Water sandals

[Corey]

When my kids were growing up and we camped just about every other weekend during the summer, we often would camp by a creek or small river.
We enjoyed body surfing by walking up the sides of the waterway and then floating downstream.

We wore those slip on water shoes, the name escapes me now what they were called.
Came in various colors, and had a pretty decent sole for scrambling over rocks in river/creek beds.

Mine fell apart years ago, so I am looking at something to replace them with that I can wear both in the water and around town or camp.

They would come in handy too for bathing out in the middle of a creek and you do not want to slip on the rocks, or for setting up a camp chair in the middle of the creek and kicking back.

I have $100 in gift certificates for Cabelas, and they have three pair in the catalog that caught my eye.
Anyone have experience with these?

The first ones by Merrel seem like they might be the best quality ones.
I am not a thong type person, have not warn them in years, so I am looking at more of a lace type footware.
These all seem to have that new fangled speed lock type of lace system too which I have not tried as of yet.

Merrell® Saugatuck Sandals

Teva® Omnium Sandals

Teva® Dozer Sandal

 

[cmadness]

It's funny you bring it up. I just went through the other thread "the one shoe" and picked up a pair of Keen H2's. They are super comfortable. I don't know if Cabela's carries them.

I also saw the Merrel's in your first pic and was impressed by them but never tried them on.

 

[Corey]

REI has the Keen's, but I would like to use the gift cards for Cabelas.

The Merrels do look pretty good.
I am leery though of buying shoes online, I usually end up sending them back and trying a different size.
So many different shoe makers size their gear differently.

 

[Layonnn]

Corey, i bought a pair of Salomon Tech Amphibians about 3 years ago. I used them at a camp i worked at teaching wakeboarding and was in and out of the water everyday for 3 months using them.

They are great and still going strong. As soon as they do wear out i will replace them with a new pair. They have great traction when wet, dry uber fast, and the lacing system works flawlessly.

 

[Corey]

Thanks, those look nice too.
I think I am going to order these Merrells in a few minutes.
Good reviews too.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/reviews.jsp?productid=824472

They have a sizing chart you can download and print out, but my printer is out of ink
I think I will take a chance on a size 9.
My current New Balance say 9 1/2, but another pair says 9.
Hopefully I will get the correct fit without having to send them back.
They will come in useful, as I hope to be camped next to a creek next weekend.

 

[Corey]

Done!
On a sidenote, I have been wanting a nice bright LED flashlight, and the Surefire G2® Nitrolon® and G2 Nitrolon LED Flashlights
get rave reviews.

I went for the LED one which is 80 lumens, and from the reviews, it is very bright.

# Brillantly brighter than much larger D-cell flashlights, these lights pack incredible power into small packages. Combine these compact designs with lightweight, non-corrosive Nitrolon™ construction and the impact-resistant Lexan lens and you have the ultimate light for when space is at a premium and pampering your equipment isn't an option. Anti-roll bezels keeps them in place when set on a flat surface. Molded-in gridlock pattern gives you a sure grip in any weather. G2 Nitrolon – Uses two 3-volt lithium batteries to produce 65 lumens of white, refined light for up to 60 minutes.
Colors: Desert Tan, Green, Black, Yellow.
# G2 Nitrolon LED – Uses two 3-volt lithium batteries to produce 80 lumens of white, refined light for up to 720 minutes.
Colors: Black, Yellow.

Link to the light if anyone is interested in looking at it.

The LED version comes in two colors.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Done!
On a sidenote, I have been wanting a nice bright LED flashlight, and the Surefire G2® Nitrolon® and G2 Nitrolon LED Flashlights
get rave reviews...

The Nitrolon LED has served as my primary light during mine exploration trips for quite some time, I'm absolutely thrilled with it. Good to know they offer it in yellow too, I would like to be able to differentiate between the two (backup versus primary, fresh batteries, etc) and my local outlet doesn't stock the yellow.

