Chameleon Wrap Slam Update

I have been wearing these shoes for the best part of a month now; mainly on day walks to the local woods and on the urban walks I have been doing.

The walks range in distance for a couple of miles up to the longest which was about 6 miles. Terrain has consisted of woodland path to normal city concrete pavements.

There has been very little rain in the South over the month; so testing the shoes in the rain has been impossible, As there is no waterproof liner, I would expect the shoes to get wet in wet condition. I would allow expect them to take a while to dry out, as they are quite a well padded shoe.

Padding detail

The wrap design on the shoes help to fit the shoes better to your feet and this with the high amount of padding does help to give the shoe a boot-like feel.

Wrap detail

I found the sole to be quite stiff; just like a boot's sole; which along with the rather chunky vibram sole did give good protection on hard surfaces; although on the longer walks I did find that the stiffness and lack of flexibility did seem to make my feet ache more that normal for the distance.

In my initial report I did say that I thought the shoes where on the heavy side, after wearing them for a time, I still think this. They are heavy enough to know you are wearing them, especially when going up hills or climbing stairs.

Although the shoes are comfortable and give good foot support; I don't think they would be my 'go to' shoes for walking mainly because of the weight and the stiff sole, I have gotten so use to a light shoe and flexible sole.

I see the Merrell Chameleon Wrap Slam trainers as possibly a good shoe for somebody who wants to move away from a full boot but isn't sure that the super lightweight shoes are for them; obviously something like a Sealskin or Goretex liner would be needed, as I can't see these being quick drying.

Thanks to Adam and Fitness Footwear for the chance to test & review the shoes.