{"id":907,"date":"2009-12-10T17:41:20","date_gmt":"2009-12-11T01:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/?p=907"},"modified":"2009-12-10T18:47:58","modified_gmt":"2009-12-11T02:47:58","slug":"merrell-siren-sport-omin-fit-shoe-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/merrell-siren-sport-omin-fit-shoe-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Merrell Siren Sport Omin-Fit Shoe Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-916\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/merrell-siren-sport-omin-fit-shoe-review\/_mg_3493\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"916\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/merrell-siren-sport-omin-fit-shoe-review\/_mg_3493\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/_mg_3493.jpg?fit=480%2C320&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"480,320\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;60&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;100&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Merrell Siren Sport Omnifit\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/_mg_3493.jpg?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/_mg_3493.jpg?fit=480%2C320&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-916 aligncenter\" title=\"Merrell Siren Sport Omnifit\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/_mg_3493.jpg?resize=480%2C320\" alt=\"Merrell Siren Sport Omnifit\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/_mg_3493.jpg?w=480&amp;ssl=1 480w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/_mg_3493.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I received a pair of <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/5oYwFr\">Women&#8217;s Siren Sport Omni-Fit shoes<\/a> a few months ago and have been testing them ever since. By coincidence I also received a pair of the waterproof version of these shoes, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tkqlhce.com\/click-3280113-10367535?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shoebuy.com%2Fmerrell-siren-sport-goretex-xcr%2F313628%2F670251&amp;cjsku=670251&quot; target=&quot;_top&quot;\">Siren Sport XCR Gore-Tex<\/a>, \u00c2\u00a0as well when I went on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/gore-experience-more-blogger-summit-day-1-why-and-wherefore\/\">Gore trip<\/a> so I&#8217;ll include a few comments on those as well.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Wow!&#8221; I said when I first put these shoes on. They felt so light I checked to make sure they hadn&#8217;t given me running shoes instead. They were also immediately comfortable. These are easily the most comfortable shoes I have ever been hiking in.<\/p>\n<h3>How I tested these shoes<\/h3>\n<p>Ove the course of approximately two months, I wore them:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>on a 3 day trip in Joshua Tree National Park in hot weather<\/li>\n<li>to local crags with approach hikes from 30 to 45 minutes in length (one way) over varied terrain and including a wet rock traverse and a bouldering climb approach<\/li>\n<li>on a 5 day Joshua Tree trip in cold weather<\/li>\n<li>occasionally out on errands, city walking<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also wore the Gore-Tex version on city streets in Philadelphia while on a scavenger hunt and at my local crag as well as around town in the rain and while at a damp climbing area in Northern California (short approach mainly on dirt and it had rained the day before).<\/p>\n<h3>Pros and Cons<\/h3>\n<h4>Pros<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Weight (11 oz for a size 7 shoe). These are so light it&#8217;s amazing. I would definitely bring these on a multipitch climb as the shoes are not only light but I feel I can squish them down better to fit in my pack.<\/li>\n<li>Grip. The Vibram TC5+ rubber soles had sufficient grip for me, at times I felt the grip performance was indistinguishable from my pair of 5.10 Insight shoes. However, I felt I could slip on the wet river rock on a local area rock traverse. I&#8217;m not sure how the 5.10s would have fared though, as the rock there is usually not wet (so I didn&#8217;t get to test that with my Insights).<\/li>\n<li>Shoe shape. I feel the shape of the shoe fits my feet better than others I&#8217;ve had, they don&#8217;t seem unnecessarily bulky, particularly around the widest part of my the foot. I have what I believe to be a regular foot width, at least according to those shoe measuring devices you can find in some shoe stores, yet in some hiking\/approach shoes I feel like I have too much width in certain parts of the shoe.<\/li>\n<li>Lugs. I&#8217;ve been wary of the trend in approach shoes that has just round circles on the bottom of the shoe instead of lugs. I always feel more sketched out on loose dirt than on rock surfaces and so I like a bit of \u00c2\u00a0depth to the bottom of my shoes.<\/li>\n<li>Little details. I love the pull up straps, the loop is wide! This made it easier to put my fingers through them to pull my shoes on (could even do it with thin gloves on) but it also made it easier to put a carabiner through my shoes as well. I also like the shoelaces, perhaps because of the semi flat design, they seem to stay tied more often compared to a pair of other shoes I own with completely rounded laces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Cons<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Strange design detail on top of the toe area shows wear easily. On the outer part of the shoe (the non waterproof version of the shoe that is) there is a raised ridge around the toe of the foot which also continues along some of the sides (you can see it in the picture I&#8217;ve included, taken early during testing). It does not seem to serve any functional purpose but is just decorative. However, this decorative touch is showing some wear after a few months of use. Granted, I did wear these shoes in Joshua Tree and did a bunch of scrambling including going up a downclimb and wedging my feet in a few cracks. But I think if the shoes didn&#8217;t have the ridges they wouldn&#8217;t show as much wear as quickly since the rest of the shoe was fine.<\/li>\n<li>Sizing. Sizing seems slightly small. That may be my foot though. However I think for Merrell shoes I&#8217;d go one half size higher so I could wear thicker socks (or wear a sock with a liner).<\/li>\n<li>Wet grip. See my note above, but I had to be very careful on a wet rock traverse (not to be confused with stream rock hopping, this was a large rock formation that we traverse across to get around a pond). This may be an unfair &#8220;con&#8221; since I am not sure what shoe would&#8217;ve performed well enough to not make me feel like I might slip. Note, that I did not actually slip, just felt that it was a possibility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Additional Comments<\/h3>\n<p>I wore these shoes in a decent range of temperatures and I didn&#8217;t really think about my feet during either extreme. To me that&#8217;s a good sign. \u00c2\u00a0As I already explained, I prefer approach shoes with at least a little bit of a lug on them so when I say these shoes are light that&#8217;s in relation to other hiking shoes, I do own a pair of Evolv approach shoes with low profile sticky rubber buttons on the bottom but I have yet to bring them on a long approach as I am always more concerned about the hike than the down climb on rock (I&#8217;m talking things like Tahquitz for those of you familiar with that long hike in).