 

[Corey]

Kurt, glad to know that the light has been field tested here by someone like you.
I have not bought a recent flashlight in a long time for camping.

I keep about three flashlights in my rig full time, but they are not compact ones like this Surefire one.

I sprung for an extra two pack of the 3v lithium batteries too to ahve for backup.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Kurt, glad to know that the light has been field tested here by someone like you.
I have not bought a recent flashlight in a long time for camping.

I keep about three flashlights in my rig full time, but they are not compact ones like this Surefire one.

I sprung for an extra two pack of the 3v lithium batteries too to ahve for backup.

Here it is in use (well in my hand). I keep 4-6 of the batteries in my pack at any given time, at times we spend 8+ hours underground and light is essential. Sportsmans Warehouse sells their house brand CR32?? batteries in a 8 pack? Maybe its a 10 pack? Either way its a far better price than the Surefire branded spares and they seem to last nearly as long. I've not done a side by side test of the two but I'm happy with the life of the SW units. I usually get a full day of exploring out of them (so figure ~8 hours before they start to noticeably loose brightness)

 

[Corey]

Surfing during break here, some more good Surefire reviews.

 

[Corey]

I am very impressed with the G2 LED.
Have been keeping it on my nightstand the last few nights, and before I get up when my room is pitch dark I turn it on.

Lights up the whole bedroom great and the hall.
Thing is a torch, pretty much like the reviews stated.

Took it outside this morning around 3 am before I left for work to dump the trash, and it lights up very well.

This is the brightest flashlight I have owned yet.
May have to order another one to keep in the rig and retire some of the dimmer ones I have.

PS, oh yeah, the sandals
Sandals fit great, very nice quality.
They have a ridge just behind the toes that takes awhile to get use to, not use to that.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I was recently shopping for sandals, and checked out the Merrells. I rejected them because of that ridge. I knew it wouldn't work for me. My wife bought some Merrells for herself... and we're actually considering returning them because they're a bad design. The heel is adjustable, with twin tiny velcro strips on each side. The strips are so small, they don't hold on at all. We're probably going to return them. If not, we'll have to glue those velcro strips closed. :Wow1: Those ones you posted don't have the same strips, these are classic sport sandals I'm talking about.

I ended up with a pair of Teva's. Much better quality than the Merrells.

I tried on those Salomon amphibians too. I like Salomon, I have had several hiking boots from them, as well as ski boots. I didn't like the feel inside those shoes, however. Not sure if they would have broken in, but they had lots of sharp edges from the fabrics.

 

[Layonnn]

The G2 LED also comes in a tan/dark earth. I bought one with a pelican m6 pressure switch and surefire mount for my M&P-15. Works great and bright as heck.

 

[tdesanto]

Good find on the flashlight. Surefire lights are tested and proven; it should provide you with decades of good service.

For some other good lights, you should check out Fenix and Jetbeam.


As for the sandals/ water shoes:

...
They would come in handy too for bathing out in the middle of a creek and you do not want to slip on the rocks, or for setting up a camp chair in the middle of the creek and kicking back.

It is not a good idea to bathe in a river, creek, lake, etc. It is generally considered best practice to haul the water at least 100 yards away from any water source. Som resources I've read state 300 yards.

I've understood this to be done in order to allow the soil to filter out the bio degradable soap (it's the organisms in the soil that help make the soap bio degradable) before the water is returned to the source.

 

[Corey]

As for the sandals/ water shoes:



It is not a good idea to bathe in a river, creek, lake, etc. It is generally considered best practice to haul the water at least 100 yards away from any water source. Som resources I’ve read state 300 yards.

I've understood this to be done in order to allow the soil to filter out the bio degradable soap (it's the organisms in the soil that help make the soap bio degradable) before the water is returned to the source.

Bathing without soap, just rinsing off.
Same creek for swimming, there is a nice deep 10' hole there off to the side.
At least there was years ago, the site I use to go to may have changed with winter damage.