Customer Reviews Vivobarefoot Stealth II

After a couple/few years away from barefoot/minimalist shoes, I decided to go back with the Stealth II, and liking the initial fit, I wore them for the first time on a cross-country travel day, through three airports: a whole bunch of walking, a little bit of gate-to-gate sprinting (everyone's favorite crowded-airport activity) and over twenty hours of door-to-door travel time. That's a huge test for any pair of shoes and these were just awesome! Secure on my foot the whole way but always roomy, flexible, comfortable. Normally after a travel day even half that long I'd be counting the seconds until I could get my shoes the heck off my feet, but the Stealth II's wide toe-box and superior ventilation left my feet feeling great even after all that! PS. Hey Zappos product managers, have you noticed that your "fit survey" assumes that all of us want to mummify our feet in squishy rubber all the time? The input scale goes "no arch support" to "excellent arch support" and the display goes "poor support" to "great support". On that scale, I'll take "poor" over "excellent" any day! How about a scale that goes "excellent contact with ground and room to flex" to "all bound up in a cocoon of petrochemicals preventing ground contact and foot flex"? Or more seriously, how about leaving the assumptions of preference out and stick with descriptives like less/moderate/more support...

Great shoes. Amazing reflective material in black! Way too wide for my feet (I fit Asics and Kenneth Cole). Super low to the road: raw, minimalist. Low cut collar, so you need the bones to fill it!

Excellent barefoot shoes. I have extra wide feet (11 4E), so I purchased size 12. They have enough room for my toes to spread out a bit. Soles are thin, as I wanted, and seem to give me enough traction for road/gym use. As true barefoot shoes, they have no arch support, which is desirable. I'll be using these mainly for workouts, although it looks like they'll also work fine as water shoes. The uppers provide plenty of ventilation, and seem to be well constructed. I compared these against New Balance Minimus (too narrow), Merrell Trail Gloves (too narrow), Merrell Vapor Gloves (too floppy), and Xero Prio (too loose). I recently had knee surgery, and I showed them to my physical therapist, who will probably be buying some for himself.

Love these shoes. Fairly addictive once you start getting into barefoot shoes, but very comfortable. They have a nice wide toe box which is awesome for my wide feet. I have tried other Vivos that were sized a bit funky, but these were straight forward. Not sure what the deal is with the others, but I'm still really impressed with these and have had them for a while. Mesh top worried me a little, but it's very resilient and they stay inexplicably clean for what I put them through. I think the toe cap will go before anything.

Fit great. Insole a little rough. Go without. Over priced for minimal shoes

just needed a smaller size false advertisement .

Great shoes for the barefoot experience. Wide toe box and very flexible sole. Good ground feel through the sole. A couple of notes on the color. The rubber components are reflective and go from black to a gunmetal depending on the light. Under the black mesh fabric visible in the stock photos is red metallic fabric. The red that comes through in the right light. This isn’t clearly visible in the stock photos of the shoe so I show it in the photo I attached.

These are my first pair of Vivobarefoot shoes and I was very happy with them. These are the widest, flattest, and have largest toe box I have ever seen on a pair of closed-toe shoes. They are as close as you can get to Vibram Fivefingers in a shoe. I have not tried on another pair of Vivos to compare, but I assume these are all great shoes. Very hard to find in the right size is the problem. So much demand. For sizing, I wear EU 43 in Fivefingers and wear a 44 in these and a 44 in most other shoes. They come with an insole and can be worn with or without it. With it, it adds more padding of course and sizes the shoe a little more tightly. I am not sure if I like them with or without the insole. These are for the pure minimalist, as in Fiverfingers minimal. I have other minimal shoes that have MUCH more padding than these. These are the minimalist standard for athletic shoes.

Super comfortable. Did need to return first pair which were too large. Something funky going on with size chart with US vs Metric sizes. If you like the barefoot experience, these are great. Look good too.

