Sensori Venture by Xero Shoes, the drawing winner's test.

Hi, I'm Mike, and I had the wonderful fortune of winning the drawing that closed on the 14th of March. Here it is not two weeks later, and I have the shoes on my feet. First thing to be pleased about is how quickly the shoes arrive in the mail. Well, no. The first thing to be pleased about is the rapid communication I got making sure I was getting the right shoes and getting them sent. Great customer service!
I see there is already a thread for reviews of the Sensori Venture sandals, but what I aim to do here is a little different. Part of the terms of the contest is to try the shoes for a couple weeks to a month and report and review them then. What I propose to do is to keep sort of a video log with continuing reports on You Tube, beginning with the following, for the unwrapping and first donning.

I worry a little that I may not be the best guy to review these shoes. As to bare foot running, I am the least of dabblers. I only once did a running/walking mile, and only a slow trot down to the mailbox and back. These exercises are the most I have done in years, if not ever. I recently went, without exercise, from 373# to 185#, and suddenly found a lot more things possible, even with a disk bulging out suddenly into my spinal cord a year and a half ago. I am 46 years old, and even with the funky back in better shape than ever before. But I'm not really a runner. Still I will do what I can, and perhaps be able to give a little information that will help.

Happy running!
 
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Still trying out the shoes, still liking them.
The only problem I am having is that the heel straps keep falling down. I think I have them a little too loose. Also not sure whether I like barefoot or these for driving better. The feet are not used to the shoes, particularly the toe string, yet so I am feeling some stress there. The toe string is a kind of rubber material, which is fairly stretchy. I am not sure I like that part. It is only day four, and I plan on going through the month with ongoing reports.
 
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Still trying out the shoes, still liking them.
The only problem I am having is that the heel straps keep falling down. I think I have them a little too loose. Also not sure whether I like barefoot or these for driving better. The feet are not used to the shoes, particularly the toe string, yet so I am feeling some stress there. The toe string is a kind of rubber material, which is fairly stretchy. I am not sure I like that part. It is only day four, and I plan on going through the month with ongoing reports.
You are brave video recording your feet while riding the bike. I can't multitask like that very well and I would likely crash.
 
Short text only update. I find the Xero Shoes are great on rocks and gravel. I had occasion to walk over a sharp gravel parking area and was pleased with not feeling every point and edge. I find that there are a couple of weak places, though, when it comes to driving and carpets. They like to get between the pedals of the car if I do not take care, and they are not well suited to the odd way feet rest on the floor of the car with the heels on the floor and the ball on the pedals. On carpet, there is an occasional tendency to catch and fold under if I shuffle at all while changing direction. The carpet catching is common to any sandal I have ever tried, and even the best of the foot coffins is badly suited to car controls over long hauls, a weakness perhaps more in the cars' designs than in the shoes or even bare feet.
 
I've found that over time, my Luna sandals start molding to my feet which stops the carpet problems or any other hanging up issues. Not sure about those sandals you have by Xero though if they mold to your feet or not. My one and only Xero (invisible shoe actually) did not, but that was a model from 2 years ago so things may have changed.
 
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A brief update on the shoes.
They continue to get more comfortable as my feet get used to them. In warm weather they are great, and while I do prefer bare feet on newer concrete or grass lawn, or even my weedy lawn, they make any other surface much more comfortable to walk or run on. I find that I have to be a lot more conscious of my form when wearing them or they snag on the ground and flip under or go sideways. This is not quite as pleasant as just going around in bare feet. On the plus side, they are a topic of ice breaking conversation, especially to another guy in original Xero Shoes.

Third week conclusion: Still pretty good. I will definitely be in these more than in my "real" shoes.
 
So I watched your video, and they honestly look like they might be a touch too big on you and they also looked like you may have had the laces too loose. It looked like the front was hanging down off your foot which is a classic sign of them being too loose, so you may need to tighten them up slightly.
 
I've been wearing mine here and there to walk around in.
In the last few days, the straps on my favs (wokova feathers) broke and I tried a little running in the xero sensori yada yadas.
Rubbing between my toes from a crease in the rubber. straps hard to adjust (they don't like to stay on, then if I tighten them, they feel too tight and my foot gets pushed forward to the ouchie rubber toe strap)
Gotta dig up my old xeroes and relace them. Where oh where did I put those soles?
 
Yeah, I had all of those issues. I don't think the rubber toe strap is as good an idea as it was supposed to be, but the feet get kind of used to the squished feeling after a while. They do have to be rather tight to work right, I guess. The next couple of days (one hot and one much cooler) I will try to shoot a final vid about the shoes and my experience with them. I have been more likely this past week to choose my wool socks and church shoes (my only decent shoes in any good repair) over the sandals, so I have not been wearing them only for the whole month as I thought I might. My feet were cold.
 
Almost a couple of months later and I am still enjoying the sandals.
They hold up very nicely and are very handy to throw under the van's driver's seat so I can take them into the store or leave them alone as the mood strikes me. I'm not an activist, so I'm not trying to push too many boundaries, and it helps when I go out looking nice, but all that aside, I generally feel better about going into the grocery store or the movie house with them on (because of broken glass in the first case and "ew" in the second).
I do not do very much in the way of running, but I do walk about the neighborhood a bit. Only in certain circumstances do the sandals go sideways or catch on the ground, usually in tall grass shag carpet or wet conditions.
 
Just another opinion on this shoe: I bought the Sensori Venture as well as the Contact and Connect DIY kits, which I have owned for a longer time. I found the Sensori Venture OK for walking, but really disliked the heel cup that has been added to this model during running. The heel cup is quite heavy relative to the rest of the shoe, and the heel tends to drag the posterior part of the sole down, which made the sole slap much more compared to the Contact and Connect shoes.

I think this is a great sandal for walking, but not for running. For experienced barefoot runners, I would clearly recommend the Contact or Connect DYI kits over the Sensori Venture. They are just great, and the DYI part is easily done and well documented including videos etc. on the Xeroshoes website. If in doubt, just buy all of these and try them out, they really are not expensive at all, and will hold up forever.

Regards,

Christian