Teva Hurricane XLT - Women's Review

In some cases, maintaining a classic design can be a good thing, but when it comes to the Teva Hurricane, we're not so sure. It was consistently OK in all our metrics but never really impressed any of our testers. Despite its simple design, we thought this was a good all around shoe that is worthy of both city and backcountry travel.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

The Hurricane is quite comfortable, although its footbed is slightly firmer and has less arch support than the Teva Tirra. One tester remarked that the sole of the Hurricane simply felt flat. The unique strap structure of the shoe makes loosening debris that gets caught under your foot quite easy, as there is no strap to hold down the arch of your foot. The only problem we noticed is that the straps of the Hurricane are rather scratchy. There is no soft seam (as on the Tirra) to pad the top of our tester's delicate feet, only synthetic webbing. The Hurricane's only come in whole sizes. For half sizes we recommend sizing up.

Traction

The Hurricane did quite well in our traction test. It was above average, but it didn't wow any of us with its performance on wet terrain. Regardless, we felt confident on water logged or slick surfaces and we would recommend it if you spend a lot of time boating or running after little ones at the pool side. The Teva Hurricane has Teva's own “Durabrasion” rubber which is engineered for more all around wear. It exchanges extra traction for increased durability.

Stability

The base of this shoe is nice and stable since it is wide and low to the ground. The three straps that cross the top of the foot are burly and keep the foot securely placed in the center of the sandal. The Hurricane would feel even more stable if it had a little more support throughout the arch. Unfortunately, the sole is quite flat. Our high arch testers were especially unimpressed with the Hurricane, and even those with lower arches wished for a little more support when they carried any kind of pack.

Style

The style of the Hurricane has really stood the test of time. As in literally, it looks the exact same as the photo of you wearing your Tevas in the summer of 1990 in front of your Aunt Linda's house. The solid color Hurricanes come in a slightly updated smooth webbing look that we found to be attractive. Love it or hate it, the Hurricane has a look that is unmistakably casual and is perfect for most any beachside activities.

Adjustability

The Hurricane is extremely adjustable. Simply peel back its heavy duty Velcro and make sure to put in down in the right place so you don't have to do it again. Just kidding, it's not that bad, but it is pretty burly. Not only is the Velcro strong, but there is a LOT of it which means that no volume of foot will be limited by the strap adjustment limitations of this sandal.

Water Resistance

Despite being engineered as a rafting/water shoe, we were surprised at how long the Hurricane took to dry. It was actually one of our slowest drying sandals, taking an hour and a half to completely dry out! Possibly due to the strap positioning and/or material, this shoe wasn't nearly as clammy as some of the other models were as they dried out, so we weren't too hung up on the dry time with this particular sandal.

Best Applications

The Teva Hurricane is a good all-around outdoor sandal. It is suitable in wet terrain and has good enough traction for rocky trails as well. Consistent with other open-toed models, it has no foot-top protection so really adventurous trails might be problematic. It fit a broad range of foot sizes although high arched individuals should be cautioned about its lack of support in this area.

Value

We thought the Hurricane's price tag of $60 was fair, although if you are looking to buy a sandal that is a bargain, our Best Buy winner, the Columbia Sunbreeze performed slightly better than the Hurricane. If you are a faithful Teva fan, then we would definitely recommend the Teva Tirra over the Hurricane as it had increased comfort, style, and support and only cost $20 more.

Conclusion

This sandal may have a classic design from a reputable brand, but testers didn't get too excited about its performance in the field. Sure it did quite fine in our traction test, was pretty comfortable, and was lightweight. But we wanted to be really impressed, and we weren't.