I will go with one of these:

Montrail Vitesse $85 24 oz.
(many good reviews, good price, very light)



Inov8 Terroc330 $90 23 oz.
(many good reviews, good price, very light)



Solomon XA Pro 3D $100 27 oz.
(many good reviews, fair price, light)

Edited by gmatthews on 04/10/2007 19:14:40 MDT.

George, if your'e going to go with the Montrail Vitesse, which I use and love for climbing 14ers in Colorado, REI outlet has them on sale for $62.93, but not in all sizes. Best of luck....

Anyone have info on the Sportiva Slingshot?
http://www.sportiva.com/products/prod/307

editor's choice at backcountry.com

20oz, $75

I actually bought a pair cuz i found them super cheap, but haven't tried them out yet.

I am an instant fan of the new Golite Sun Dragon running shoes. I just got off the trail with them again and they are simply marvelous. Here is my Golite Sun Dragon Reader Review: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/reviews/display_reviews?forum_thread_id=7210&cat=Footwear%20%2D%20Boots%2C%20Shoes%2C%20Gaiters&cid=53

Strange but they totally work! Well worth a serious look.

Edited by djohnson on 04/11/2007 23:00:07 MDT.

Doug, how do you find the sizing? I am normally a size 9, so if I get the 9 - 9.5 shoe, it ought to fit, no? Bill Fornshell seemed to have had some problems with his being too big. Did you have any of those problems? I'm ordering mine from Japan so, though I can't be completely certain, I'd like to get at least a little idea of how the sizing works out.

My hiking shoes are typicaly 11.5 (normal shoes 10.5 or 11) so I ordered the 11/11.5 and they are great.

Furthere, there are 3 insolve volume choices to fine-tune the fit that work quite well. I'd bet the size you're getting would be correct...

Doug,
how are they in wet conditions? Do they retain water? How quickly do they dry?
Thanks!

Thanks Doug, I'm going to see if I can order a pair!

Interesting review. Might have to try them.

Your 'hiking with baby pics' are fantastic.

Thanks George!

I haven't had them in day-long soaking conditions yet. But I dunked them in a bunk of puddles and tidepools, and at least once over the ankel. They drained nicely and the uppers didn't soak hardly any water. They dried quickly.

Great shoes- still zero complaints. Very impressed.

G: What did you wind up purchasing?

Hi Brian,

>> G: What did you wind up purchasing?

Inov-8 TerRoc 330 Indigo/Slate
Size Men's 11, Width Medium

Fortunately, Paul and Brett comments were valid for my feet.
Heel and toebox good fit (1/2 size bigger than measured size of 10 1/2) and are really like "tight fitting tractioned slippers". So far only tested in my house and yard, but will post a review after my next trip.

I've been closely following this thread and was torn between trying the Golite Sun Dragons and the Montrail Vitesse. I went with the Sun Dragons. I've not put many miles on them yet (just three or four "few mile" walks from home).

Doug says in his review they come with insoles that adjust to three different foot widths. Warning: in my haste to try these out when I got them home, I didn't even notice the variants and just wore them in default (widest) configuration, which doesn't work for my feet at all. I was a lot happier when I added the "normal size" add-on piece.

Again, with just a few miles on these, I have to say that I really like how wonderfully cushiony they feel --- I like this a lot, others might find it too much so (dunno). And the toe box is large; in general I'm a big fan of shoes that are shaped more like feet are.

Size/Volume: Like Doug, I got the size 11/11.5. I normally wear a size 10 shoe and like others I size up for hiking shoes. These are fairly roomy inside, even with the correct insole width, I feel like I have to lace them up fairly tight, yet there's not a whole lot of extra room past my big toes, maybe half an inch or so. Hopefully my feet won't grow much beyond that on long trips ... TBD. I'm fighting off minor heel blisters (from a failed attempt at the perfect shoe) so I've been wearing these with a liner sock *and* a light hiking outer sock. I'm a little concerned at how much volume of shoe there will be when I go to just a liner sock.

