Looking for folks with experience with Astral shoes for portaging and or river tripping. Looking for a replacement for my Chota hybrids this year and have heard a lot of good reports on the Astral shoes for this purpose.

Compared with the hybrids I'm looking for something that lasts longer and is easier to kneel in the canoe with.

I'm kind of between Rasslers, Brewers, TR1 Mesh, and Techyak. I've heard of durability issues with the Rasslers and the 1st gen of the TR1 Mesh (not sure about 2nd gen TR1). If not for the durability issues it seems like the Rasslers are the obvious choice, but wondering/hoping maybe they've improved the durability? Hoping for some recent first hand experience.

Would like these to work both with neoprene booties for waders, but also with just wool socks, or with my drysuit.

I've had 2 pairs of the first generation TR1's. The first pair was separating at the sole and they told me it was probably a glue issue. They gave me 50% off on a replacement. Have had no issues with the second pair going on 3 years now. I only wear them 2-3 weeks a year on canoe trips. They are light and drain well. I just wet foot in them with wool socks.

I have had the TR1 meshes for two years and four trips now. I haven't worn them much outside of that due to not wanting to wear them out, as they are a light and relatively fragile shoe. The glue has started to separate but the stitching is still holding them together. Being a full shoe helps keep small rocks out and I do like them much better than the Keen sandles I used to wear. The soft flexible soles are comfortable and grip great, but also make for sore feet on long portages over rough terrain. They don't fully dry out as quickly as you would think either due to having foam insoles, and if you don't dry them out every day they will stink horribly. All in all, I like them but I don't know that I'd buy them again, and I definitely will always have backup camp shoes with me because I don't trust their durability.

The last time I was at Piragis they had some Rocky Nowakes which had fully perforated insoles and looked like they would drain and dry better, but I don't have any experience with them as far as grip or durability.

I have a couple pairs of Astrals. The brewer and the loyak. I like the brewers more but loyaks have their place. Both have held up well over the years. Loyaks are very comfortable specially in the boat but harder on the feet so I usually wear those on shorter trips. I have a thin foot and the loyaks fit tighter. Brewers have thicker sole better for longer travels. Both grip very well on wet rocks etc. both drain well. But the older I get I usually tend to wear mucks more often for more support specially when conditions aren’t ideal.

I have the TR1 Mesh shoes and have really enjoyed them on my last 9 trips. They dry fast and have amazing traction/grip on slick rocks. I pair these with a wool sock while wet footing and have very little issues. At the end of the day I rinse the silt and small sand particles out of my socks, foot bed/shoes and set them to out to dry. Every shoe is a compromise in some fashion, if you bury your foot in the loon crap up to your knee you will also fill the shoe. In rare circumstances I have had to stop to and take a beat before I set of on a long portage to do a quick shoe rinse, but I think anything short of hip waders would have had a similar performance in these cases. I do think if at some point I find myself doing more river trips with wading and lining in rocky rivers I will move to a wading boot for foot protection. This said, the TR1 mesh shoes did a great job going down the Horse River in low-ish water and tackled the Paulson portage twice with heavy loads amongst many other trials.

Happy shoe hunting.

I have owned a pair of Rasslers for a couple years and have been very happy with them. Great drainage and a soft sticky sole that gives good traction on wet rocks. Mine have held up well, but only get used for canoeing.

I bought a pair of first gen TR1 but the mesh tore after very little use. Astral was really great with their customer service as they sent me a new pair of 2nd gen TR1s for free, no questions asked. Unfortunately the mesh tore almost as quickly.
I like the concept but I gave up on the TR1s. Lately I just wear an old pair of my light weight trail runners.

Brewers served me well for many trips, but they are worn out now.

Have the TR1 Merge 2.0 (high-tops) and like everything about them except that I had numerous holes in the mesh on the first trip.

Will likely get a pair of Rasslers next.