Teva Itunda Review
The Teva Itunda is up for just about anything you throw at it and is therefore a great go-to shoe for both water and light to moderate hiking. The Itunda is a little beefier than other Teva sandals that most people are used to, but it’s not quite ready to enter itself into the “shoe” category.
We tested the Itunda while hiking local trails outside of Denver and also in slick rock country in Utah. In both locations, the Itunda stood up to the test. We didn’t get the chance to test the Itunda while hiking up above 10,000 feet because of the snow still being on the ground up through May, but hiking a few thousand feet lower, we found plenty of trails and streams to test them out in.
One of the features that we liked in the Itunda vs. other water shoes/sandals is that they had a good secure fit. There are two places in which you can tighten the straps, both above the forefoot and also closer to the rear of the shoe. The underside of the straps is squishy and seamless, which helped avoid burdensome blisters. Our tester has a medium width foot and tested out size 12′s and felt that the Itunda ran true to size.
For those of you that find yourself doing a fair amount of hiking while on a river trip or like to hike in sandals, the Itunda has a fairly thick EVA midsole that allows the shoe to take the shock, not your body. Something that I tend to do is stub my toes on rocks and roots while hiking and I like to use footwear with a good toe bumper. The Itunda has a beefy toe bumper that not only keeps you from chipping a toenail, but also keeps a bit of sand and rocks out. For added protection and support, the Itunda has a hard piece of plastic from the arch and half way back to the heal. Overtime, this should also help the shoe from breaking down.
Depending on the crowd you hang out with and the establishments you frequent, the Teva Itunda doesn’t fare too bad in the looks category. It was welcomed by activegearreview.com testers and their friends. If you’re going to South Beach, these might not be the right shoe though.
One area of tweaking that we might recommend to Teva would be to cut down on the weight of the Itunda. We think that some of the extra weight can be accounted for in the outsole that is a little thicker than most shoes and sandals in the same category. The other area that would be nice to see is incorporation recycled materials into the Itunda and other Teva models without compromising performance. With exception to a few minor changes, we think the Teva Itunda is a great option for those like to blend water and trails.
MSRP $99.95
Features
- Material: Synthetic upper, NuFoam, TPU toe protection
- Injection molded EVA topsole/upper combination is seamless for comfort
- Buckle closure are easily adjustable for fit
- Drain Frame™ technology to ensure that you’ll never get waterlogged
- Wraparound TPU shank
- Shoc Pad™: A blended polyurethane/EVA unit in the heel cup that evenly transfers the energy of impact throughout the footbed and away from the heel.This energy return actually provides greater spring with each forefoot push-off
- Spider Rubber®outsole: A patented process produces Teva’s most versatile rubber compound that successfully blends high friction and good durability, and performs exceptionally well on wet and dry terrain
- Weight: 9.00 oz.
