Keen Humboldt

Got these mail order somewhere, am sending them back.

I love Keens. They are almost the only shoes I can wear, because I have very long toes, and Keens have very wide toe boxes. So I looked forward to these eagerly.

These particular shoes fit okay. They are wide in the toe, but less so than many other Keens, especially their casual shoes.

But I discovered that these shoes offer very little arch support. For whatever reason, my foot contacted the insole only at the heel and the ball of the foot.

Undeterred, I replaced the insoles with third-party insoles that you can heat-mold to your feet. But still no luck. Even with the custom-molded insoles, these shoes offer basically no arch support.

Because of that, they offer little motion control for the runner. They are also tiring to wear for even walking around. I did a day of trail maintenance in them, and my feet were sore by the end of the day.

Otherwise, they are good. The mesh uppers make them breathable and airy. They aren't light, but that isn't a big deal for me.

The heel cushioning is also very firm and hard, giving a hard, jarring heelstrike when running. But I prefer soft shoes (these are not soft.)

I will probably send them back.

These are the most comfortable tennis shoes I have ever put on my foot. I will never buy any other tennis shoe as long as Keen keeps making them.

The shoe strings are too long.