but if something gets caught in there, it might not be noticed and a rock in this sandal all day could do serious damage to diabetic feet.

Other than the rock thing, I couldn't ask for anything more.

With regard to the bison sandal - after they get wet a few times, the leather will start to fade a bit. If you like the color it fades to then never mind. But if you want them to look the way they did, I put some Doc Martins wonder balsam on them and got the same dark brown color they came with, no problems.

I have been blessed with feet that do not sweat much... and generally stinky shoes are not a big problem.

I got some Keen Taos sandals- my sis in law bought the newports...

Both of us have discovered... they get a distinctive fungal funk within a few times of wearing them.

Ordinary laundering does not remove the odor. I finally used an enzyme for cleaning septic taks. It diminished the odor about 85% - but still did not totally eliminate it.

WOW! I just don't know what to say about these sandals. My husband and I bought our first pair of Newport Keens in Las Vegas in June. The comfort was great but both noticed that our feet smelled bad. Well, getting home we have been wearing them. My husband wears them every day and his feet smell so bad that he has to go and wash his feet right away. My Keens would do the same, but I tend to not wear them because of the smell. My husband and I normally do not have smelly feet and it is shocking how bad the Keens make you smell. I have currantly written the Keen company to see if there is anything we can do, but it is too soon to hear back from them. I just can't stand the smelly feet but I do love the look and feel of the Keens. I probably would have never had boughten them if I would have known this. I hope this helps others and I hope Keen is aware of this problem.

This is basically the Keen Newport H2 sandal with the nylon straps but done in suede leather. Next to the H2's, this is my favorite sandal and the H2's possibly my favorite shoe ever. I slightly prefer the nylon to the suede since my Keens get heavy use and when they get dirty, you can just hose off the nylon ones and they're clean again. No fuss, no muss. But the suede ones are a little dressier and they look a bit nicer.

These Keen sandals are just worlds ahead of the competition. The protective rubber toe is very practical, and the adaptive and supportive sole (Keens were designed by a doctor who studied the foot to design them) is the most comfortable I've ever tried in a sandal, and probably in any shoe. Plus the Keen toe area is wide enough for my triple EEE foot. I'm not a super wide foot, but my feet are wide enough so that many of the other commercial shoes on the market rub just enough to be irritating, and the Keens don't do that.

The Keens have an extra thick heel which provides more arch support, too. Unlike other sandals which tend to have a flat sole that doesn't provide any support, these are more like regular shoes with arch support and a raised heel.

I wear these almost every day, even in winter, when I just wear warmer socks they're so comfortable. Every time they go on sale at REI for 20% off or so, I buy several more pairs just to make sure I have enough for the next ten years. I'm assuming that in ten years either Keen or someone else will make a better sandal, but I'm not even sure about that these are so good. If they ever do stop making these and I can't find anything as good, I know I'm going to be kicking myself that I didn't buy 20 year's worth.

Last but not least, they wear well and since I started buying them two years ago I've only worn out one pair. Overall just a great sandal and a great shoe and you can see from the other reviews here that I'm not the only one who raves about them.

I so-o wanted these to work for me as they are stylish and rugged. Unfortunately, they were too narrow for my regular 10.5 foot. (A Keen lace-up of that size fits me perfectly!) They also felt stiff regardless of how much I tried to break them in. Further, as the insole is designed for draining away water, it was not as comfortable as I would have liked for normal wear on the streets or gentle trails.

I've owned my Men's Keen Newports for over two years - three summers and now 3 days before Christmas in the third winter. Sadly I usually have to put them away for weeks at a time from January thru March, but even so I DO wear them off and on in the dead of winter. I am NOT easy on these either. I'm a pro photographer and very active in the outdoors of Washington and the Pacific Northwest. they see more than their share of salt water while kayaking and boating and climbing up and down rough terrain to "get the shot." Admittedly, when I'm not 'out there' my studio is next to my house so I wear them like slippers to "commute" across the garden and into the studio. They still look pretty good too, though I think I'll be due for an additional pair this coming summer, though I see no reason to not continue to wear these for saltwater use.

One thing I should mention though is if you wear them barefoot continually, you will need to give them a soapy soak periodically because they will begin to stink ( documented by several of my friends also). But I'll wear them with socks when it gets chilly (but not when it rains) during the fall and winter and washing is unnecessary. I'll go for the Newports again.

I just acquired my second pair of Keen Newport H2's from an Amazon seller.

I have been extremely pleased with the first pair that I have had for over 2 years. Wearing them as my primary shoes for that period and doing a lot of walking almost every day, I wore out a spot on the back of the sole, so I was ready for another pair.

The new one's however have suprised me a bit. They feel about a half size or more smaller than the old pair. My first thought was that they needed breaking in, but measurements reveal the soles to be at least 3/16's of an inch shorter and 1/8 inch narrower. (I still have the box from the original purchase, so I know that both pair are mens 9.5.)

Now the comments that I have read lately that the shoes run small, and that they take too much effort to get on are beginning to make a good deal more sense than they had based on my first purchase. My old pair was perfect, but the new one seems to have both of these shortcomings.

The shoes are still wonderful...but be careful what size you order. Rather than just ordering a half size large, I'd recommend trying on a new pair before making a purchase.