I bought this shoe online, without ever having tried it on in a store, for two reasons: my wife has a pair of Vivobarefoot shoes and loves them, and also, I'm into the barefoot shoe thing. I have a pair of New Balance Minimus,  a pair of Merrill Tough Glove shoes, and a pair of the Vibram Five Finger shoes.

This one rates high. Unlike the Vibram flat sole, this one has a lug sole, so it grabs the natural ground surface better for running, but feels weirder on pavement. The upper part of the shoe is soft and pliable. The toe area is not as wide as the Minimus or the Glove, but not as restrictive as the Finger shoe.

On my first jog with them, as I ran past some ten-year-old boys in my neighborhood, one of them shouted out to me: "Nice shoes!"