I bought a pair of these in black, when there was a huge sale (forty nine dollars - couldn't pass it up); they look great & they're of a really high quality. But I've had a few problems.. I'm sure lots of people have the same problem: one type of shoe may fit perfectly in my actually shoe size (9D), but other types need to be a half size larger, or wider, for some reason, and some manufacturers may sell a size 9D that fits well, but another may sell a 9D that's too small, or too narrow. This being my first Patagonia purchase, I wasn't sure what size to buy. I'm anywhere from a 9D to a 9.5 2E, and based on other reviews, I decided to go for the 9D (one said they'll stretch over time, another said it was a loose fit). Unfortunately, it's too small. It's not uncomfortable, but it's a bit snug all over, front to back, top to bottom, side to side. I really like the shoes, so I was going to exchange them for a larger size, but the sale was over, and to exchange them, I'd have to pay an additional 50 dollars. They're snug, but not uncomfortably so, and if they stretch out over time, as another reviewer said, then they may eventually fit much better, so I decided to keep them & save the extra money.

Others mentioned the squeaking when walking on certain types of surfaces. I've noticed it, too, but not to the extent that it's unacceptable. One other thing I noticed is that if I wear these without socks & my feet have even a tiny amount of perspiration, there IS an unacceptable noise! Imagine the sound of a burst of air being sucked into & forced out of a narrow opening... Yeah, exactly. :o) I'm assuming it's because these are a bit tight on my feet, so when there's no sock to provide a breathable buffer between my foot & the leather, there's no natural ingress & egress of air while walking. I was able to solve the problem by placing a folded strip of a paper towel beneath each foot arch, and that allowed me to continue with my day without sounding like a human whoopee cushion. I'm sure that's a problem unique to my situation, so I don't count that against the shoe.

I'm subtracting a star for the poor sizing. I had my foot measured last year, and it's a 9D. Shoes come in specific sizes for a reason - they're not sold as Small/Medium/Large, or sized for adult age ranges; they're supposed to be made to specific measurements, and these are not (at least the pair I received was not). This isn't a problem specific to Patagonia; on the contrary, it's more common than uncommon, but regardless, it's still wrong.