Customer Reviews Merrell Chameleon 7 Stretch

This may be a good shoe in general, but the lace-locking system rendered the shoe unusable. Not only was the lace-locking system difficult to use, but the overall elasticity made it inadequately secure for trail hiking.

I want to love these shoes, but there are two major shortcomings. I travel extensively (200 days/50+ countries per year) and spend an inordinate amount of time on planes and at airports and walking around cities. These shoes are comfortable, easy on/off, durable, and good looking. Now for the 2 major issues: ventilation is bad. Regardless of what kind of socks I wear, my feet are sweating after 15 mins of walking. Obviously this means that they STINK. I spray them with a deodorant spray every night, but it barely helps. Sometimes I wear shoes for 24+ hours at a time. So this is NOT the pair to do that in. Issue #2 is that after about a week, BOTH shoes started making a squeaking sound with every step. I’m pretty sure this is related directly to the sweating, or to the degradation of the heel cup due to the deodorant spray. The damn things make it sound like I’m being followed by quacking ducks wherever I walk. So, essentially these shoes cause me to stink and sound like I’m being pursued by ducklings. Not ideal.

This is more of an 'initial impression' of the new Chameleon 7 Stretch. I've owned the Boulder color variant for about 48 hours so far and have worn them around the house for the most part and one quick trip to the office. For starters, I wear a 14 in size and am the standard D width. I've owned three of the older variations of the Chameleon Stretch and have mostly enjoyed them all. I've had one problem with the past models and that is the fact that the heel cup usually finds a way to cut through the interior fabric of the shoe and becomes somewhat bent and uncomfortable over time. I'm sure this is due to the nature of having to slide the Stretch Chameleon shoe onto the foot, whereas, the materials just simply break down due to the abuse. This problem seems pretty rectified in this new 7 variation. I say that initially because the shoe seems much easier to slide on than the older ones. This entire shoe seems re-designed from the ground up. It's a HUGE welcome back to the Vibram outer sole and tread on this shoe. I hated that they did away with Vibram on the last model of the Chameleon and used a lesser material. In my former shoes, the grip was noticably worse than what I've seen so far from these new 7's. The footbed and arch support is very comfortable and seems to hug the foot. I feel more supported through the heel and arch than in the older models. While it feels like this new model also has a roomy-er toe box up front. Enjoying the updated style too. Hopefully more color options come to the Stretch non-waterproof version. I have no need for waterproofing in these shoes and much prefer the breathability over the Gore-Tex version. Overall, it seems Merrell did great work on the new version of this shoe. If it holds up over the next few months of daily wear, I'll buy another pair for sure.

I wrote a POSITIVE review on the revamped Chameleon 7 Stretch in June 2018. I was so impressed that I had purchased two pairs: one brown and one grey. I have worn the grey pair a lot more than the brown and recently noticed that some of the "knobs" on the Vibram sole are tearing out. And just 6 months after the Zappo's warranty. Cannot tell if it is a defective shoe or a generic problem with new sole. Come on Merrell, or maybe Vibram, you have to do better. Customers want durable products! See photo: upper left corner and bottom right corner.

Size is perfect. The "bungee" lacing takes time to adjust.

I have been wearing various versions of the Merrell Chameleon Stretch for at least five years now, maybe more. Somewhere around version 5 they changed it significantly to have less arch support and a less durable toe design. I am happy to say that version 7 is much improved. The arch support is good for me, the comfort is great and I like that the rubber sole (once again Vibram) comes up over the toe farther so that it has much less tendency to catch on things. I ordered two pairs.

My husband really likes these. He's had 4 pairs of the Chameleon's and says these fit more like the older styles, which he preferred. He likes being able to slip them on and off, especially at the airport. And they hold up pretty well; he's super rough on his shoes. Would definitely recommend these!

