Chaco Bodhi - Women's Review

The Chaco Bodhi is a full-strap adventure sandal designed to tackle even the hardiest terrain. It has a ChacoGrip rubber sole with a LUVSEAT PU footbed and a women's specific LUVSEAT dual-density PU midsole. The straps are made of polyester jacquard webbing and our size 7 weighed 14.1 ounces. They come in just one width and a handful of color options.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

The Bodhi soles are significantly thinner and lighter than any of the other similar, full adventure sandals from Chaco. This decreased weight makes a significant difference in how they feel. While they still feel hearty and substantial, the Bodhi have lost that almost brick-like heaviness that has characterized Chaco's adventure sandals for years. The Bodhi soles are also slightly more flexible than other similar models, adding even more to their comfort. They have impressive arch support, too — though if your feet are flat (or flatter than average), this may not feel good.

The webbing straps are soft and comfortable, with no rough edges. We were initially worried that the main part of the strap would rub as it pops out of the footbed between your biggest and second toes and lays quite low across the top of that second toe. Because your toes move a lot when you're walking, we feared that this strap would cause a hot spot. Much to our delight, even when we hiked all day and walked through streams and over boulders in the Bodhi, we never found the straps to rub uncomfortably. The lack of straps on the sides of the foot cuts down on even more potential rubbing spots but also allows the Bodhi to accommodate wider feet than other Chaco sandals. The only minor inconvenience we had was that the strap is a bit long, and when fully tightened, the tail sometimes caught under the edges of our foot.

Traction

True to what we've come to expect from Chaco sandals, the Bodhi has excellent traction. With soles made of ChacoGrip rubber and large lugs, this sandal had no problem carrying us down sandy trails, scrambling over boulders, and crossing slippery streams. Their flexibility again comes in handy here, contributing to the exceptional traction.

Importantly, the internal footbed of the Bodhi has a diamond mesh crisscross pattern that drastically improves the traction of your foot inside the sandal. The overall texture and ergonomic shape of the footbed does wonders for keeping feet firmly anchored against the soles — even when your feet start to sweat, or you're crossing a fast-moving stream.

Stability

The contouring on the Bodhi securely cups the heel, and, though it may take a little getting used to, the toe loop is integral to the overall excellent stability. Easily adjustable, this loop firmly secures your foot to the footbed even when you're twisting sideways while walking over uneven terrain.

It's this toe loop that allows the minimal strap design of the Bodhi to provide the stability necessary to be a true adventure sandal. These shoes are also very well-balanced when worn, adding further stability across tricky surfaces. Without pinching, squeezing, or rubbing, the Bodhi secure completely to the foot, helping you to move confidently in pretty much any situation.

Adjustability

Anyone who's tried on a classic pair of Chacos can attest to the uniqueness of their strap adjustment system. Rather than adjusting separate straps, like most sandals, the front section of the Bodhi is a single strap that's threaded through the inside of the footbed. A small card included with the sandals illustrates the order in which to tug the straps to tighten or loosen the fit. Though it's more complicated to figure out than a simple velcro adjustment, once learned, it's easy to do and works like a charm.

Because the entire front part of the Bodhi is adjustable (the heel strap is fixed), this sandal offers one of the most customizable fits of any model we tested. And while some older iterations of Chacos have become very challenging to adjust once you've worn them a few times, we did not find this to be the case with the Bodhi. No matter how many excursions through sand, dusty desert, or murky water, the Bodhi remained simple to adjust to whatever fit we desired.

Versatility

When it comes to terrain and activities, there's almost no place we wouldn't feel comfortable wearing the Bodhi. They're one of the very few models we tested that we're happy to wear on a wet boat deck or a 16-mile hike over rough and variable topography. We may draw the line at long runs, as their flexibility isn't quite as good as we'd like for true running, though this isn't a hard line.

We're also pleased with the stylistic versatility of the Bodhi. Lacking the wild patterns and overly strappy look of other Chacos, the Bodhi manages a kind of "outdoor chic" vibe. They're still a bit thick in the sole for some people's tastes, but we felt cute when wearing them with a smart summer outfit to the boardwalk or beer garden.

Should You Buy the Chaco Bodhi?

The Bodhi is a fantastic all-around pair of sandals with the right fit and adjustability to wear anywhere, the comfort to stay on all day, and the traction and stability to conquer just about anywhere life may take you. They're on the pricey side, but for a pair of sandals you can wear for most summertime activities, we think the investment — and Chaco's reputation for longevity — is well worth the investment. The only people we wouldn't recommend this sandal to are folks with flat or lower-than-average arches, as the footbed has pronounced arch support.

What Other Sandals Should You Consider?