Reactor Reef Boot (Black/Coal)

Size was as advertised. Fits well - not too tight, so relatively easy to get on and off, even when wet. Soles are a good compromise between toughness and flexibility. I found them comfortable and reasonably protective when walking across sharp beach rocks and shells. One of the best features is that these (unlike most others) do NOT have a glued-in insole piece. With other reef shoes with glued-in insoles, eventually (sometimes in minutes!) the insole glue begins to degrade, especially when walking over rough rocks and shells, and pretty soon your insoles are falling out or crumpling and bunching up in the shoe. Not with these reef walkers. After multiple uses daily for almost two weeks, there was no sign of any degradation or wear on the shoes and they went on and off just as easily as they did out of the box. These are the best reef walkers I have had, and we have done a lot of boat charters and gone through quite a few previous sets. I expect these to last for a long time.

OK: I am giving these 5 stars because there is really nothing bad about the shoes (although I probably would not order them again). Below find a review of what to expect: 1. SIZING - GO 1/2 SIZE DOWN I have a 1/2 size (since there are no 1/2 sizes - I went a 1/2 size up). The shoe fits fine this way and is snug enough to stay on my feet - but I am aware they are a bit big (again not big enough to be an issue). If ordering again - I think I would go 1/2 size DOWN (since there is enough give) and have the shoe be somewhat snug (I don't think it would be too tight). 2. WATER USE - GREAT These work VERY well IN (I stress IN) the water. For rocky beaches and body surfing - they are superb. If that is your use - I don't think you can find a better shoe. They are light weight - they stay in place, they do not hold the sand. 3. OUT OF THE WATER / BOAT USE - NOT GREAT If you are using these in your boat or kayak - or want to jose these out of the water - I would look for something different. You foot gets VERY hot, and VERY sweaty, VERY quickly. In the water great - out of the water - even for a short time - no. The shoes seem well made and have no real flaws - just really best as an in the water shoe. Hope that helps!

We have a cottage on a inland lake where muck can be an issue. Water shoes are a must in order to make swimming and boating a more pleasant experience. In the past I would pick up an inexpensive pair of water shoes in the $10 - $15 range. But they never lasted more than one season. Insoles would quickly work loose, the mesh uppers allowed sand and muck into the shoe, which made them quite uncomfortable in extended wear situations. So this summer I looked for something better, and decided on the O'Neill reef boot. So far, so good! I wear a size 13 shoe, so I went with a 13 reef shoe. The toe box is roomy while the fit is sung around the ankle, as it should be. There's no insole to come loose, which is a huge plus. The soles are thicker than on your typical inexpensive water shoe, making them better to wear when on shore. The closed toe and full Neoprene upper keep sand and muck out far, far better than the mesh upper water shoes I used in the past. I wholly expect to get more than one season out of these shoes, saving me money in the long run. For my needs, the O'Neill reef shoes have been a huge upgrade over the typical water shoe/aqua sock I wore in the past.

For windsurfing, wing foiling, or surfing, board feel really important, but you need protection too. I rate board feel more important than protection, these seem to be a good balance. Also feet shouldn't move around inside the boot, these seem to have sufficient sole construction to stay firmly on foot. Only thing I can't tell yet is if they are going to loosen up over time. They feel great right now (new), hope they don't loosen up. Might add a midfoot strap if they do. Low slippers like these let in a bit of sand, actually not too bad, I can rinse in deep water after launching.

Please pay attention: This is a water shoe slip on. Not a boot. Not a reef shoe. It's a slip on water shoe, no different than any water shoe you will find in your local beach shop or big box store. The one huge difference with THIS shoe is that it does not have a removable liner. That's a HUGE positive if you plan on swimming with them, such as in the ocean. I just received mine and went straight into the water. Stayed on, no issues. Sizing is "about right". Whenever we order a wearable item online, we always take a chance since we can't try on. I ordered my usual shoe size. They fit, although a tad tight. But, BUT, it's a water shoe so if it helps keep them on, then fine! I maybe could have gone a size higher but then it may have been too big! So I suggest that you order your size and go from there. They are good looking, are LOW CUT (not anything close to a boot), and appear to be well made. Time will tell if I overpaid $20 or if these will last a few seasons and be worth the $$. So far, no negatives. One last thing: I have wide feet, and a wide toe line. These are NOT bothering either at all! Plenty of room in the toes.

After reading the reviews and seeing that one needs to order a size smaller and then another saying to order a size larger, I took a gamble and ordered a size smaller. For my situation, it was the right decision. I normally wear a 9 but ordered a size 8 and it's the perfect fit. Tight around the ankle and comfortable around the 'box.' The fit and finish is very good, especially considering the price. Basically I was looking for some water shoes for a kayaking trip I have coming up. I'm tired of wearing old tennis shoes only to have them smell for months afterwards. These shoes will solve the problem. They breathe well, comfortable, good traction and etc. I saw that someone was running with these during the winter and I don't know if I want to go running with them on. They are comfortable but not that comfortable.....I don't think. I will let you know in the future with some updates. Well worth the cheap $25!

