Customer Reviews Merrell Bravada

This is a really cute shoe in the Erica Peacock color; however it looked HUGE on my foot-like clown shoe huge. I could see that taking it out of the box it looked big but it was really pronounced once I put it on. I ordered the same size but a narrower width than what I wear in athletic shoes and, based on the fit, I don't think i could have worn a smaller size. There is a nice wide toe box, the width was fine; I usually order W if available in athletic shoes, mostly to get a wider toe box but this shoe was plenty wide in M). I have low arches and therefore tend to overpronate. This shoe did not have significant arch support and little to no pronation control that i could tell. Even in shoes with strong arch support i usually put in my own orthotics but wanted to share that information for those for whom arch support might be a salient feature. It also feels like the shoes sits lower in the heel than the rest of the shoe, which might bother some people. I would probably have kept the shoe and put my own orthotics in if it had not looked garishly large on my foot.

I don't have wide feet, but these shoes still felt too narrow. I could feel the seam between the flat part of the arch that connects to the side of the shoe. It almost felt like I was stepping on the sides of my shoe. Nice style, but very uncomfortable.

Before ordering I read another review that referred to these as looking like big clown shoes. I thought surely that was an exaggeration, but no, these shoes are really oddly sized in terms of the outer appearance. They are comfortable, and I am undecided about keeping them and I think I will be self conscious every time I wear them. I ordered a very similar shoe from a competing brand at the same time, also size 8, and side by side there is a huge difference in how they look. The Merrells look huge compared to the other shoe despite being such similar styles. As a shorter person, these look very disproportionate but that might be less of an issue if you are tall.

This is a great shoe for walking/hiking. They were perfect right out of the box. I broke them in on a 4 mile hike this afternoon. Great support and foot bed. Enough room in the toe box for my wide toes without too much length so that they rubbed. I saw in some reviews that there were complaints about being high around the ankles. For me, this provided support but never rubbed. I would typically wear an 8.5 but have been going up to a 9 for athletic shoes or boots.

Cute shoe. Unfortunately runs quite long. Also felt like my heel was lower than the ball of my foot. Cute shoe though. Too bad my feet need a perfect fit.

I really wanted to love these shoes, and they felt good out of the box. But the problem is the tongue is actually attached to the inside sole of the shoe. Once worn for any amount of time it becomes super uncomfortable as it doesn't allow the natural movement of the shoe. I actually had bruising along the top part of my foot, opposite of my arch. I feel like this is a poor design choice. I buy Merrell's every year and will stick with the ol' favorites.

Fit and style are adequate, no problems. Merrrell markets this product as 1/2 athletic shoe, 1/2 trail shoe. It’s a great product, but don’t get sucked in by the 1/2 athletic shoe fit.jena

Usually Merrells fit me right out of the box. These were just too tight. A very attractive shoe but I had to send them back.

The reason why this shoe looks like a clown shoe on the foot is that the sole of the shoe extends out beyond the rest of the shoe. While it makes the overall shoe size look quite large, this added width in the sole lends stability. That, along with amazing grip, will make these great hiking shoes. Can’t wait to get out there in them.