Vibram 5 finger vs merrell glove question

I have the Five Finger classics and the Merrell Pace Glove and Lithe Glove. I like them all in different ways. I wear the 5F around town and have used them as camp shoes when backpacking. I have used them for hiking, but only for sandy or fairly smooth trails– for rough, rocky trails my feet take too much of a beating.

I use the Pace Glove for running and hiking and backpacking. The Lithe Gloves are pretty new. I just used them for a 3 day backpack in the Maroon Bells over some fairly rocky trails and they worked GREAT for me. No hot spots, no sore toes, no achy feet at all. I was very pleased. I can't remember the last BP trip that I took where I finished with my feet in such great shape. Both Merrells have a nice wide forefoot so no squished toes, yet the heel fits nice and snugly. IF these fit your feet they are very comfortable. More protection for the bottom of your feet than the 5 fingers (and less risk of breaking a toe), but still a good feel of the ground and lightweight. The Pace glove is mesh, so it does let in some grit, which might not be ideal for your sandy soil. The Lithe glove isn't mesh, so my feet stayed a LOT cleaner. I wear the Pace gloves without socks, the Lithe gloves with injinjis or no socks.

Hopefully you can find somewhere to try them on. They have several other models, which, I believe may fit differently.

I have used Merrell Trail Gloves on many backpacking trips last year. This year I got VFF KSO and did few hikes and did backpacking once. I went back to Trail Gloves on subsequent backpacking. The main problem with VFF is that toes get very cold when the weather is cold or in the evenings. Even two layers of toe socks don't help much. Trail Gloves have no such problem. While VFF gets closer feel of the ground, there is not much use of separate toes – they are not very mobile compared with truly bare feet. I prefer to wear Trail Gloves and go really barefoot sometimes when the ground is nice (smooth granite, meadows, creeks, etc.). It is also nice to be able to use regular socks. They are very quick to slip on and off.