The size and fit were perfect but the sole was not staying in place and every 5 minutes would need to be adjusted, otherwise, it would climb over the heel. I ended up removing the sole completely but walking with only 1mm rubber sock between the surface of the ground and my foot was not pleasant on hard surfaces. I used these shoes in 5 festivals, over 100 miles of hikes on all kinds of surfaces, 3 islands of hawaii, lava rock, beaches, how stones on which my adidas sandals melted, but these bad boys were indestructible. I washed them dozens of times and they look barely used. I've never seen a shoe this durable and lasting. I would love to try them with a sole that works as designed. But even without it, it became my favorite shoe and I've recomended many friends to get this shoe, too.

I really, really, wanted to like these. I tried them on, walked around indoors for about three days on and off. Ultimately I didn't keep them. They are a great looking pair of shoes, no doubt. My wife immediately commented on them when she saw them (positively). Although they are black, the front toe trim, and heel trim seem to have some sort of reflective compound on them. Subtle, but nice for visibility when running. Fairly comfortable too, both with and without inserts. Unfortunately, the toe box was not wide enough. I own a pair of the Vivobarefoot Scott boots, and expected a similar feel and fit at the bottom. Strangely enough, I felt slightly less feel, and a narrower toe box than the boot. However, it was the toe box that I couldn't get past. I have a similar to the problem with the NB Minimus where I don't feel my foot is completely flat. I happened to try on my Vibram Five Fingers to exercise again the day I got these (it had been months since I'd used them), and realized how much better it felt to workout when I could spread out my toes. I'm typically an 8.5 Men's EE, with an average arch. I think if a wider version of these were made, I'd give them a shout. Someone with a narrow foot (or narrower than mine) will definitely enjoy these, unfortunately I'll have to miss out. Personally, I'd give them a try, and return them if you're foot is too wide.

PROS: Lightweight, breathable, zero drop heel. CONS: Outsole perhaps slightly too thin for my taste. Red styling on the outer collar and inside of shoe is distracting, would prefer a cleaner all-black look.

Left shoe was at least a half size smaller than the right. The left shoe had a totally different shape at the toe compared to the right. Second pair I ordered in same size was better. Ratings are for second pair.

My fourth pair of Vivobarefoot. Love the styles and immediate comfort. No arch support though.

I am passionate about minimalist shoes, specially the ones with a thin sole, because they let you establish a connection with the ground that lets you "see" with your feet. That's how I became a loyal buyer of Vivobarefoot shoes. I was forced to buy a new pair because my old Vivobarefoot Stealth were worn out and the sole was giving up. Those shoes held up for about 4 years! If you look at them, the upper looks perfectly file. The heel sole was worn out and the interior lining had a hole - I wore them every day! This model became available in my size and, as soon as I could, I bought it. To my dismay, it is nothing like the old shoe I once got. This version uses new materials for the front guard and the edge of the laces area is coated with some plastic material. When I tie my shoes, the plastic peels off. You can see white patches coming from behind the laces which ruin the look of the shoe. This shoe has been barely used. My older pair, as mentioned, doesn't present this problem. The guard in front of the shoe seems to present a similar problem. These shoes feel cramped in the toe box and my pink gets squeezed. It feels as if Vivobarefoot decided to give the toe box a sharper curve than before. Compared to my old Stealths, these shoes had a narrower toe box. I need a wide toe box because I have wide feet in the front and my toes are long. The toe box also feels much less flexible than before. The insoles that came with it are of terrible quality. They are already deeply deformed in the front and the shoe is only like 2 months old and has not been used as extensively as the older pair it's replacing. This cheaply made insole is causing front foot pain because now the shoe is no longer zero drop. The foot is dropping at least 3 mm in the front. Along with the now much more cramped and less flexible toe box, the shoe is not a good option for people seeking for a natural and anatomically correct fit for their foot. Sadness. Vivobarefoot used to be a great brand for minimalist shoes; however, both the quality of their product and the anatomically correct fit have decreased significantly. Vivobarefoot used to be the only brand that truly offered a great barefoot feel with the protection of a solid upper and a good sole. I am now in the search for a new brand that caters to these essential minimalist requirements. If you are going to sell $100+ shoes, make sure you build them like $100+ shoes. I do not longer recommend Vivobarefoot as a minimalist brand. Expensive shoes with poor fit and terrible quality. This shoe is not worth more then $30. I can only compare them to the Teslas sold on Amazon that are like $26 and may last longer and look better.