Anyone have any experience with Zemgears Terra shoes?

[NickW]

It's my birthday this week and I will have some birthday money to blow and I seem to be having some problems with my sandals causing numb spots between the big toe and next one to it. I am wanting something thin and glove like, but not with all the annoying (painful) toes like the vff's. It is getting on into fall finally and soon it will be winter and I may want the extra little warmth for the winter miles. Not too mention also for days when I need to rest my feet, like right now I have a cut on the bottom of one foot. Any feedback about your experience with them is greatly appreciated.

(Oh, and p.s., I read a review online that said the Terras are wider than the earlier models so hoping they might fit my ex wide feet a little better.)

 

[dutchie53]

Buy beer, who needs shoes.

 

[NickW]

I already spend a fair amount on beer , anymore than that and my wife will be unhappy and start accusing me of being a drunk... Probably better I find something useful to spend the money on, like the shorty shorts I am going to buy, the new Seahawks jersey, and some cheap (at least when compared to other minshoes) pair of shoes.

 

[bf in az]

You should also take a look at the Soft Star Moc3: http://www.softstarshoes.com/adult-shoes/runamoc/moc3-runamoc.html.

 

[NickW]

You should also take a look at the Soft Star Moc3: http://www.softstarshoes.com/adult-shoes/runamoc/moc3-runamoc.html.

I've had a ton of folks recommend softstar to me. I like that they are local for me, but they are pretty ugly which is the ONLY thing keeping me from ordering from them. I do like that they can help make sure a shoe fits for me and my funky wide feet as they can have me measure in numerous areas of my foot to make sure they make the shoe correctly for my foot. They are definitely on my list, but they are on the higher end of the short list...

 

[bf in az]

They do seem to look a little better in person than they do on the website, I've found.

 

[NickW]

Well.... I saw Jansons in person and I still thought they were ugly, but, and this is a huge but, I just saw on their site that some of the shoes you can get a 2mm road sole. That has me just about sold right there...

 

[NickW]

Ok, so I just ordered a pair of the Zemgear Terras. According to my confirmation email they should be here between Friday and Tuesday, so I guess I'll let you all know what I think of them. They are cheaper and quicker to receive is why I went with them, besides the fact that they look slightly better in my opinion. I figure if I don't like them Amazon is really easy to deal with on returns so I can just return them and order a pair of the Softstars after all. Another deciding factor for me is that my measurements for my feet are right at the very limit of the Moc3's width-wise, meaning they might be really tight for me, and I read a review somewhere about how a guy has 2x-3x width feet and he fit in the Zemgear Terras perfectly. Guess we'll see.

 

[Barefooting Bob]

Let me know how those work out for you Nick, I used to be one of the Canadian reps for that product and I was not very happy with them at the end, nor the Canadian distributor. The product was just falling apart way to quickly. I was taking more back then selling, which is not a good sign. I also used to use them as one of my winter running shoes, but last year they were not so good. Hopefully you have a better experience with them.

 

[NickW]

Bob was yours the 360, O2, or the earlier versions? Or were they actually the Terras? I know I saw lots of complaints regarding the 360 and O2 and the pods coming off the foot. I have not seen that complaint once with the Terras in any review I can find. Hope the problem is fixed with these.... That was definitely a consideration for me though when I decided to give them a try.

 

[fjp]

I love Sole Runners, especially the FX Trainer II for my wide feet. They have a 1.5 mm sole, are extremely light and have some snug and comfortable upper material, easy to wear without socks and no blisters whatsoever (which I get in Zemgear and Fivefingers when I don't wear socks). Unfortunately, only available in Europe, but maybe they ship international: http://www.sole-runner.com/

Frank

 

[Barefooting Bob]

My experiences were with the 360's and 02's but I did also get a prototype Terra set which had the same problem. I do hope they got that sorted out.

 

[BFwillie_g]

It was the quality issues at ZEM's FB page that stopped me looking at them. But I'm anxious for Nick's review of his Terra's! I also think they "look" cool, and that they seem like the perfect answer for all this, not the least of which being the lower than average price.

I had a pair of used (but like new) Sole Runners sent to me to try out. They were great, but a little too short, even though the sizing charts said they should have been perfect for me. A size up and I think they would have been real keepers. There was good forefoot room, nice upper and the overall build-quality was above average.

