KEEN Newport review

All the necessary benefits can be enjoyed upon owning this KEEN product. It is a solid option if you:

• prefer a hiking sandal that provides traction on various obstacles encountered during hikes
• want a hiking sandal that grants ample toe protection
• appreciate a sandal that you can wear in hot and cold, bright and dark
• on the lookout for a hiking sandal that keeps the user’s foot comfortably dry and fresh during hikes

Sure, the KEEN Newport is durable. However, its sturdiness came with a price; it put on some weight. Hikers who want a lighter pick might be happier with the Hurricane Drift from Teva. Fair warning, though; the Drift is a good alternative but it isn't the most durable.

There might be hikers who'd find the stiffness of the Newport a bit too uncomfortable. The Hoka Hopara may not be the most flexible, but it's way more flexible than the KEEN Newport.

The heel is just as thick as the average at 27.0 mm. This much material delivered just the right amount of impact protection that we needed to keep our walks comfortable and pain-free.

At 17.7 mm, the forefoot stack is just as high as the average. This sandal and the more recently released Newport H2 deliver the same balanced feeling in the forefoot.

Just like many shoes and sandals, the Newport from KEEN has a slightly elevated heel. This ensured more impact protection in the heel and a bit more ground feel in the forefoot. 

Our caliper measurements and calculations led us to conclude that this sandal has a heel-to-toe drop of 9.3 mm.

The midsole of the KEEN Newport felt slightly softer than average. Our every step got the cushioning that it needed to keep pain at bay.

Our HA durometer in the lab confirmed our initial observation. The device gave the midsole's softness a rating of 22.4, which is significantly lower than average.

At its widest part, the toebox is just as wide as the average. Our caliper measured its width to be 102.7 mm.

Just because it delivered so much durability did not mean that the base of the KEEN Newport felt like a brick. Quite on the contrary, it was moderately pliable, garnering a score of 3 out of 5 in our torsional rigidity test in the lab. While it was firm enough to protect from twists, it still allowed some level of flexibility that is needed in rocky and slopy areas.

Just like many other hiking sandals, the KEEN Newport has a fairly wide forefoot platform. Our caliper measured it to be 119.3 mm wide, which helped ensure our surefootedness even on slightly damp or rocky surfaces.

Just like the forefoot, the heel area is as wide as we expected it to be at 88.8 mm. There was not an instance when our foot fell off the footbed.

When it comes to torsional rigidity, we'd already seen that this KEEN sandal had a moderate amount of give. However, its longitudinal flexibility seemed to put on way more resistance. 

Using a shoe flexing tester, we measured how much force was needed to bend the shoe by 30 degrees. At 13.2N, it turned out to need notably more force than a typical hiking sandal.

On one hand, this makes the KEEN Newport more supportive as it minimizes foot flexion on rocky terrain. But at the same time, it may not feel as comfortable, grounded, and maneuverable as the more traditional hiking sandals. We believe that you will appreciate its stiffness if you are after a more hiking shoe like experience.

The durability of the KEEN Newport is due in part to having more and/or thicker materials in its critical parts. Unfortunately, such an uptick in durability resulted in a drawback in weight. Our scale reported this sandal's weight to be 14.6 ounces or 414 grams. This number makes this sandal 43% heavier than average! That's a lot!

Now, if a light sandal is deemed more desirable, we recommend the Hurricane Drift from Teva. It weighs only 7.2 ounces or 204 grams!

The Keen Newport sandal did perfectly well in our toebox durability test. Our Dremel drilling left an obvious mark on the toebox, but this area has a lot of material to burn and the damage barely affected the toebox's integrity. It's a perfect 5 from us for this sandal's toebox durability.

Putting the two shoes side by side, it's clear that the damage seen on the toebox of the Terrex Swift R3 GTX from Adidas is far more critical than the damage seen on the Newport.

We subjected the heel strap to some high-pressure Dremel drilling, and it unfortunately suffered considerable damage. We could only give it a score of 2 out of 5 for durability.

Like the KEEN Newport, the Hoka Anacapa Mid GTX also got a 2 out of 5 in our heel counter durability test. Given the amount of rubbing that hiking usually brings, we do not think that the rearfoot areas of both these shoes are going to last long.

The outsole displayed slightly more hardness than the average sandal with our HC durometer giving it a rating of 84.8.

The outsole's hardness came quite handy when we had to walk over rough surfaces such as river sides and grounds full of gravel.

Hands down, this sandal has AMAZING outsole durability. Our Dremel drilling in the lab resulted only in a dent that's 0.6 mm deep, which is around 74% shallower than the dent incurred by the average hiking footwear.

If longevity is what you desire, then the KEEN Newport is the hiking sandal that you should be getting. Our confidence in this sandal's longevity was reinforced when we verified its waterproofness during our test strolls during wet days outdoors.

At 2.1 mm, the outsole is only as thick as the average. We didn't have problems with this number since the outsole delivered a good deal of sturdiness.

We appreciated the bite that the KEEN Newport had on many surfaces that we walked on. When assessed in the lab, we learned that its lugs are 3.1 mm deep. We could safely say that this sandal is indeed one for hiking, and on a wide variety of surfaces at that!

This hiking sandal was usable not only in changing weather (hot and cold) but also in changing lighting conditions (bright and dark). Because of its reflective features, we were confident using it during the night.

The amount of padding in the tongue was just around the average at 4.4 mm. Though it did not feel special, we also did not have anything to complain about.

The KEEN Newport's finger-loop heel tab made it extra easy to put on and take off. It's an add-on that we truly appreciated.