Review: Keen Newport H2 Sandal

Keen Newport H2 Sandal (men's)

    This is my first review of what I hope to be many. Well, first if you do not count that crappy chipper I purchased. I consider that more of a rant.

    Please bear with me as I develope a style for these reviews. I will try and give the products a decent use before posting a review. All too many times I read through reviews only to find the reviewer just received it and loves the experience they had rather than the actual product.

    I purchased my Keen Newport H2's August 10th, 2019 from Amazon. I found it slightly cheaper on other sites but with Amazon, I get the Prime shipping as well as donations to my favorite charity from each qualified purchase through Amazon Smile.

    I paid 86.97 and had 28 colors to chose from. I did notice some colors were sold out for various sizes. I went wit ha 10.5, my regular shoe size and 14 colors were available. Reviews were all over the place on whether the sizes run large or small so I just went with my normal size. Please note that the Amazon listing stated they run a half size small. I guess it really depends on your feet. Just be sure you are ordering them from a retailer that is easy to work with on exchanges/returns.

   I found them to fit nice. The right seemed to be a tad tighter than the left, which fit perfectly, but it was not an issue that required me to return them. The only thing that stood out was they were a little hard to pull the back strap over my heel. I found if you get your foot in as far as possible then pull on the top tab to ensure your foot was all the way in, the back strap went on a lot better. I feel they made the strap snug so you do not lose them in the water. Once you get them on, for the most part, they are comfortable and will not fall off.

    The first thing I did was wear them around the house for a day. I had no issue with pain or rubbing. I did feel like the heel strap sat a little low on my heel but you soon get used to it.

    The next day I decided to give them a workout on my treadmill to see how my feet felt after a decent walk. I set up my treadmill to take me through 2 miles of various streets in downtown DC. These were for the most part flat walking with an occasional hill. I averaged about 2 miles per hour in 46 minutes. I felt a little pressure on my outer toe area but I would not say I had any pain. I definitely did not develop any blisters. I would say they are good to go out of the box.

    The next real test was a two-day river float in the mountains of Maryland. The river was shallow for the most part and had lots of opportunities to get out and walk the river bed. I found the shoes gave me the confidence to walk on the wet rocks and kept me on my feet. The protective area around my toes shielded me from any injuries from the rocks.

    The 100% polyester webbing seemed to dry fairly quick once you were out of the water for a while. The shoes are tagged "waterproof" but they will certainly get wet. I found that once they dried, they felt a bit gritty to wear with the dirt residue left behind from walking in dust and dirt. I only had to remove them a couple times over my entire week-long trip to dump a rock of two. For the most part, stuff stayed out. Of course, these are all normal for most any sandal you wear in outdoor areas that are not covered in concrete or asphalt. I think if you hosed them off when you take them off, they should be comfortable to wear the next day. Once you are done with your adventure you can just toss them in the wash.

Here are the shoes after the trip and before any cleaning ...

Here they are after washing them in the washing machine ...

 

Overall, I am pleased with the performance of the shoes and I look forward to using them again. I would give them a 8 out of 10 stars! I will update this review if any new details develope.