Also, although maybe this shouldn't matter but it does to me anyway, they're not made in China.

 

[NickW]

It does matter Willie.

I was really nervous about ordering these, I hate ordering shoes online. I mean I really really hate ordering shoes online. Unfortunately, of the 3 different shoes I had been looking at (Terras, Moc3, Runamoc Original Lite) none are sold locally for me to try on. I guess I could take a road trip and drive with my son the couple hours down to where softstar is located, and then drive the couple hours backs, but then that makes their normal nearly a hundred dollars price closer to 150, then if I add in food it goes up even more. Then if they don't fit, that's lost money... I really hope that Zems have fixed their quality control issues too. That was why I did not purchase their 360's a year a go when I was looking into them.

I've actually been thinking about getting a moccasin kit and building my own. I've got some left over rubber from my homemade huaraches that's about 2mm thick that I could glue and sew to the bottom for the sole. I may just do that anyways, just to see how it would turn out.

 

[NickW]

Well Bob, I got the Zemgear Terras today. They seem to be really really well made. I have yet to try on a pair of vff's that feel this good on the foot, although my most recent vff experience is with the Komodosports and the Bikila. These have zero seams to irritate the skin and the bands are not as tight as I have heard the 360's and O2's were. These will also be a great option for those with the longer middle toes. Unfortunately, the problem for me is that this pair is a little too long, but also just a little too narrow for my wide feet. This is not a problem with the shoe though, just my funky wide feet as I have problems with most shoes. Most people will not have any problems fitting these I would imagine. They felt really nice on the foot and I wore them inside the house for about 30 minutes to see how they formed to my feet. My feet were actually achy for a good 20 minutes after I took them off due to my feet being to wide for them. They are pretty ugly and I thought for sure I would hate the split toe, but I actually think if the shoe fit me right that I would absolutely love the split toe design. These shoes actually were very comfy on the skin and there was nothing abrasive about the interior material, something Vibram could take a lesson from. Too bad I have to send them back for a return instead of an exchange but I know if I get a smaller pair (for the length) the width will also shrink. Sometimes I really hate having funky wide feet. Maybe Softstar will have the minshoe for me..... Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!! (sorry for the frustration there)

 

[Barefooting Bob]

Well it sounds like ZemGear might have worked out the problems that I saw earlier. Good for them. Nick just out of curiosity what is the price tag on them. I know in Canada they were looking at about 99.00 for a pair, which I found to be ridicious for basically a watershoe. When I first started promoting them they were $29.99 for the original models.

 

[NickW]

The Terra model, which is very similar to a vff (I bring up the vff because I wanted you to think price and price difference here), is $70. That is a huge difference from most vff's, except the clearance not being made anymore models. The 360's are $60. The O2's $55. The other models remaining are between $30-40. They have some new models that they are coming out with, but I don't see a price or pictures of them anywhere.

 

[Barefooting Bob]

Still seems pretty pricey, I honestly can't compare them to the VFF's though. I wear the KSO's and they cost me $75.00 plus taxes and my last pair lasted me 3 years and I still use them occasionally for running. I don't think you would get that much out of the Terra's, but I could be wrong. I know the tech bands on the other models usually lasted for about a year at best, or the seams started to come apart.

 

[NickW]

As far as durability goes, I have no idea about the tech bands, but the rest of the shoe seemed very well put together, better than most vff's that I've tried. I love the new sole design on the Terras and the shoe "seemed" well put together. I will concede to your experience Bob, but just from the visual inspection and putting them on my feet for 30 mins they seemed ok, but then again it's not like I ran in them or anything like that.

On another note, I just got off the phone with Soft Star. What an amazing company. They are so incredibly helpful. The Moc3's are unfortunately not an option for me. My feet are just too funky and wide. Elf Tessa was extremely helpful and acknowledged that I do in fact have odd shaped feet, and if the Dash Lites or the Original Lites don't quite fit right for me they can custom make some Originals for me to fit my oddball foot size. They do not make custom Dashes at this point. Anyhow, I just wanted to tell everyone how helpful they are and how they really have gone the extra mile to help me out. They seem like they really do care about their customers.