I have had them for about a year. I love Vibram and steve dodge, but the shoes are really bad.
Flowers get stuck in the toes and you look like an idiot walking around with daisies in your feet. The bottom got scraped up really bad on my first round by sharp rocks. If you step in a pile of dog poo you can feel the warmth.
I tried them for soccer twice and both times I sprained my small toe when it came out of the toe holder.
I tried them for running and there is no support for distance running and they smell horrible. I wastold they are antimicrobial and washable, but after about 2 weeks of wear I had to wash them 3-4 times to get the funk out.
They are a great shoe if you are an 800 or 1600 meter runner in high school track, that is all!
You couldn't be more wrong about these shoes.
Yes, flowers/sticks get stuck between your toes, and stepping in a pile of dook would feel quite warm, but just watch where you're stepping and VIOLA... Problem solved.
Now, onto the OP.
I'm a long distance runner who switched to Vibrams (really, any minimalist style shoe) a little more than a year ago. Since I was also picking up disc golf at the time, I started playing in them. Well, I now play around 3 or 4 rounds a week on the reg, and always in my Vibrams (unless there's snow on the ground).
I've worn gum bottom skate shoes before that allowed basically zero slip on the tee pad, so a hard rotation on your pivot was pretty gnar on the knee. That being said, those skate shoes got gunked up and sucked a big one on anything wet that was organic (ie, anything not manmade) with even trace amounts of dew or dampness. Next I used some of my old Adidas trail runners (Kanadia 4's, with the really lugged sole) and they really were great across the board, except that concrete tee pads wore those shoes out in a hurry.
Finally, I moved onto the Vibrams. They have the perfect amount of grip, and the perfect amount of release as well. It's a great balance of grip/slip, if that makes any sense. I've now been playing on them for more than a year, only wearing two pair during that time, and they're both still holding up remarkably. I initially purchased the Komodo Sport LS's, but they have more material and a thicker sole which was still not what I was looking for (now, they're mostly used for when I'm going to be on a concrete surface for long periods of time, or if I'm running errands or similar). I then purchased a set of KSO's, and they're now my go to set of shoes for disc, ultimate, distance running, trail running, distance hiking (actually just put about 18 miles on my KSO's yesterday at the Wichita Mountains which are all sharp granite, while carrying a 24 lbs baby in a hiking bag and everything was gravy), pickup football, or any type of sport that's on a natural surface. If I'm playing a court sport, I revert back to shoes designed for said sport as the jumping/running on a hard surface tends to hurt the balls of my feet in the Vibrams.
On concrete tee pads, they perform with zero complaints. On natural surfaces, wet or dry, they're even better. I thought I would need the more lugged type of sole that they offer, but I've found that the slick bottomed, basic style of Vibram sole seems to be the best for just about everything. It allows the foot to grip and your toes to dig into the earth, and you feel remarkably planted while playing. Wet inclines? No problem...
Anyway, as you can tell, I dig the shoes. I now play with a few groups where more and more of them are following suit and grabbing Vibrams. Many of whom have played for quite long periods of time, and they all seem to dig them as much as I do. I find that funny as some of the most vocal about how much they like them were also the same dudes who were the most vocal about how ridiculous it was that I was wearing them on the dg course. Irony, I guess.
