Teva Terra-Float Churn It Up - Women's Review

The Terra-Float Churn It Up looks good walking around camp or on the town. Their mesh uppers dry quickly and the comfortable FloatLite midsole provides excellent support on longer side hikes. Yet they aren't quite specific enough for someone looking to get after it on the water.

Performance Comparison

The Terra-Float lacked the traction to confidently walk on a wet raft or slippery rocks.

Photo: Spencer Knutson

Comfort

The insole of the Terra-Float provides great arch support and cushioning. The laces adjust easily with single-pull elastic lace. However, the lace loosened slowly with extended use. They're comfortable with sockless feet, the mesh tongue and synthetic uppers providing an ideal design to prevent irritating seams.

The shoes have great cushioning, but the tightening mechanism loosened after 20 minutes or so of use. The shoe was also quite loose around the heel.

Photo: Ethan Kaandorp

We also found the elastic tightening mechanism to only cinch down on the top of the foot, leaving space enough in the heel for them to slide off when striding uphill. The synthetic material didn't pair well with warm layers; the heel slid off even more easily when we added neoprene socks or a drysuit. While the shoes drained well through the mesh and through holes in the insole, the mesh let in quite a bit of sand, which was difficult to remove.

Traction

The Terra-Float Churn It Up gave decent traction on hard surfaces like a cement boat ramp and dry rocks. However, its veritable lack of lugs made them unreliable for sand and mud.

The shoe's unfeatured outsole made them unreliable for walking on mud and sand.

We found ourselves in a treadmill situation ascending a muddy trail, our legs trembling from the effort of keeping our feet from sliding back. Forget going downhill in the mud. We similarly found them unable to dig in well to sand.

Versatility

These shoes work great on casual walks or kicking it at camp, but lack the tread and durability to reach for them on more serious water adventures. They're relatively lightweight but are too high-volume for a kayak.

Their poor lacing system makes it difficult to wear these with neoprene socks or a drysuit, making them less than ideal on colder days. In a swim or even steep hike, they'd be likely to come off. But they're nice for walks and wearing around town due to their more street-style design.

Warmth

Made almost entirely of mesh, the Terra-Float Churn It Up are more of a sunny-day shoe. They also stay on the foot better with bare feet.

Made almost entirely of mesh and with in-step drainage, these shoes drained quickly. But they slipped off the foot more easily when wool socks or a drysuit was added.

Photo: Monica Nigon

In addition to making space around the heel when tightened, the shoes slip off the heel more easily when neoprene socks or a drysuit were added. The shoes drain quickly with its mesh exterior and holes through the insole. The uppers dry fast as well. They're a good pick for warmer, sunnier regions and warmer water.

Durability

While the insoles and tongue help up against sand and months of harsh treatment, the mesh showed significant signs of fraying. We doubt they'd hold up being stuffed under a raft thwart or into a kayak, the toe bumper not big enough to provide any sort of useful protection outside of stubbing your toe.

The shoe's uppers frayed after just a few uses in harsh conditions. The lacing system seems unlikely to hold up.

Photo: Monica Nigon

The hard lacing system coupled with nylon lace holes presents a potential issue, as hard pulls on the laces and extended use is likely to rip through the holes or break the lace itself.

Sensitivity

The Terra-Float Churn It Up sacrifices sensitivity for a cushy footbed. It looks and functions more like a running shoe, with a substantial heel to toe drop, leaving much on the foot without direct contact with surfaces.

The shoe sacrifices sensitivity for a well-cushioned sole. The stiffness makes it difficult for them to bend over rocks and logs.

Photo: Ethan Kaandorp

The stiffness and heel-to-toe drop of the shoe prevent it from wrapping flexibly around rocks and logs. While you're unlikely to feel nuances of unstable terrain, you'll have great support and cushion.

Value

For a more versatile and sensitive shoe, you could find a more high-performing shoe at a lower price. Even for a shoe that you're looking to wear casually, we find the Terra-Float Churn It Up to be a bit above what we'd like to pay.

Conclusion

The Teva Terra-Float Churn It Up provides excellent cushion and great drainage. It functions decently as a casual shoe to wear around camp, but its poor adjustability and low sensitivity make it less than ideal for a water-specific shoe.

Good for a hike, the Terra-Float Churn It Up didn't live up to our high standards for a water shoe.

Photo: Ethan Kaandorp