Merrell  SpeedARC Matis GORE-TEX Hiking Shoes - Men's

I hike between 30 and 50 miles per week. These shoes hit hard on the ground compared to when I hiked in Hoka ATR Challenger 6 and 7. My bad experience with Challenger 7 got me to switch to Merrell. I am glad I did. I do replace the shoestrings before using the shoes, and I swish the shoes in a creek after any muddy hikes. I order and wear size 12 which works great for my size 10.5 wide feet. Energy return from the shoes seems minimal to me compared to Skechers HyperRide 8 that I wore at one time in the past. Traction of the Vibram outsoles appears quite similar to GoodYear. The EVA in the midsole shows a small amount of shredding.

Love it! Beware: Runs narrow! Amazing shoe!!! Keeps my feet dry & warm on long snow jogs & in wet grass! I have a somewhat narrow foot, this feels great with a thin sock & I know they’ll stretch a bit. Should be perfect. It has great support. I’ve never had a shoe with so much cushion & bounce! They feel so easy on the knees when I run! I recommend size up a half size esp if your foot is not narrow. If you have a wide foot, you probably do not want this shoe. I Ordered Men’s size 10. I’m 5’8” normally Men’s Size 10. I could probably do a 10.5 in this if I wanted a more roomy feel, or needed to wear thick socks.

It's a comfortable shoe with a Vibram sole. I only buy Vibram soles, but not all Vibram soles are created equal. These have good Vibram soles. In my judgement, this shoe is not designed for hiking because it will collect mud in the space between the shoe and sole and the shoestrings are designed for kids to pull. Besides the mud problem, the shoestrings can catch sticks while walking a trail. Give me the Merrell Moah for trails. This shoe is for walking on hard surfaces in a controlled environment. Thus a 4 star rating.

These are some of my favorite running/hiking shoes, but unfortunately run narrow right at the 4th-5th digit. (my feet are not wide) and I’ll have to return them. They do not make a wide version. It’s a shame, I really like them but can’t see a long hike in these without pain

Very comfortable pair of walking shoes. By that I mean road walking. When I walked trails the last day, all the spaces between traction filled up with debris like leaves, pebbles and mud. Hard to shake off, couldn't remove by walking on grassy areas. This negated all traction on both trails, roads and sidewalks. I've found very few comfortable low cut shoes in my life, and did not own any till I purchased the SpeedArc. Every low cut shoe I have ever purchased caused wounds on my heels and ankles even when professionally fit. These were comfortable out of the box. Theses shoes have substantial cushioning under foot and are very light weight. The heel area really is not padded. The first day I went for a long walk, it was fine, no irritation. Then I decided I was going to pack into the mountains and camp there overnight. I was carrying 35 lbs, I weigh 140#. Feet look great. Next day I hiked home up and down terrain. No irritation or soreness. I can live with a little less traction and dirt packed into my soles. I'm 63 years old and very active. This is the first pair of SHOES I have successfully worn since High School ! All my adult life, even at jobs, I wore boots. I even wore boots through my entire nursing career and at formal events. I would give these shoes 5/5 for comfort, lightness, ease of wearing - no bending down with a pack on your back to re-tie a shoe, no "foot fatigue" , stylish looks that were not overtly flashy, and able to be worn as regular footwear without yelling "these are for the great outdoors!". I have to give the sole of this shoe a 2/5. It picked up everything it touched -leaves mud, pebbles, sticks, bird seed, unfortunately not gold nuggets. Also, the price point is high for the quality of the shoe. Its not leather, the sole also seems fragile. It feels like the bottom of a Croc clog. I live in Alaska, so this shoe is limited to a very short season of Summer. Its June in 2 days and it still has not hit 60F in Anchorage. Time will tell. Verdict: Would I get them again? Too early to tell. If they made these in a leather hi-top, I would jump on it.

Shoe is super comfortable and I really wanted to like these, but the uppers are not that durable. The area where the inside lining meets the outside of the upper started to tear after only a couple months of use. I bought these because I thought they look cool compared to other GTX hiking shoes, but the tearing doesn’t look cool.

Hiking, dog walks, work, dinner, literally I want to be wearing these shoes for everything. Look as good as they feel. I can walk MILES in these bad boys