text: TL;DR: Great shoes, will mold to fit you like a glove, and last for at least a year of heavy use. Get the Samba Originals if you prefer a short tongue.<br /><br />About me: I'm on my fourth pair of Samba Classics. In a row. I love this shoe, and I think you will too. That being said, here's what I think you need to know:<br /><br />I first started wearing these shoes because I needed something with a flat sole to dance in (I did musicals in high school, and I wore straight through a pair of running shoes), and I fell completely in love with them. I wear them 100% of the time when it isn't raining and there isn't snow on the ground. I have also worn them for their &#34;intended purpose&#34; - indoor soccer - and find they work great there too.<br /><br />I would DEFINITELY recommend these shoes for serious walking, dancing, or indoor soccer. NOTE WELL: they will mold to your feet as if you were born wearing them, and will change their appearance somewhat once broken in (the leather will look a lot less shiny, and will develop a flatter fit across your foot), in my opinion much for the better. Like all leather shoes, these have a break in period, and I find it's less than a week. Once broken in, they feel AWESOME, and last a very long time: my last three pairs lasted between 1 year and 1.5 years each, depending on the amount of walking I did (walking increased when I went to college). They're also very comfortable walking / standing shoes. I've never gotten blisters or pains from them.<br /><br />I would NOT recommend these shoes for rain, snow, ice, hiking, or serious running. The flat sole, which makes them great for traction on flat, dry surfaces, falls short on all of these things. Since they are leather, they're fairly water resistant, and a coat of water repellent spray will make them very water resistant (and avoid winter salt water stains), but water WILL get in around the tongue, which is not attached at the sides, only at the front.<br /><br />These shoes tend to wear in two places: the interior heel (the back of the inside lining), which will develop holes if you're a fan of slipping your shoes on and off (which I don't recommend: these are leather, they're meant to be tied snug); and the sole, which will gradually wear toward smooth. I find that the sole and the upper wear at about the same rate: i.e. by the time the sole is worn to the point of noticeable slippage on wet surfaces, the shoes themselves look like they're ready to be replaced. If you don't care about these two factors (or you want a pair of old shoes to work in), they will basically last forever. I still use my first pair for construction, painting, and mowing the lawn. They're over four years old and the leather will probably outlast everything else in my life.<br /><br />These shoes are essentially identical to the Samba Originals, the difference being that these have a longer tongue. Some people don't like the tongue, which is reminiscent of soccer cleats, but I like it because it makes the shoes pop a bit more, and goes well with long casual pants, with which you can wear the tongue outside of the pants (the tongue is also not uncomfortable with shorts, especially after it gets bent forward a bit by being worn with long pants).