Customer Reviews Teva Terra FI 4

It's always a shame when a company takes a great product and gets way too creative trying to upgrade it. I've been a loyal Teva enthusiast for well over a decade, having owned six Terra-Fi pairs. The first Terra-Fi was my favorite. It balanced comfort and performance perfectly. With the Terra-Fi 2, Teva altered the footbed. It was slightly less comfortable in my opinion and gathered up more dirt and sand, but it was still a great product. Alas, footbed was going to become the model's Achilles heel With the Terra-Fi 3 Teva introduced drainage grooves for faster drying. It's an interesting concept in theory and seemingly logical for a company with river rafting heritage. While the grooves helped in removing water from the footbed, they also ended up pinching your soles as the grooves folded during your walking gait. It was very annoying and made you care very little about the faster drying. Teva understood their mistake and dialed down the number of grooves on newer models. In fact they completely removed it from the Teva Toachi and instead came up with a much better low-key drainage frame. Hence, I was happy to see that with the Terra-Fi 4 there are only two modest grooves. The footbed pattern is a no-frills back to basic kind. So with first impression I felt I can exhale in relief and stop worrying about how I would replace my aging Terra-Fi 2s (which I already resoled more than once). But fist impressions were very wrong. These are by far the worst Terra-Fi to date, and an example of extremely bad footwear engineering. You see, the footbed material is very soft. Sure it is comfortable, but what will be nice in street flip-flops has very little relevance for a hiking/performance sandal. Soft footbed slows you down. Just think of walking in sand compared to walking on asphalt and you get the idea. I could have lived with that one problem, knowing that overtime the material will mold to fit my foot (becoming flatter in a sense), as with previous models. Alas, while the footbed is soft the thick edges surrounding it are not. This means that as you walk , your feet dig into the soft material and get a lot of pressure from the harder edges. It is extremely uncomfortable. And yet the bad design does not stop here. While previous Terra-Fi models have a more of less flat central footbed area, the Terra-Fi 4 have a much more curvy structure, especially in the heel area. Again this may sound as a good idea in theory since human feet have a round shape. But yet again it fails in practice. The Terra-Fi 4's curved construction reduces the usable footing surface. So unless if you have narrow feet or feet that perfectly fit the curvature of the sandals you will feel that the Terra-Fi 4 run narrow. Not to mention that this construction also collects water like a bucket. On one positive note the new sole have beefy aggressive threads with very good traction. The sole seem like it would be much more durable than earlier models. It doesn't come without a price however. These are much heavier than any other open toe Teva. They feel like more of a Chaco in terms of the weight and the aggressive sole. Unfortunate along with the soft footbed, the weight is going to slow you down even more. I assume Teva recognized this, which is why they also introduced the Terra-fi lite. Indeed they come with a much more friendly weight, but they achieve this partially with a much narrower last construction making them also less comfortable than earlier Terra-Fis. And with these two bad design choices Teva has basically completely derailed the Terra-Fi line. So please Teva, stop trying to revinet the wheel. You had a great product in the classic Terra-Fi so just bring it back and regain the trust of your clients. If you want to pair it with the new beefy sole, fine. That is one possible worthy upgrade to consider, despite the extra weight. Otherwise you really have to consider function over impractical innovations.

I wholeheartedly agree with the review above. I am a long time wearer of the Terra Fi; I actually wore older versions to hike sections of the AT Trail - they were that good. Unfortunately the quality has gone down with every successive evolution of this legend. I was hoping Teva had come to it's senses with this new version and returned the Terra Fi to its former self. My how the mighty have fallen! What used to be the best sandal on the planet is now a piece of junk. Did anyone actually try this product outdoors or was it made in a cubicle on someone's computer that hasn't even taken a walk on real grass let alone hike/raft? It seems like Teva is now more interested in making cheap fashion sandals, rather than keeping up with the integrity of their original and reliable products. It will be a long time before I consider looking at Teva again, they should be embarrassed!

