Freewaters  Supreem Ventana Sandals - Women's

They are cute! And soles are soft and provide a lot of cushion from rocks and hard, uneven objects. But I have a hard time keeping these shoes on my feet. I normally wear a 10 to a 10.5 in flip flops and sandals. Since half sizes weren't available but these had adjustable straps, I opted for size 11. In order to wear these sandals and keep them on my feet, I have to push my feet in until my toes are right up against the top/front of the shoe (which is easy to do- the straps nearest the toes are plenty wide) so that I can get the heel strap to close. If I don't push my toes way up, then there isn't enough velcro on the heel strap for the strap to remain closed- and even then the heel strap doesn't stay in place for long because it slides down and my heel is no longer secured in the shoe. Furthermore, I have easily an inch of sole between my heel and where the shoes ends. If the top footstraps nearest the toes were a little less wide (so my foot sat a little further back in the shoe) and the heel strap was slightly longer (or maybe adjustable via a bungee strap or something similar) these shoes would be very comfortable, would fit properly and would stay put on my feet.

The adjustable velcro strap on the back of the sandal is WAY too short. At it's widest adjustment it is still one inch shorter than the back of the sandals. I cannot wear the sandals at all without doing some major changes to the back strap. If the back strap were a little longer they would have been perfect. Perhaps in the smaller sizes (mine is size 11) the back strap is sized properly. See photo

I rarely write negative reviews about outdoor products because even if they're a little dorky, I can often see the charm or at least the usefulness of them and so I really wanted to find something to like about these sandals but between the look and the fit, I cannot recommend them. The size matched my foot but, oddly, the straps on the back were not long enough to velcro securely enough and when everything was strapped down, they were not comfortable and it felt like the velcro would come undone at any moment. Additionally, they just do not look stylish and are rather flat. They weirdly remind me of the boot you receive when you break a toe. Overall, it's a miss for me.

I was excited to try out these sandals given their light weight and cute style. However, the limited velcro patches and meet in the middle style of the heel strap did not allow it to adjust enough to fit my foot. If the heel strap was in place, my toes were too far forward. I am on the large end of my shoe size, but I felt like the problem would affect others. I did try the sandals with no heel strap and they were very comfortable, although I have questions about the durability of the sole. Could be a great beach sandal or for getting on the river to SUP.

FYI for those of you who thought maybe the backstrap would be long enough in smaller sized sandals: it's not! I bought a size 5, 36 EU, and the strap is definitely too short. What a colossal design flaw. I don't know why REI continues to sell this model, even as a closeout. The sandals are completely unusable.

I'm normally a forgiving reviewer, but I just cant be that way with these sandals. I'm disappointed that Freewaters would sell them with the major flaw that the other reviewers and I have discovered. I, like many reviewers before me with the size 11 sandals, cannot get my foot to sit properly in the sandal due to the back Velcro strap. If I want the strap to be secure, my foot has to be pushed forward with my toes at the edge of the sandal. If I want my foot to sit properly in the foot bed, the Velcro is barely attached in the back and pops off in a few steps. If I had to guess, the back strap is the same size for all the sandal sizes and it is too small to work for the larger sizes. Yes, the sandals are also designed to be worn without the back strap, but I cant make the top strap Velcro secure enough either. The attachment of the forefoot straps gets in the way and the sandals are too loose to walk in! My foot is too big to be worn with the back Velcro strap, but then too small to be worn without it. Ugh.

I wanted to like these. They look nice, they fit well from the arch forward, but like others said, the back strap is a fatal flaw! I could wear these one of two ways: have the back strap slide down and eventually under my foot, causing these to fit like flip-flops, or run my foot too far forward in the sandal and wrench the back strap so tight my feet fell asleep. No matter what, that back strap just wouldn't work. Returned to REI.

These sandals have the most comfortable footbed of any sandals I own (which is a lot). I can wear them all day, including for 2+ mile walks, without any pain in my soles or arches at the end of the day. The back strap slips to the bottom of my heel, but the sandals stay on without it.

Very comfortable sandal with great grip for walking down trails, roads, boat ramps. Nice ergonomic footbed for my flat feet and stylish enough to be able to wear during and post-paddling. I like the adjustable ankle and heel straps for loss-prevention when going through higher Class rapids (in the event of a flip). Looking forward to using these on upcoming Main Salmon trip in July!

I was really looking forward to the shoes, unfortunately when I put them on I had to open the heel Velcro closure as much as possible to get my heel to fit so my toes weren’t sticking on the end I’m typically a normal size 11 and these were definitely not big enough for me.