The Luna Mono Winged Edition sandals are lightweight and very comfortable huarache-style minimalist sandals. They have an extremely comfortable footbed, a well-cushioned sole, and a simple design that excels in various conditions, from hiking to running to rafting. They’re pretty expensive for what they are, but they’re not the most expensive, either.
Product Overview
Luna Sandals Mono Winged Edition
Price: $110
✅ Comfortable straps
✅ Soft footbed
✅ Well-cushioned sole
✅ Cushioned heel
✅ Great fitting
❌ Less adjustable than some sandals
KEY SPECS
- Weight: 11.8 oz (pair)
- Thickness: 11mm base + 4mm tread height
- Heel Drop: Zero drop
- Material: Vibram Newflex outsole, Vibram footbed, Nylon webbing
The Luna Mono Winged Edition minimalist sandals are incredibly comfortable, adjustable, and stable. They take the traditional huarache sandal design and improve it with a few well-placed pieces of custom hardware on the top of the foot and either side of the ankle. The footbed and sole of these sandals are some of the most comfortable I’ve ever worn. These sandals feel soft and comfortable even after long days wearing them, and they’re a joy to put on after wearing shoes.
They’re also lighter than many other minimalist sandals. They’re even lighter than many sandals with considerably thinner soles. If you’re looking for an all-around comfortable minimalist sandal that can handle everything from hiking to running to rafting and biking, these sandals are a great choice. They’re not the most durable, but many have gotten 1000s of miles out of a pair of Lunas. These are excellent choices for everything from hiking to backpacking, running, or simply living life.
To see our reviews on other minimalist barefoot sandals, see our post on the best minimalist sandals.
Performance Test Results
What We Tested:
How We Tested:
I tested the Luna Mono Winged Edition sandals in Colorado during the spring of 2023. I wore them on several hikes throughout Colorado and spent some time on the river in the South Platte Valley with these sandals. Conditions were warm, with highs in the 60s and 70s, with daily lows in the 30s.
Weight: 10/10
The Luna Mono Winged Edition sandals are some of the lightest sandals I’ve ever worn. These are lighter than almost all the minimalist sandals on the market that still have a substantial sole. The Mono Winged Edition sandals have a lightweight Vibram® Morflex Sole. This rubber weighs less than other soles with this thickness. This is primarily due to the lightweight rubber.
Besides the sole, these sandals have a simple nylon strap system, a single buckle, ankle connecter pieces, and a foam heel pad attached to the webbing. These are minimalist sandals, so there’s not much to them. However, everything on these sandals works really well. Luna doesn’t sacrifice performance to make these minimalist sandals as light as they are.
A pair of Luna Mono Winged Edition sandals weigh 11.8 oz, the lightest sandals I’ve worn.
Price: 8/10
The Luna Mono Winged Edition sandals are moderately priced. They aren’t the most expensive sandals but are certainly not the cheapest either. I think these are very reasonably priced, considering how well they perform. They are not unnecessarily expensive or cheap due to their lack of features. These sandals have everything you’d want in a minimalist sandal without anything that would add to the price but not the performance.
These sandals have a simple, minimalist design with a high-quality Vibram sole. The sole is the most crucial part of a sandal, and these have a great sole. If it weren’t for this sole, these sandals would certainly be significantly cheaper, but I don’t think they’d be nearly as comfortable, grippy, and durable. I find these sandals balance comfort and traction the best of any minimalist sandal, no matter the price. Less expensive sandals simply won’t perform as well as these. I wouldn’t recommend buying sandals that cost less than these, even though there are less expensive minimalist sandals.
The sandals' cost is in the mid-range, fairly priced at $110.
Comfort: 10/10
The Mono Winged Edition sandals are some of the most comfortable minimalist sandals I’ve ever worn. The footbed is soft and comfortable, the straps don’t chafe and have an added heel cushion, and the soles provide just enough cushion underfoot while still being flexible so your foot can move naturally. They have an extremely soft yet grippy footbed that is almost smooth. But this footbed has just enough texture to prevent your foot from sliding around. When I first put on these sandals, I immediately noticed the footbed's comfort. After putting many miles on these footbeds, they’re still just as comfortable as they were when new.
The straps on these sandals are very soft and smooth webbing. Some webbing has a thicker weave, but the tightly woven webbing on these sandals is much more comfortable against your bare feet. I find this webbing to be some of the most comfortable of any sandals I’ve worn. After prolonged use over difficult terrain, I haven’t experienced any chafing or blisters with these straps. There is an added piece of soft foam on the heel strap to further cushion the heel where the strap wraps around. This added bit of cushion is unique to the Mono Winged sandals. I’ve never seen that on any other sandals, and I think it adds a lot of comfort.
