Vivobarefoot - Primus Trail II FG

Yup, barefoot shoes. Personally, I love the Vivo Primus Trail Knit. The SG model is not being made right now but a few can still be had online. The FG is widely available, often lightly used for good deals. If narrow feet (probably, as you come from Merrell, the Hydra are nice for mud).

For me its the vivo barefoot Primus Trail II FG in black. My only sneakers while traveling for two years and I have zero complaints. I was walking around 10 miles per day. I just caught two NIB pairs for 50% off on Sierra! Was checking their website daily, they seem to get all the different vivos in once per year and they sell out within two days unless they are some wacky neon color. Hoping these should last me the next 5 years. I put one pair in storage.

One way to make them last is to only wear them on trails. Wear a different pair of shoes getting to/from the trail. Never wear them walking around the city. The Xero Scrambler Low which are a bit thicker than you mentioned but have the nice Michelin sole. I'm a big fan and do my long runs in these. The Vivo Primus FG don't have good traction in the wet. They're also oddly stiff for the thickness and overall I just don't like running in them. VFF are thinner than you requested, but have awesome Vibram soles. Being able to push down with your toes (like a claw) gives you an amazing grip option other shoes don't. For shorter runs, they feel the best. You can easily find VFF on sale or on ebay for well under $100.

I wear some old Primus SG and FG shoes depending on the terrain I am running and they are still going strong after many kms. Longest I have done is a trail half marathon but not sure if I would want to do much further. My volume has increased past that now so have bought some altra lone peaks for longer distance runs, but still really enjoy swapping back for the shorter runs

Plus one for the Primus Trail FG - best low-profile trail running shoe by far and a great all-rounder for travel adventures - may be too sporty/rugged for nice dinners but meets everything else. Anything barefoot style will keep it low profile. I'd pair vivo's and whitin's canvas shoes for my offroad/hiking needs vs my city walking/more dressy occassions.

I do think Vivobarefoot Primus Would be good for hiking. I don’t think you need a special shoe that has hiking in the name as long as your feet are used to barefoot. 

Primus Trail for Summer. Tracker Leather for winter. Love both. I can put 4 rounds on my feet and my feet will be the least sore part of me walking off the course.

I used their primus trails, from like 2019/20. They were fine but mostly used them for hiking. But post-pandemic prices are so not worth it for the quality. I end up blowing out the uppers on the outside toe after a few months of casual wear.

I run in Vivo Barefoot Shoes, Primus and Primus trail. I’ve exclusively worn minimalist shoes for 7-8 years and I cannot run in conventional shoes because it changes my gait and hurts. In fact, I can’t really run on the school track near my house because it’s so squishy. That said, as someone new to running this year, my form is naturally awesome and I’ve made great gains. Before I started running earlier this year I bought Altra Escalantes thinking they’d be ok. Absolutely not - felt like marshmallows and squeezed my mid-foot terribly. Also caused heel striking I could not force to change. There is a barefoot running subreddit; you’ll find people there who run both shod and unshod.

Vivobarefoot are pretty wide. If you can get used to the really low stack height and lack of cushioning, it's a great shoe.

I alternate between them and Lonepeaks. Pretty happy with the balance. I avoid wearing them for trails exceeding 10km, or ones I expect to have pointy rocks. I also don't like them on stairs.

5 fingers are good but bear in mind they have no stubtoe protection, so a stray rock in the path can really mess up your day (ask me how I know). I’d favor a shoe with a toe box, like vivos.

I have used them for trail running and backpacking. They held up pretty well but take getting uses to, you'll have to toughen up your soles for impact. It took me few days to adjust to the impact patterns. Feet were sore in the beginning.

I am hypermobile and am also in the process of figuring out if I have EDS and what type. I didn't make the switch, but rather since I began hiking/backpacking/trail running I have worn Vivobarefoot and Altra shoes. My ankles became pretty strong and never roll, even compared to other regular-mobile people. I also have the frontal knee pain, but as you mentioned, it turned out that's about the imbalance of too strong quads-too weak hammies. TLDR: Yes it's possible

I did, but on trails with small pebbles or twigs, I found they'd sometimes get stuck between my toes which wasn't comfortable

I wear barefoot shoes in regular life, and I used to wear Vivos on the trail. I do think I’m able to go farther and without sore feet with some cushion. I personally hike in Altra Timp 4s. I view my wearing minimalist shoes most of the time as strengthening my feet and then the cushion on my hiking shoes allows me to take the most advantage of that built up strength. 

Vivobarefoot and Xero are both about as wide as Altra LPs, but obviously much less cushion between you and the ground. Merrell TrailGloves are also appropriately foot shaped and split the difference between an LP and a true barefoot shoe in stack height (LPs are 25mm, trail gloves are 12mm, Vivo primus trails are 5mm) Astral makes zero drop foot shaped water shoes, but their TR1 is kind of a hybrid, designed for canyoneering and pack rafting and stuff. Can get the job done as a hiker or approach shoe.

I’ve climbed mountains in vivos. Not like actual hardcore high altitude climbing of course, but grassland to snow back to grassland over kilometres of elevation type of climbs, and it’s so much better than thick stiff hiking boots. You have to have the ankles for it, which is why I think so many people avoid barefoot for hard activity, but nothing beats underfoot feedback when it comes to feeling secure on scree and wild rock

I've been liking the new Inov-8 Trailfly Zeros in wide. Vivo shoes fit me decently well and these seem similar fitwise.

I exclusively wear Vivobarefoot, and will never go back to thicker shoes.

I did for a while, I kept stepping on a rock right in the middle of my arch. It was not a pleasant feeling, switched to altras.

I wear minimalist/barefoot/zero drop shoes day to day. I also hiked 1300 miles of PCT including all of JMT (well, the large part that overlaps) wearing a mix of Altras and Topos. I much prefer the Topos as simply much more durable and a bit more supportive, well worth the small weight penalty. Currently rocking the Traverse model. The year after my big hike, I attempted to hike a pretty tough 120-mile section "off the couch" using Vivo barefoot shoes instead of tried-and-true Topos. It was a total disaster. By mile 13, the soles of my feet were two giant blister cushions. I hobbled out the next day nearly crying from pain and hitched home, utterly defeated. Turns out padding and isolation from scorching hot jagged/sloped black basalt surfaces is important. So yeah, as u/_m2thet says, barefoot is good for maintenance of foot strength and gentle tread in normal, less demanding life conditions. Then when you put your feet to a hard test, you still want all the protection you can get.