First, I post reviews because I rely heavily on your reviews. That was the case here. Everyone posting, raved about MBT's, I coughed $90 for a pair of tennis shoes.

Second, I'm 6'3", 200#, size 13.5, narrow foot, either pronate or supinate pretty badly because I'm hell on the outside corner of both heels, flat arches, walk 5 miles every day (2.5 morning, 2.5 evening) on pavement, and usually get six months out of New Balance or Nike before the heels completely disintegrate, buying them two pairs at a time and alternating walks. Just so you know I'm not one of those 80# waifs that could get a year or two out of paper mache shoes.

Third, this review is intentionally premature. I've only been using these a little over a week but I'm guessing some of you will find my experience and observations to date interesting. If not, please forgive me and check back in a month or two.

Fourth, the extraneous. Usual prompt shipping. Nicely boxed. Glossy but not all that informative brochure. This particular model, in this color, cheap, plastic looking. My 1st pair of MBT's so I can't speak as to other models. These are also heavy, seeming twice the weight of the New Balance and Nike's I've been using.

Fifth, first impressions.

Really, really unstable out of the box. If I hadn't read the reviews warning me of this, I'd returned them. Tried walking around the house and couldn't do it, decided to hit the road where things were a bit, but only a bit, better. They're tipsy front to back, side to side, and because of the weight, prone to tripping. The biggest shock though was how they hit the bottom of my arch every step of the way. I've never had any pair of shoes that, as I walk, didn't hit heel first. These do not hit heel first but instead plant themselves right into the bottom of my arch. It's a nicely cushioned hit, similar to my heel hitting in a new pair of Nike's, but still strange. Really nice going up hill and down hill but you have to adjust your gait when walking on level surfaces. This said, if you told me you had balance issues, I'd say be careful if not avoid these shoes. After 60 or so miles, still unstable, but less so. Me? Or the shoes? Don't know. I do know I still can't wear them around the house, I trip on the stairs, I trip on my slate floors, I find myself leaning over so much I'm afraid I'll fall.

A bit complicated. The tongues are short. The laces high. Several times, my laces have slipped up over the top of the tongue, requiring me to stop and retie. Also, every time I went to put them on, the laces ended up under my foot in the shoe. Mine came out of the box laced (do they all?) and had that hipster or runner 'inverted' pattern where the lace ends up under the side of the shoe. After a few days I pulled out the lace and reversed that last eyelet and that seems to have solved my problems. The good thing is that so far the laces stay tied so I don't have to double tie them. Another complication, the back of the shoes are extremely smooth which sounds good but means you or at least I can't kick them off ... I have to sit down and take them off by hand, one at a time.

Next, break in. After a few days, it seemed the left shoe was breaking in whereas the right was not. I say this because the pressure on my left arch has become muted, softer, rounder, and more pleasant. The right remains stiff, sharp, and a tiny bit unpleasant. I'm thinking, that's strange, probably a manufacturing anomaly, let's give the right some more time, see if the two sides even out. Also, I've noticed that I have to keep pulling the strings tight all the way down the shoe, otherwise, they're loose on my feet. With New Balance and Nike, I did this once or twice and they kind of 'locked' in to my foot, two, three days tops. Maybe these will too, just taking longer. I don't know. My uneducated guess is that the material used in these things (the cheap looking vinyl or leather or whatever it is) is so stiff, it wants to return to its manufactured form as opposed to the form of my foot. I do know that if such continues to be the case, that and that reason alone will be enough ditch these things ... they need to form up against my foot and do so pretty quickly.

Finally, health benefits. I don't have a clue. I think I feel a bit better, a little less wear and tear from walking but then I'm also worried that these "rocker" shoes, in forcing me to walk differently than I have for I'm not telling you how many years, will end up causing long term problems.

Will post again in a month or two, God willing and the creek doesn't rise.

Update 2/26/12.

Been a bit now.

