KEENMen's Clearwater CNX Lightweight Water Sandals

Okay, I really REALLY like these sandals. They are the second pair of Keen sandals I've owned, the first being a pair of Newport H2, I believe. They've been awesome, worn them to work and on vacation and hiking and around town, you name it. They are about five or six years old, at least, and are finally showing their age. I'm relegating them to yard duty, working in the garden, mowing, etc. It is time for a new pair that I can add to my daily "retirement uniform" of shorts, Hawaiian shirt and Tilley hat.The Keen Clearwater CNX sandal seems to be the perfect "next step" for my retirement attire. I say "seems" because I only got them this week, but Amazon being Amazon and the online world being what it is, an immediate review is expected.The only caveat emptor I have for you is, double and triple check the sizing before you order. My old Newport H2 sandals were size 12 and a bit large for me. I wear 12 in just about all of my other shoes, including a couple of pairs of Merrells. So naturally I ordered size 12 for the Clearwaters. Nope, too small. Small enough to be awkward and almost painful to wear. I moved up to size 13 (there is no ... sorry, there ARE no half sizes above 12). It's just as well as 13 is the magic number. These are very comfortable, have plenty of toe room but are snug enough to inspire confidence.Oddly, put side to side with my old Newports in size 12, the new size 13 Clearwaters are the same length, but more slender and a better fit for my foot. The Clearwaters are also considerably lighter, a huge plus. I also like the slightly smaller rubber toecap.To sum up, the Keen Clearwater CNX are a step up from my old shoes and in the limited amount of use I've got so far, look promising. They seem to have the same high quality construction as my old shoes and even some improvement in the neoprene lining and inner sole. I expect to have many years of service from them and several adventures in my new retired life.Just beware the sizes and make use of Amazon's free return policy. This is one of the key reasons I keep my Prime membership

Very comfortable. Fits like a glove. Very well made. It tends to run a bit small for me.

I bought a pair of Keens years ago for a summer visit to Disney World. They lasted that summer, and then just kept on lasting, looking pretty good with occasional washes for several summers to come. I lost them on a beach trip this summer, and have tried a few other brands but always missed my old Keens. The CNXs have a lot of the nice features of my old Keens, but fit a bit more narrow (which I like most of the time) and are a ton lighter. Foot support is good, and I found size 13 to fit nicely -- I normally fit best in 12.5 but I think 13s are the right choice. The foot bed works well, and the straps are nice, but not as heavy-duty as the old pair of Keens. They aren't as loose and "airy" as the older design with the wider footbed, but I haven't found that to be a significant problem and generally the narrower fit of these looks better and I find my foot moving around less inside the sandal.I am updating this review as I have now used these on a 12 day cruise to the Mediterranean, a canoe trip, and a desert safari in the Gulf. They worked very well on the cruise, we made day trips to sightsee and the Keen sole was pretty effective on the often slippery stone at Roman/Greek historical sites and comfortable on long walks in markets -- while still looking nice enough to wear to dinner on everything short of formal dining. Taking them out to the desert was also a good performance, they do tend to hold sand due to their closed in design, shaking your foot from side to side clears them pretty effectively. At the end of the day, barefoot or an open sandal is best for sand, but the Keens did fine and cleaned up nicely. The Keens really shined on the canoe trip, providing good grip on the dock and in the boat, foot protection while wading, and despite the mud and sand cleaned up nicely and were a comfortable (if a bit damp) choice for a casual dinner that night. With the lighter weight of these Keens I find I am choosing them more than the old model for travel and I am almost ready to proclaim them better than my old beloved Keens...but they need a few more years of solid performance to get there.

I like Keens because they have a closed toe that is designed to protect your toes when you are walking around the deck of a boat and accidentally kick some of the rigging. However, the "regular" Keens I have worn have a bulky sole and are heavy. Not so with these. The soles on these are thinner, and no wider than the top of the shoe, and the shoes feel light on my feet. They still protect my toes, and have nice grippy soles. Perfect. Best Keens I have ever worn. I have D width feet but tend to prefer E width shoes for comfort, and these feel great on my feet.2024 UPDATE: Sometime between 2020 and 2024 Keen changed the fit of these shoes. I ordered a second pair of them in Size 11, and they were WAY too tight. I compared them side-by-side with the pair I bought in 2020 and they were noticeably smaller. The 2020 pair still fit great. So I read the reviews and found that others had simply ordered 1 size bigger, which is what I did - I ordered a size 12 even though my foot is an 11, and the size 12 fit well, although they are just slightly big. Not so big I would return them, but slightly big. So I strongly recommend ordering at LEAST a 1/2 size larger than your shoe size, and perhaps a whole size. I don't regret getting a whole size larger.