The Vibram® Morflex Sole is soft, flexible, and cushioned. These soles make hiking over varied terrain extremely comfortable. I think these soles are much more comfortable than other Vibram soles found on other minimalist sandals, and they don’t sacrifice performance, either. They’re just thick enough to give cushion on rocky surfaces but thin enough to remain flexible and give a good trail feel.
Hiking in different terrains are very comfortable thanks to its Vibram® Morflex Sole.
Stability & Versatility: 9/10
Considering the fact that they’re minimalist sandals, the Mono Winged Edition is extremely versatile and stable. They do well when hiking, running, and biking. They’re also excellent for water sports. They’re zero drop, which provides a natural and stable platform for your foot to plant on the ground entirely. The outsole is grippy enough to be stable over varied terrain and when moving over rocks, roots, and loose dirt. These keep your feet stable and planted where you put them with each step.
The footbed also has enough grip to keep your foot from sliding in the sandal. The straps are highly adjustable to maintain a snug fit, which further keeps your foot planted in place. These sandals do very well in the water. The Vibram soles grip rocks when wet, and the buckles don’t slip and loosen when the straps are wet. They’re not waterproof, but they dry very quickly.
On rocky surfaces, these sandals are very stable. They grip rocks well when wet and when dry. And the straps hold your foot in place when stepping on an angled rock surface. These are some of the best minimalist sandals for stability. I haven’t tried many sandals that are this stable. These are some of the most versatile sandals I’ve worn as well.
Adjustability: 8/10
The Mono Winged Edition sandals are relatively adjustable. They feature a single strap and well-designed hardware. At their core, they’re simple Huarache sandals, and this style has its limitations in adjustability, but these sandals are adjustable enough.
The single strap starts at the forefoot and comes up from the footbed between your first and second toes. It then goes across the top of your foot, feeding through the tri-glide portion of a tri-glide/ladder lock hybrid buckle. From this buckle, the strap wraps to the outside of the ankle, where it folds while feeding through a rubber piece of hardware that secures onto the sole.
It features a single strap that is adjustable enough compared to sandals with many buckles and adjustment hardware.
The strap wraps around your heel before folding and feeding through another one of these pieces attached to the sole. From there, the strap feeds through the ladder lock portion of the tri-glide/ladder lock buckle. The single strap can be adjusted on both portions of the tri-glide/ladder lock buckle and on either side of the ankle. This allows you to adjust how high up or down your foot the strap connects with itself, as well as the tightness of the strap across the top of your foot. By moving the webbing through the hardware on the inside and outside of the ankle, you can also adjust how large or small the heel section of the strap is.
Some sandals do have more places to adjust the tension of the straps. Still, these sandals can effectively be adjusted the same amount as most adjustable sandals without having many buckles, velcro, or other adjustment hardware. It isn’t as easy to adjust the heel strap or how the top strap wraps across your foot as with some minimalist sandals, but you can adjust these sandals in all the same ways.
Material:
The Mono Winged Edition sandals consist of a Vibram® Morflex Sole with an MGT (Monkey Grip Technology) footbed and Nylon webbing. They have two molded rubber pieces of hardware on either side of the ankle and a plastic buckle on top of the foot. Compared to other minimalist sandals, these use similar materials, but the strap material and footbed are some of the most comfortable materials used in any minimalist sandals.
I already spoke at length about the footbed and sole because they’re a huge reason why these sandals are as comfortable as they are. I’ll reiterate here that the MGT footbed is soft and smooth but has just enough texture to hold the bottom of your foot in place without that sandpaper feeling of some footbeds. The soles are 15 millimeters thick if you include the 4-millimeter tread height.
The tread is wide enough that I would definitely include it in factoring in the sole thickness. The sole is firm but softer than some minimalist soles, making it feel more cushioned. The straps are made of ⅝ inch webbing. This webbing is extremely soft and smooth, so it’s also comfortable on your bare skin. The webbing isn’t waterproof, but it does dry quickly. The soles don’t absorb water, and these sandals float as well.
The strap and footbed are made with the most comfortable materials used for minimalist sandals.
Durability: 8/10
The Mono Winged Edition are extremely durable sandals. They’re covered by a 1-year warranty. Many people get 1000s of miles out of one pair of Luna sandals. Compared to other minimalist sandals, these aren’t the most durable, but they are close. When I hiked the CDT, I knew another hiker who thru-hiked the entire trail in Luna Sandals. One pair lasted them over 2000 miles, though they did replace their sandals before finishing all 3,000 miles of the trail.
You can have the straps replaced on your Mono Winged Edition sandals, but you can’t have your Luna Sandals resoled. Strangely enough, the Repairs page on Luna’s website is currently blank, too. Maybe you can’t even have the straps replaced anymore.
650-Calorie Fuel