Agree completely with this review. I wish I'd bought a lifetime supply of original Terra-Fi's when they were still available. This line has gotten progressively worse with every re-design. Can't believe I'm saying this, but this fervently loyal Teva customer is now searching for a new brand. Ugh. Sad, but not my fault. I've remained loyal...Teva left me.

DONT BUY TEVAS I have been buying Tevas for the past 20 years. Living and cruising on a boat I wear these sandals everyday while ashore. I love the fit and comfort and even though they fall apart after 6-7 months of constant use I have kept coming back to them. Why ? because they feel great and support my feet. After spending 4 hours hand sewing the soles back together(being in a remote place where there are no machines) I am fed up with it. The quality has gone downhill with every purchase. If they only used a better glue to sew the shoes together. I have complained to Zappos about he quality numerous times thinking their buyer might put some pressure on the Teva company

I use them for backpacking because these things are like top-less boots, which means your feet can breathe and dry faster after getting wet. The soles are stiffer than trail runners which helps to smooth out rough pointy rocks. The straps are in the right places for my wide feet and I've not gotten any blisters. Beware the arches are high and the sandals run wide (both of which are fine for my feet). The tread is reasonably deep and provides great traction, but I have slipped on wet rocks. The -1/2 star is for one thing only: These things are heavy at around a pound a piece! But to me, totally worth it. I intend to be wearing them when I do the Appalachian Trail next year.

Reading all the reviews here and chuckling a bit as i wrote some of the same words in a review a couple years ago about the demise of Teva. My husband absolutely SWORE by the original Terra Fi, and was still ok w/ the Terra Fi 2 despite the clear regression in quality. But the quality, fit, comfort and performance of the Terra Fi 3 and 4 continued the trend, directly down the toilet. My husband has long-since moved on to another brand of sandal that offers wide sizes and the quality/some features that were the hallmarks of the original Terra Fi's. He used to talk to EVERYONE about how AWESOME Teva's were. Unfortunately that's all in the past. Too bad; Terra Fi "1" was the best sandal on the market. We'll never buy Teva's again because of what this company did to an amazing product.

My husband's favorite shoes. This is his 3rd pair! He bikes in them, plays drums in them, hikes in them and just hangs out in them! His go to shoe. I'm sure we'll be purchasing another pair soon!

This is my third pair of Terra FIs. I only had to replace the most recent pair when they were lost overboard. They are wildly comfortable and versatile. The sole is rugged and sticky, perfect for rock hopping in creeks or running around dirt trails.

I am sorry sorry I didn't pay attention to the other reviews. I'm not a serious hiker so I thought the didn't apply, WRONG! I have had all four generations of this shoe and this one SUCKS!!! They are not comfortable after a week of daily use I can't wait to take them off. The soles don't do well on wet surfaces very slippery, more like flip flops. The foot bed sits at an odd angle and makes my feet hurt. I hate these shoes!!! This is probably the last pair of Tevas I'll ever buy. Seriously save your money and don't buy this model you'll be unhappy.

Great purchase. Will be buying again. Love these.

Perfect for the summer.

Been wearing Tevas for over 25 years and these are consistent with the quality I have come to expect! I wear sandals almost every day of the year and these are great!

The fit is perfect and the little cupping at heal keep my feet from sliding, good colors, fabric holds up very well!!

I really really prefer Tevas Terra over my Chacos. With having flat feet the Tevas are much more comfortable. Really glad I gave Tevas a try.

I’ve had many pairs of Tevas and they are the very best for summer fly fishing in mountain streams!

I love these new sandals. My old TEvas, which I still wear, are size ten So I ordered these new sandals in a ten and they are just right! In closed toe shoes, I often order a 10 and a half or 11 because of pressure on my big toe, but in sandals, the size 10 is great. y feet are narrow and the velcro closures offer the chance to make them fit perectly.,