Patience, I really love your "fantasy" polls, especially those related to shoes. (If you ever do find that magic cobbler, can you please send him our way?)

Were they truly 8-hour shoes, I'd go for the heels for sure. However, in the past year my arches have started to complain during exercise or dance after a day of wearing heels, even if they are comfortable, so I've been stocking up on lower heels and flats.

Thanks for playing, ladies! This is very interesting as I had not considered that heels would win simply for lack of availability. This question came up for me because in shopping for shoes lately, I recognize that my lifestyle is changing and I need to stick with comfortable options. But I'd still prefer a low heel to a flat (maybe it's that short inseam thing) and was wondering how other people felt given the option.

No, I haven't really found a real life case of this, although I think Shiny came up with one:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/30.....rchresults

which had a flat version.

Doing a quick search I come up with:
http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/30.....rchresults

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/29.....rchresults

but I really have no idea if the heels are 8 hour shoes.

Heels, every time.

Flats, definitely.

Definitely heels, for versatility, because I almost never wear true flats and because 8 hour heels are so hard to find.