Good news first:
Excellent performing shoe. Went running 5 miles on a dirt trail with them. They provided much more support than running shoes, of course a bit heavier so causing just a bit more fatigue but understandable considering they aren't running shoes.
Wore them for a very rocky hike up a mountainside. Excellent traction and support. Once I reached the peak I jogged down. Again, excellent traction. The only time they slipped was on very smooth rock. Even then, the slips weren't drastic.
I work for a moving company. The job eats up shoes like crazy. Not to mention a shoe of any sort of inferior design wreaks havok on the feet at the end of the day. These shoes manage the job with flying colors. However, given my concern with quality, we'll see how long it lasts on the job. An average pair of sneakers I wear to work lasts about 3 months.
The icing on the cake is that they can be worn as a good looking casual shoe when going out on the town as well. Too bad Merrell doesn't make the Chameleon Wrap in all black. It would be the ultimate all around shoe since it wouldn't have the (sometimes) undesirable sporty looking gray midsole.
To sum it up, you can do pretty much anything in these shoes, with the exclusion of formal occasions.
The bad news is that the quality control is bad. I got a pair from Backcountry in which there was an indentation in the toe area on the left foot. It dug into the toe area. It was clearly a manufacturing defect. Luckily Backcountry is excellent in the returns department, so there was no problem getting another pair of properly made shoes.
Thanks Backcountry! The only problem with the second pair is that the rubber on the toe area is seperating slightly from the leather. Probably nothing some shoe glue won't fix. Another odd thing is that the second pair they sent me seemed to fit a whole lot better. They seemed to prevent pronation much better than the first pair. So when purchasing be wary of defects. Make sure to try them on at the end of the day when feet get swollen. Also, these shoes tend to run narrow. I normally wear a 9 or 9W. They don't make a 9W so I had to get 9 1/2.
Overall, if I had to have only one pair of shoes, these would be it and I'm very discerning with footwear. Especially since I've had knee problems in the past.
Now only if Merrell would make an fully black version of this shoe. (Hopefully someone from Merrell is reading this)