Five Ten Men's Guide Tennie Approach Shoes

I had been in the market for a pair of approach shoes or lightweight hikers for a couple of years to fill that gap between my backpacking boots and old running shoes. The trigger moment for me was a trip to Rarotonga where we planned to do some hiking in the jungle (400 meters up in 2km type terrain) with a mix of mud, tree roots, rocks, stream crossings and rock scrambling.As a first impression I looked at these and thought, "wow these are chunkier than I thought they would be." That is until I picked them up; they weigh next to nothing. I had read that they needed some good break in time, but I got them only one day before my trip. I just flexed them by bending the toes back towards the heal a few times to alleviate some of the stiffness and hoped for the best.I paired these with thin no-show socks from swiftwick (or any other synthetic and thin compression sock), and headed off into the jungle. I was pretty worried after starting off walking through a ton of mud and looked down at the soles; they were caked and I thought I must be walking on next to no tread. I was wrong, we got to some wet rock that needed some scrambling to get past and before taking off I put my foot down on the rock to test my traction. I was unable to slide my mud caked shoes on wet rock (no algae).With that confidence in hand, I powered through scrambles, trusting my feet to hold, I jumped from questionable wet rock to wet rock crossing streams and took some risks that I might not have in my old running shoes. Granted I was paying attention to every single foot placement, but I never had a single slip or even a hint of a slip. Given how well they transitioned between mud, wet rock, dry rock, tree roots and dirt, I'll have no problem trusting my feet in these in the future.Sizing info since shoe companies are all over the place:My "true" size given by shoe sizers is 9.5 D (this only seems to fit in high end dress shoes).I wear 42-43 euro sized athletic shoes.I wear 10-10.5 in athletic shoes (depending on manufacturer).I wear size 44 hiking boots (for big sock room).I bought these as a size 10 and that works well with the thin socks I plan to continue to wear with them. If I wanted to wear thicker wool socks, I might have gone up to a 10.5. I have a bit of an odd foot (wide at the toes and narrow at the heel). These fit me great, my toes had plenty of room and my heal never slipped. I find that this is similar to their climbing shoes, so if those fit your foot, these should do well.In terms of looks, I thought these would be less "omfg those are bright orange" than they turned out to be. So be warned if you are not an orange fan. Thankfully, I do OK in bright orange, otherwise I would have had to go with the greens for looks.

Just bought my second pair of the approach shoes. I still have the first pair, the soles are worn down and I now use them for rowing.This is predicated of course on my fit but these are definitely the most comfortable shoes I've owned. I also had a pair of Five 10 heavier hiking shoes and they also great comfort and fit. I bought those in 1994 for Hiking in the Grand Canyon. I finally tossed them two years ago.The approach shoes is light and rolls well with the foot on insecure terrain. Because of the fit and the security of design around the foot I've never rolled an ankle.A word about the soles. Five 10 uses sticky sole climbing rubber. The rubber gives you great security while hiking in rocky area. When you put your foot down you know it will not slip. I live in Texas as as you move from a dusty trail to a rocky surface any other sole, even vibram will tend to slip. Not the Five 10. Secure footing. Good material.in short: comfortable, secure footing, when you get a pair they will become your go to shoe.

I'm 6' 5" and a big guy. These shoes have proven to be a solid choice. The construction is as solid as you would expect from a shoe at this price but so far very worth it. I used to wear Vans and these have proven to be similar in style and feel but much more support and I'm feeling longevity as well. Sizing seems right on and I'm kind of finicky about my footwear so a good review is something I don't usually write. The first month of wearing them daily I've been doing construction work and they still look new but are even more comfortable than the first day. Oh and they're lightweight and flexible but with plenty of support even for my long skinny feet. Just have to tighten them up a bit. I think that's all I have to say. Give them a try, you won't be disappointed.

This is my second pair of Tennies, and I love the shoe. Like all 5-10s, they fit about 1/2 size smaller than what I usually wear, they stick on rocks like glue, and they are rugged. The other thing I love about 5-10s is that they are easy to re-sole when the rubber does wear, or get hard with age.I love the new styling of the shoe, as the older model was a bit bland. Giving it some colour is a good move.If you like gnarly hiking, this might not be the shoe for you, as there isn't much support for the ankle, but it is great for slick rock, or for bouldering. I also use my old pair for traveling, as they are very light, and comfortable.All in all, great for what they are designed for.

I love these shoes! I work at a rock climbing gym and these are a great in between from regular shoes and climbing shes. I teach a lot of classes at the gym where I get on the wall just for a few moments to demonstrate something or I may need to hop on the wall quick to fix holds or ropes or may need to rush up the wall to rescue someone at any time during the day if something goes wrong with their equipment. Regular shoes just suck for climbing as they don't have a stiff enough sole but I am not going to wear my actual climbing shoes around the gym all day while I am working. These allow me to walk comfortably on the ground all day but still get on the wall and climb a 5.10 without changing shoes (I have seen two people climb 5.13 in these). I have also used them outside a few times for approaching climbs and setting up climbing areas outside and they provide great traction on real rocks as well as gym walls.