This review is my attempt to bring some clarity to the sizing for these (O'Neill Reactor Reef Boot). First of all, be aware that the sizing is listed in men's sizes. Before I get deeper into the sizing, I want to address the issues I have with the current reviews as a whole (BTW, I appreciate all of them): 1. Gender - Many of the reviews state to size up or down, but most people don't state their gender. Because women's shoe sizes are typically a full size larger then men's, stating to size up or down without stating gender is arbitrary. 2. Shoe Size - A lot of the reviewers compared these to their typical shoe size, but this is a very subjective statement because shoe sizing itself is very subjective. For example, in my experience, basketball shoes run a bit tighter than running shoes, but different brands of [same size] running shoes fit differently as well. I'm not sure if this is because of the different materials used, design, or a lack of standardization. 3. Fit - Many of the reviews stated that they "fit good", but that is also a subjective statement based on one's preferred fit, thus not overly helpful by itself. Ok, now on to the sizing details. This is only an estimation based on my own measurements, but since the seller and/or Amazon has not provided this information, you'll have to take my word for it. I first ordered these for my wife, who normally wears a women's size 7 1/2 - 8. Because she will be using these with snorkeling fins, they needed to be nice and snug, and since there aren't half sizes, I opted to size down. Now, because these are listed in men's sizes, I order a size 6, which is equivalent to a women's 7. For reference, her bare foot is 9" from the tip of her big toe to the back of her heel. The size 6 (women's 7) reef shoes measure 9 1/2" on the outside. I didn't measure the inside, but roughly estimate 1/4" for material, which leaves 1/4" at the toe. She said it fits nice and snug, but not too tight, no slipping at the heel and just a little room at the toe. For myself, I had it in my mind that I wear size 14 (because I mostly do), so I ordered a 14 for myself. BTW, i'm a man if you haven't figured that out yet. When I got them, I tried them on and they were too big, which was really confusing because I wear a 14....at least I thought I did. Well, I do, but like I stated above, shoe sizing is very subjective. I immediately went and looked at all of my shoes and about half of them are size 13, the other half 14. All of them are Nike or Adidas and I could not determine any consistency based on brand, type, or material. I decided to measure my foot to get to the bottom of this, which confused me even more because my foot measured almost exactly 12" (11 15/16" to be perfectly exact). So why don't I wear a size 12 if my foot measures 12"??? Well, that's another story and I don't even really understand it....Google it if you really need to know. The size 14 reef shoes measure 12 1/2" on the outside. I know what you're thinking...if my wife's reef shoe measured 1/2" bigger than her foot and it fit snug, then how were mine too big??? Well, I don't have an answer for that....like I said, this all based on measurements taken at different times with a tape measure, so it's not 100% accurate. This is also where personal preference comes into play. I'm hoping you can take what i've stated here and make an educated decision. Anyway, so I exchanged the 14 for a 13 and that fits much better. They are very snug, but I wouldn't want them any tighter as my toe is pretty darn close to the front tip. The nice thing is that the neoprene allows a good amount of flexibility, which I think i'm taking advantage of, but this is much better than the 14 for my needs. The outside measurement of the size 13 is 12 1/8", so you can see that I don't have much room to spare, yet I think they will be just fine. Based on the measurements taken from my wife's size 6 and my 13 and 14, i've come up with a rough estimate of the sizing: Note: This is the external measurement...the internal measurement will be slightly less. Size 6: 9 1/2" Size 7: 9 7/8" Size 8: 10 1/4" Size 9: 10 5/8" Size 10: 11" Size 11: 11 3/8" Size 12: 11 3/4" Size 13: 12 1/8" Size 14: 12 1/2" I hope this helps...good luck!

I've been running totally barefoot for 3 yrs. now in the summer and bought these last year based on reviews to run in snow. We average 110+" per year here. I found they were too thin for me to wear in cold weather, 28F, with snow on the ground. The cold went right through the bottom, but I tend to have cold extremities in winter anyway. Not everyone may have the same problem. I wear Merrell's Pace Glove in winter now. The thin sole was great as far as ground feel but my feet were freezing even with a wool sock or a swim sock,(thin neoprene). They got wet and if I wore a swim sock underneath the sweat stayed inside and my feet got colder. Despite that, I found them great for warmer weather when it was still too cold to go without shoes totally. This summer I stubbed my pinky really bad on a root (I run on trails) and to protect it I ran nearly the whole summer with these, 25 miles a week. Yes, I sweated, but still stayed cooler than conventional running shoes. They have great grip. There is some wet boardwalk that I have to cross and these work great on that. I can't get my toes into VFF's so I think these are a great alternative. They seem very tough as I have snagged them on tree roots and haven't seen any holes. The sizes are mens so I researched and based on reviews bought a 7. Normally I wear an 8 in a woman's shoe. I like to wear a thin sock so these give me enough room but are snug enough to feel the ground, not too snug to spread my toes. I gave up on the neoprene sock, too much sweat. I plan to wear these in the spring again. They are well worth the money. You could buy 3 pairs of these for every one pair of any "barefoot" shoe.

Excellent for walking on the beach, prevents the sand from getting entering, fits like a glove and it’s light weight. Would highly recommend.

Feel nice and look good. But they fit super small.

I bought these for a surfing trip and they definitely served their purpose and protected my feet from getting torn up by the reef. The only "snag" is that I found they fit much lower than what they may appear in the pictures. So for me, they wrapped under my ankle and after several days started to really rub and cause soreness. Friends of mine had booties that went above the ankle and didn't have any problems. So next time I would likely buy those. However, if you're just using them for a quick trip, you may not have the same problem. We were in them all day every day for a week so I think that likely led to some of it as well.