I've given up on the matter of health benefits. Better for me v. long term injury. Who knows? I do know they've started wearing on the outside corners (as do all my shoes) so my style of walking is overpowering the shoe ... which I take to be a good health sign in that the shoe isn't forcing my body to do something it never has.

The damn things still haven't broken in, but they do seem to be starting in that direction.

Still ugly as hell. Still heavy as hell.

Strings still stay tied with one knot, I like that.

Not as tipsy but still not perfectly stable. I stand by my earlier comment, don't try these if you have balance or stumbling problems.

My best guess? I'll continue to wear them but I'll never love 'em. Will I buy another? Maybe, if the original stiffness and delay in grinding down the outside heel translate into "these things last next to forever". That said, because of their instability, I would only buy rockers or this brand for exercise walking, never to loaf around or even simple sight seeing.

Will post again, maybe, six months?

edit 4/17/12: Still wearing 'em. Somewhat broken in but uppers still too stiff. Will say this on the health front: Have two different, long time, back injuries. Nothing major, work related, rarely cause a problem, one or the other an occasional, painful, irritant. Hard to believe a pair of shoes I don't wear but a couple of hours a day could be responsible but neither of these injuries have surfaced since I started wearing the shoes. Strange, agree? Check back later but I'm warming up to these things.

edit 6/16/12: With everything above still true, I ordered a second pair, largely because I wanted to get back to alternating my exercise shoes, something I haven't been doing since I ordered the first pair of these. Different color, same shoe. Same great Amazon service. Once again, a great Amazon price. Out of the box, this pair was correctly (old fashioned) laced so I didn't have to re-lace. Out of the box, this shoe fits exactly the same as the predecessor pair. I dare you to find two pair of Nike or New Balance that fit the same. Much more importantly, out of the box, this pair felt exactly like the pair I've been wearing every day for months now. Surprising that, you would think that a new pair would feel different, would bring back some of the initial "adjustment" that was so enormous when first starting out with the old pair. But no, the new ones feel just like the old ones, which means, I think, that I've adjusted and that the old ones are yet to be broken in or perhaps more accurately not at all broken down. Wow! This development makes me kind of interested in finding out if a different model would change up things but the only pair I'm interested in is full leather, close to $300, more for afternoons of sightseeing than exercising. Have to think about that price. Also, while I'm growing more comfortable with the tipping, tripping on my walks, I still don't know about taking on that risk for a full afternoon on gravel parking lots, park trails, uneven sidewalks, in and out of buildings, shopping, etc. Have to think about that as well. God willing and the crik doesn't rise, I'll let you know in some later post. Bottom line for now: I've raised the rating to 5 because while there continues to be a concern regarding tripping, these seem to be wearing incredibly well, provide excellent if not plush structural support, and have, if inexplicably so, eliminated my minor but annoying all the same back troubles. This recommendation is to this one model, my specific use, and my specific back. Your experience may vary.

edit 12/1/12: Wear them twice a day, 6 miles a day, 7 days a week. On pavement. They've broken in nicely and have begun wearing where all my shoes wear, outside heel. Coincidental or not, my back pains have completely disappeared, knock on wood, although my arches stay a bit sore. Occasionally, still, trip over them on the road but now familiar enough with them that I can wear them about the house, briefly. Would still like to try a pair for out and about errands but will probably spend the bucks on more of these. Now, if only Mother Amazon would put them back on lightning for $99, or whatever it was, in my size. White and grey, please. Can't see paying the price for resoling but, btw, anybody know of an expert analysis on when to replace. Thanks

edit 3/20/13: Still wearing the two pair. No back pain whatsoever, I've even been able to return to the rowing machine which I had to give up. Heels are starting to run down pretty badly. Soles are worn but not worn through. Remainder of shoes look as good as new. Too bad resole costs are so high. Still, have two new pair in a closet. Would have a dozen there but can't find anymore in my size, MBT is in bankruptcy and the pickings are getting slim. Too bad, wish I had discovered these earlier, and realized MBT was going away more quickly. Hopefully, the product will survive the bankruptcy proceedings and return with the same quality.