I have been a huge fan of Teva sandals for as long as I can remember. They have always been my absolute favorite footwear for everything but the coldest months. I've had many, many pairs, but in general I wear each pair for so many years that they need to actually start falling apart for me to retire them. That speaks to their longevity as well. My last pair finally fell apart. So now I looked at getting a new pair. The choices were between the Terra Fi Lite and Terra Fi 3. I chose the Lite version after speaking with an agent on the Teva Live Chat who said the Lite was just lighter and slightly thinner, but would last as long as the 3. I think he was wrong about that, but more later. I wear a size 10 shoe, but I remember Tevas run smaller. I ordered a 9.5. I got them, and when the heel was properly situated in the heel cup, there was a full inch of sole extending beyond my toes. That simply will not do when scrambling on rocks, boulders, swimming, stream wading. I do not want to fall down. I have had Tevas too long before, and a long floppy toe is bad for off road (or stairs). I sent them back, ordering size 9 instead. Seriously? Still way too long. And I should note that with the Lite style, the sole is extremely rubbery and flexible, which would make that excess length a very noticeable problem. Speaking of that extremely rubber, flexible sole, the Lite is barely stiffer than a pair of $3 flip flops, so I worried about the longevity. So I sent them back because they were too big, and figured I would change the order to the Terra Fi 3, for that "extra thickness" which might provide a bit less of a cheap flip flop feel. I tried to order a size 8.5 in the 3 style, but apparently they only have full sizes below size nine. I am not brave enough to order an 8 in a shoe that runes between $80 and over $100. So I stuck with the Lite and got an 8.5 size. Unbelievable that a size 10 foot would need an 8.5 size sandal. I measured my feet the way Teva says to do it on their website, and that seems to reflect what I would have suspected based on previous Tevas I have owned, my foot measures out to what they say should be a 9 to a 9.5, but these new Tevas don't seem to reflect that they are labeled correctly. I honestly can't imagine that Teva is now making Sandals that are supposed to stick way out back and way out front like some anti-nimble sasquatch foot. So I'll see what the 8.5 brings, and then say whether or not we have a winner, or a change of direction.