I discovered my first Chameleon Stretch maybe 15 years or so ago at REI. I went through two pairs, the 1 and the 2 Stretch versions. I always like to keep two pairs going at the same time. Both came in a nice taupe color, had Vibram soles, were good looking, fit well and the no lace system was great. Both the top and the soles of that generation lasted a long time, taking a lot of abuse. In 2011 I got the 3 Stretch version in Black. Merrell had redesigned the shoe by adding lateral plastic external ankle support. The sole was still Vibram but this one started to wear off a lot faster than the 1 and 2 Stretch. The shoe was also more "bulky" looking and not as comfortable. The following year, Merrell went back to the original design, without the plastic ankle support. This was the 4 Stretch which I got in grey. This version was nicer looking than the 3 and fit better. However, both the top of the shoe and sole did not hold up very long. Then I looked at the 5 and 6 Stretch over subsequent years and RETURNED them both times because of poor fit, poor looks and the fact that Merrell changed the soles to some generic version. Being an optimist, this year I tried the 7 Stretch. Just from the photo I could tell that Merrell had reworked the shoe for the BETTER. It does have the plastic ankle support but this time it supports the sides and the back of the ankle. The shoe looks less bulky, fits well and reminded me of the original ones. So much so that I got two pairs, the grey and the brown. Very happy with them so far. Will see how they hold up with time. Strongly recommend this shoe for lite hiking, lite construction or projects around the house. The great advantage of the shoe as that you can take them off and on without having to deal with shoe laces. Both the grey and the brown colors look great and weather well, the black less so. The only criticism that I have with the current version is that the little loop in the back of the ankle, that is needed to slip the shoe in and out is a bit small and made out of fabric not as sturdy as older models. Hope this helps and good luck trecking!

The Merrell Chameleon is back! They brought back the Vibram sole and the missing 'x' factor from the previous iteration is back in play! Supportive, comfortable, and durable feeling, my favorite casual shoe is back to 100%!

I have had multiple versions of the Chameleon. The 1,2, and 4. Loved the ones and 4's ( I purchased 3 pair). The 4's broke down much faster than 1's, but I did get a year out of each and I'm pretty rough on them. the 2's were too narrow. With this version The quality seems to be there, everything about them felt comfortable except they have added a rigid plastic bumper to the outside of the heel. It is too narrow for me and felt like a claw gripping at my heel. I was tempted to try to blow it out with my heat gun like a pair of ski boots, but for $130 sneakers, I didn't want to risk it.

To get straight to the point, these shoes don't let your feet breathe at all. I've had them for a week or so. They look and feel nice (but not 130 dollars nice) and are clearly well made, but they just don't let air in to my feet. It is hard to be comfortable throughout the day when you smell something terrible and then realize its your own shoes. While wearing them my feet will get hot and sweat, and the shoes smell like garbage as a result. Note that I am not doing excessive exercise in adverse temperatures, I have simply been wearing them at work where I rarely come close to sweating. You would think a shoe that is meant for long hikes and extensive outdoor experiences would stand up to a few very mild workdays. I have had full on leather and suede shoes that I have sweated in excessively and they never smelled this bad even after YEARS. Like I said, I have never had this problem before and am considerably disappointed as these are grossly expensive shoes by my standards and the brand has a great reputation. I will not consider buying Merrells again.

bought the chameleon for my husband several times before (at Zappos) but Merrell must have changed the style. it was called chameleon prime stretch before...this style, the 7 stretch doesn't fit as well.

I used to be a big fan of Merrell shoes and bought pair after pair as I wore them completely out hiking through 4 continents. I almost always wear a size 11.5 including the Merrills that I used to wear every day. Recently though I've had trouble finding a pair that fits or is comfortable. I was looking forward to the Chameleon 7 because, as other reviewers have noted, it seemed to represent a return by Merrell to their previous quality materials. So I ordered my usual size 11.5 and it was just too small. I then ordered a size 12 and found it still to be tight plus the toe box is just not comfortable. It seems that Merrell is trying to copy the Keen-style bulbous rubber toe but they haven't gotten it right. I also noticed that the collar/top line of the shoe rubbed uncomfortably against my ankle bone and that the toggle lace tightened easily but was difficult to loosen. Merrell does not make a size 12.5 so rather than roll the dice on a size 13, I'm reluctantly giving up on them. I will add that I've found that ECCO shoes have very consistent sizing across all their models.