When I was in SFO last weekend for the meet, I bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers KSOs at In-jean-ious. I had gone up there with the intent of trying a pair on and possibly buying some, and when I got to the meet, it turned out that Icarium and his whole posse were outfitted with them. Their good recommendations didn't hurt to seal the deal. Anyway, the 47s fit me well enough, so I bought a pair in black. I've been wearing them exclusively ever since. They are totally fucking awesome. They do look kinda funny though, and in black, they look like some sort of water shoe, so be prepared to get shit from your friends. And people who don't give you shit have 1,000,000 questions for you, so you have to be ready to be a spokesman of sorts.

Verdit: pwn.

The name sounds like an adult device/vibrator.

Girls should love them... since they love toe socks.

I have 2 pairs. I'm a big fan. Yeah you get a lot of shit and you have to be a spokesperson a lot, but they are damn comfy. Been playing badminton in them with mixed results. You have to get a pair that fits well to really pull off sports where you accerlate to full speed and then break or turn rapidly...

Great idea, but I can't quite get the fit right. I also find that though there is freedom for the toes, they also restrict their movement by tying each toe to the rubber sole. It's flexible, but not as flexible as nothing and I find that a bit of a strain.

I prefer vivo barefoot shoes/sandals. They look more like normal shoes but have perhaps an even more flexible, thin sole than the vibrams.

Also, the sole is very bad at heat insulation. I went hiking in the Golan (Israel) mainly on super hot rocks using the 5 finger sprints and burned the soles of my feet!

The Vivo looks kinda interesting, but they only go up to 13 and according to Vivo, run short. So I'm out.

hrm ill have to check out vivos... i dunno i got used to the stiffness on the vibrams.. my toes have definitely gotten a bit longer/flexible/stronger.

the heat insulation thing is not an issue for me ;p

My black size 41 ksos just stabbed me through the heart Stitching near the big toe has bursted apart :/ Time to see how their customer service is.. apparently they only warranty these things for 90 days after date of purchase.

Holy shit. Let us know how it goes. I think there was some sort of sales sticker on the inside of the bottom left "sole", and it looks like it may cause a problem down the road.

My black size 41 ksos just stabbed me through the heart Stitching near the big toe has bursted apart :/ Time to see how their customer service is.. apparently they only warranty these things for 90 days after date of purchase.

I think you had better go back to badminton in athletic shoes.

You are probably right.. it was a mixed experiment. I tried it with my better fitting pair and it worked out pretty much ideally... that pair was the one that ripped though but it wasnt from that.

I came downstairs one day and it was just ripped when it wasn't when I took them off after work the day before. Taking them off is slightly more involved than just kicking off shoes or sandals so I would have noticed if it was ripped prior.

Coincidentally I noticed last night my adidas sandals vanished.

Now I am starting to wonder if it might be roomate vengeance...

Looks like you Five Finger freaks are about to go mainstream!

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : The money has finally made Sergey nuts

I hope you enjoy your club.

Beware off-by-one google searches

Evil Steve Jobs is damn funny, me droogs.

Huge fan. Have had the KSOs (thanks to Dan and Sergey) for about a month and worn them almost exclusively. A few new models have been introduced in the last couple of weeks. Note the recommended sizing (by foot length) is way off. I had to return and pick up two sizes above the recommended, 45 instead of 43, and it seems a common complaint on the web.

And so far the word most commonly expressed by women in my life is "scary." May be a little too gorilla-like.

So I got a pair for myself as well, and I gotta say I cannot fathom anyone running in these things. One would have to have perfect running genes to make em work.

How long have you had them? I'm not a runner, so didn't buy them for that, but gotta say my lower back, shoulders and neck hurt for a few days until I adjusted. Insanely comfortable as work shoes, but they do slap down a bit, at least with my flat feet. Definitely my step has changed - long term good or bad I don't know.

Only time I've felt really ridiculous in them was when I walked into a screening of Where the Wild Things Are and saw people looking at my feet and whispering. Yeah, super fan!

I have pretty flat feet too, so I only jog in clunky running shoes. I never even tried with the Vibrams. I only use them for quick errands when I don't feel like putting on socks, so I guess I haven't made the switch as completely as some of y'all. Comfort is fine, though; I don't experience any pain.

I tore my KSOs a few months ago and Injeanious in SFO replaced them with no concerns. However, they were stolen with the rest of my stuff when I was in SFO last. Been almost a month without them and I am not happy. Got a pair of KSO Treks coming in next week, but I never tried them out, so I have no idea if they'll be awesome or the VFF equivalent of monster truck tires.

Just got my Treks yesterday. They are way fucking tighter than I ever remember my KSO's being. IDK, maybe I'm crazy. I'm really hoping they'll stretch. The leather is pretty nice, and the extra tread at the bottom hasn't been a problem. Would like to compare them more closely with the plain KSOs, bu that's gonna have to wait a bit 'till I decide if I want another pair.

Also, brown KSOs seem to have completely disappeared from Vibram's site. You called it, Icarium.

Interesting.. to Trek or not.. I already have two pairs of KSOs..

Frankly what I need more is more pairs of socks.

Tell me about it. At fucking $12/pair I have more headphones than Injinjis.

I'm starting to think that Trek might be the way to go, but I'll have to make it through a summer first. What I'm hypothesizing is that the extra few MM's of cushion will hopefully make a dent in the kind of "hard floor soreness" you can get VFF'ing around the city.

Tell me about it. At fucking $12/pair I have more headphones than Injinjis.

I'm starting to think that Trek might be the way to go, but I'll have to make it through a summer first. What I'm hypothesizing is that the extra few MM's of cushion will hopefully make a dent in the kind of "hard floor soreness" you can get VFF'ing around the city.

How about just wearing some shoes?

Aw Al, c'mon. I'm sure when you were a kid and shoes were invented they were quite the technological marvel, but it's damn near 2010; we can do better.