UKH

Yes, it's another ‘What shoe’ thread…

After a creditable 750 miles my La Sportiva Jackals are starting to disintegrate badly across the toe crease.

They're a 9.5+ (Whatever that is), and fit really nicely in terms of width. The obvious would be to get the same again, but I don't fancy having to break in the high heel post that rubbed my Achilles raw (I ended up hitting it with a hammer multiple times and bending it back and clamping it in a vice for a few days to sort it - the heel post, not my achillies.

Otherwise it's a great shoe for me, fits well and suits my heavy footed running on mainly hard gravelly tracks plus a bit of mud and dirt.

So, any suggestions on what to go for next?

In reply to Ridge:

VJ Sport Ultras? Quite a narrow toe box though.

Speedgoat 5? Doubt they’d last as long as the Sportivas but a lot lighter.

In reply to Ridge:

I've only done a 100 or so miles in them, mostly on the type of terrain you describe, but I like my Saucony Peregrines. They fit my wide feet and I got 700+ miles out of the first two Saucony road shoes I had. The Brook Cascadias I had were good too, going 800 miles, I think.

In reply to Ridge:

Peregrines here as well. Replacement after my Jackals.

In reply to Ridge:

I don't necessarily have an answer for you here, but I got a (very) sneak preview of the SS'23 Jackal (which I probably shouldn't be telling you about) and it looked like they'd redesigned the heel. Unfortunatley I didn't get to try a pair on, but as a fan of the Jackal am intrigued to know how they differ. I haven't had any problems personally, but I've heard similar reports to yours, and that's the reason for the re-design. There's also a BOA Jackal coming out, but again - I didn't tell you about that either...

In reply to Ridge:

I don't have an answer either but can give some experience with the speed goat 5. I still have my Jackal's and are wearing out exactly as you describe so bought the 5's as a replacement. The speedgoats have a much sticker sole especially on rocky ground which is one of the things I struggled with about the Jackal. The main problem with the speedgoats is they feel almost sloppy under foot - like they want to roll from under you. At least in comparison to the Jackal. That said they do fit well and I managed a hilly 60km run in them without any really issues.

I'd definitely be looking for something between the two of them for my next shoe - to combine the Jackal stability with the speedgoats stickier sole....

In reply to Ridge:

G270's are hard to beat but cushioning a little light after a few hours. I'm not sure why advertised as an ultra-distance shoe as they only have 12mm stack but I've found them very confidence inspiring doing long lakes scrambles on legs. 

Other things I've tried

VJ Ultra - narrow toebox, very stiff upper
Altra Mont Blanc - no structure, foot slides all over the place - impossible to contour without losing an ankle!
Salomon ultra glide - high and tippy, again ankles at risk and feel slow, reasonably narrow
Bushido 2's - really confident and grippy, bit heavy and overstructured upper tho

Next shoe will probably be a Topo or SG5 (edit - probably not if the above poster's experience of side-hilling is true), unless altra fixes the upper on the mont blanc as the sole is amazing.

In reply to Ridge: Nobody seems to like the Altra Mt. Blank.  I've been running round in Hoka Zinal's, but they won't last many hundred km's.  So what about Hoka Torrent 2's? I'll confess I haven't tried them, but they're similar enough to the Zinal and get good reviews

In reply to neuromancer:

My Topo Terraventures are very comfortable, but the uppers started falling apart after less than 100 miles. I've eeked  them out to 400+ but that is disappointing. Same thing happened to a pair of Topo road shoes I bought at the same time, both for around £120.

In reply to mbh:

I like the Cascadia's too for a road to trail type shoe, pretty comfy and seem quite robust so far 

In reply to Ridge:

A couple of new shoes that I haven't tried but seen good reviews of and am interested in :

a) New Balance Hierro v7 - large weight reduction from v6

b) Saucony Xodus Ultra - again large weight loss from Xodus v11

In reply to wbo2:

I've got older Speedgoat ( Evo, not v5 ) Torrent 2 and Zinal.

Torrent 2 is a very comfortable shoe. Underfoot cushioning is more than the Zinal but less than the Speedgoat. It has deeper lugs and therefore better traction than both of the others, so which of the 3 depends on the type of terrain and length of run

In reply to Ridge:

Thanks all, some really good info there.

Might have a look at the Peregrines. I used to run in Saucony Jazz's years ago.