"Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall started a new generation of minimalist running shoes. Maybe the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico are onto something. They can run thousands of miles without injuries with nothing more than thin maccasins while the modern runners have top of the line space age shoes and are constantly injuring themselves. I say "new generation" since the idea is nothing new. The 70s Adidas and Puma both made very light running shoes and of course Nike came around and changed everything. I went with the cross trainers for a gym shoe that I could also run in. They work well on an indoor track. The soles are very smooth so I can tell right away they may not be good for trail running. I have been using them for three weeks now and here is what I have to say.
 The Good:
1. They are small and light. I can easily fit them in my back pack.
2. The EEs fit perfect on my flat feet. As for the size issue that you have seen in other reviews, keep in mind that they are sized for wear without socks. As for me, I have no choice but to wear socks (my feet will get real smelly) so I went up a half size.
3. The thin soles provide no mechanical leverage advantage. What this simply means is that when I am doing certain gym exercises such as calf risers, I actually have to work those calf muscles more to achieve the same lift. Thats a good thing. I can feel all those calf muscles firing away, especially on the bottom stretch.
4. With almost zero toe to heal rise I can feel my lower thigh and VMO muscles firing. This I never experienced before.
 The Bad:
1. With the thin soles I feel everthing. While on the elliptical machine, the tread ribs first feel like an irritant and after awhile it starts to hurt. I am getting use to it now. Same is true with the spinning bike.
2. Slippery when wet. Cross trainers are a sacrifice. You can run in them, you can shoot hoops in them but you can do better in sport specific shoes. But for a day at the gym they are perfect.
 As for now I highly recommend these shoes. Will the minimalist idea be just a fad? I don't think so. There are web sites out there already dispelling the idea. I feel better already wearing these shoes. If you are looking for something that you plan to wear mostly outdoors I would look into the MT20 trail shoes or the MR10 running shoes.