Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First off, the trail glove 4 has been my go to running shoe for the past year and a half now. I’ve happily dished out $300 for the 4 pairs I’ve worn out in that time. That being said, they weren’t perfect, and I was looking forward to the design improvements the 5 was supposed to bring to the table. To name a few: 1. Reinforced forefoot flex points 2. Wider toe box 3. Updated, more durable tread design. Not to mention the burnt henna color is beautiful. Anyways... I ordered them a half size smaller than usual, as that’s what some other reviews and Merrell suggested. They arrived a few hours ago, I put them on, and despite them still feeling too large, I convinced myself “hey, they’re the experts. If they say this will be better for my feet, alright.” WRONG. Should have gone with my gut then and returned them. Instead, I headed to my favorite trail, a moderately steep loop up and down a mountain. I just got back home, and let me tell you, whoever was in charge of sizing should be fired. These shoes are DANGEROUS. All 4 pairs of my trail glove 4’s were consistently sized and fit my 10.5 feet like a glove... y’know, how you’d expect a shoe named the trailGLOVE would fit. These, in size 10, left my feet absolutely swimming. I’m a forefoot runner, and had to cut my run short at half my usual distance due to the fact I was starting to get blisters, and my ankles rolled 3 times due to the incredibly oversized fit. Now, I’m returning them and getting a full size smaller than my usual, all because some designer got it in their heads that looser=better. Seriously, fire ‘em. If they’d done any testing with people who actually run downhill on technical terrain on which you have to be confident in your footing, they’d have realized they messed up, but I guess they skipped that stage. So, if you’re ordering these, SERIOUSLY, go a full size down. If not, don’t be surprised if you wind up with a twisted ankle or worse.