<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d take these shoes on my next backpacking trip (or the Gore-tex version which is quite similar though they lack the decorative ridge I mentioned). I tend to backpack in light hikers though so your mileage may vary if you generally prefer more serious backpacking shoes with ankle support.<\/p>\n<p>One last thing, the shoes come with an Ortholite\u00c2\u00ae anatomical footbed that is supposed to resist odor. So far that seems to be no problem. I was more concerned with the feel and support. I wear Superfeet insoles with another pair of my shoes but I left the Sirens with the default insoles and so far I have no complaints.<\/p>\n<p>So there you go, a few words about my Merrell&#8217;s. I wore my first pair of Merrell&#8217;s down until they were almost flat. I have a feeling I&#8217;ll be using these similarly.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tkqlhce.com\/click-3280113-10537733?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetshoes.com%2Fgo.asp%3Fgc%3D6775-188%26ItemType%3DIM%26source%3Dcj&amp;cjsku=6775-188\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.planetshoes.com\/mmplanet\/Images\/6775\/6775_188_detail.jpg?w=1240\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Merrell Siren Sport Omni-Fit Shoes - Dusty Olive - Women\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I received a pair of Women&#8217;s Siren Sport Omni-Fit shoes a few months ago and have been testing them ever since. By coincidence I also received a pair of the waterproof version of these shoes, the Siren Sport XCR Gore-Tex, \u00c2\u00a0as well when I went on the Gore trip so I&#8217;ll include a few comments&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[41,62],"tags":[122,124,123,13],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa1ZbT-eD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":703,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/gore-experience-more-blogger-summit-day-1-why-and-wherefore\/","url_meta":{"origin":907,"position":0},"title":"Gore Experience More Blogger Summit &#8211; Part 1 &#8211; Why and Wherefore","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"October 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"For 3 days of last week I took part in a whirlwind of travel, learning and play as a guest at Gore's \"Experience More Blogger Summit\". It was an all expense paid trip designed by Gore to get to know their product users and to let folks know their new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gear&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gear","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/gear\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/img_3413.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":159,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/the-510-outlet-in-california-great-deals\/","url_meta":{"origin":907,"position":1},"title":"The 5.10 Outlet in California &#8211; Great Deals","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"February 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Friday I finally got to go to the 5.10 Outlet store in California. My local climber friends and I had been hearing about this shop for awhile and we talked about stopping by on our way to Joshua Tree, but there was always this one catch... It's only open\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Joshua Tree&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Joshua Tree","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/climbingtrip\/joshua-tree\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/photo_013009_001.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1688,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/7-methods-of-battling-stinky-climbing-shoes\/","url_meta":{"origin":907,"position":2},"title":"7 Methods of Battling Stinky Climbing Shoes","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"July 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"So one of my friends on Facebook (who shall remain nameless because I don't think s\/he'd want me to incriminate him\/her) was asking about getting rid of climbing shoe funk. I started to reply and realized I was getting rather long winded and also realized others might want to read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gear&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gear","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/gear\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1771,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/five-ten-core-award-youth-gym-teams-can-win-money-shoes-and-a-contract\/","url_meta":{"origin":907,"position":3},"title":"Five Ten CORE AWARD &#8211; Youth Gym Teams Can Win Money, Shoes and a Contract","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"October 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't qualify for this but I know at least one of my readers is on a youth competition team and some others have kids who are climbing. The application isn't due until July of 2012, but you need to list your accomplishments \"in the past year\" so that's a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Contests &amp; Give-Aways&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Contests &amp; Give-Aways","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/contests-give-aways\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1945,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/cebe-cinetik-and-wild-sunglasses-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":907,"position":4},"title":"C\u00c3\u00a9b\u00c3\u00a9 Cinetik and Wild Sunglasses Review","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"September 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have issues with sunglasses. Sometimes they are too big for me and slide down my face, sometimes they give me headaches from temple pressure and\/or poor quality lenses, sometimes they give me funny indention marks on my nose that hurt a bit when they decompress, sometimes they pull my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gear&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gear","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/gear\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/rgadmin\/rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/cinetik-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":744,"url":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/gore-vs-event-othercompetition-environmentalism-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":907,"position":5},"title":"Gore Experience More Blogger Summit Part 2 &#8211; Testing, Competition &#038; Play","author":"Eileen Ringwald","date":"November 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Day 2 The Moisture Transfer Rate Equation After breakfast in the hotel the next order of the day was a visit to the Gore facilities in Elkton, Maryland. This is an actual testing and production plant so occasionally we were not allowed to take photos, such as on the production\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gear&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gear","link":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/topics\/gear\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2588\/4068183117_f7fccf0327.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":943,"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions\/943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rockgrrl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}