Weight: In Doug's review, he says that the size 11/11.5 weighs 14.9 oz --- that must be on a per-shoe basis, not for the pair. At first blush this was surprisingly different from what I found, but out-of-the-box I first weighed mine with the default (wide) insoles and got the pair to be 788 grams, 27.8 oz, or 13.9 oz per shoe.

The difference is at least partly in the insoles, however. The way you convert the default "wide" insole to a normal or narrow is to *add* an extra insole piece on, which of course adds weight. Either the normal or the narrow size extra pieces weigh 19 grams (for both) or 0.7 oz. That gets me to something like 14.3 oz per shoe. I can't explain the 0.6 oz per shoe discrepancy with what Doug reports for the same size --- maybe he wasn't able to clean all the dirt off the soles before weighing them or something (my weights were right out of the box clean). Or it could be a difference in our scales, or variants in factory runs on how much the shoes actually weigh or some combination of any or all of those factors.

I'm looking forward to seeing how well these dry out when soaked --- that and just putting a lot of miles on them are my biggest concerns just now. I wore a pair of water shoes (true mesh uppers) for a few miles one day and these the next; with the water shoes I can literally feel the wind wistle across the top of my socks. Not so with the Golite Sun Dragons; they feel a lot like other trail runners in this regard to me. I hope these drain/dry out well enough, and are durable enough to take as my only shoe on very long trips.



Brian Lewis

Edited by brianle on 04/26/2007 13:01:59 MDT.

Bump!

G? Done any testing in your new shoes yet?

-B

Edited by bmstrong on 05/16/2007 17:21:35 MDT.

Greg,

I have worn the Slingshot and I love them. They don't have a lot of cushioning or stability so if you are a neutral runner and like to feel the ground they are great. They have great rubber on the bottom. My major complaint is the low volume of the shoe causes the tongue to often fit crooked. Also, the silverish stripe on the side wore off after a very intense bit of bushwacking up some rugged streams in western CO while doing some field work. Thats just cosmetic though. These shoes fit very true to size for me, and coordinate very well with other LS sizes, my climbing shoes, mountaineering boots and trail runners are all the same size. The toe box is pretty small on these shoes but I didn't find it uncomfortable and I have fairly wide feet and an enormous big toe.

As a fix to the tongue issue, I would recommend the LS Raceblades. They are also super light but have a stretch fabric tongue which will keep the trail crap out and the tongue in its proper place.

Both of these shoes are very rugged and a good price. They both have very little in the way of cushion and even less for stability but are a pleasure to run in.

I just picked up a pair of GoLite Sun Dragons and like them as well. I only have a few runs in them so I will update everyone when I get more trail time in them. As of now, I hate running in them on pavement (I know they shouldnt be there anyway :)) but they are great on the trail.

Edited by thuldj on 05/16/2007 23:03:49 MDT.

I have a pair of Vasque Velocities that I've used for everything under the sun - trail running, hiking, casual, yard work, etc. They seem to be more durable than most other runners or trail runners that I've tried. I bought them because the looked cool and fit well - I only later realized what I had. I just ordered another pair - some colors are on clearance right now. They'll be my pair for multi-day trips this summer. Some newer model Vasques appear to have similar construction, but I have no experience with them.

Hi B

No overnighters carrying a pack yet, but my feet like them so far

Will report back after this weekend (first bp using them)

Looking forward to it!

Brian

With a total pack weight of 14 lbs, the Inov 8 Terroc 330 shoes did well. They felt very light. I believe this gave me a psychological boost. The soles were sufficient to absorb rocks and roots, and grip loose dry and damp hardpacked dirt. The toe "bumper" saved my toes quite a few times. The mesh kept my sweaty feet reasonably dry.

They come laced with loops in the top two holes. I tried this for a while, but changed to traditional lacing because it was difficult for me to pull the right way using the loops (I'm lace challenged I guess).

My next hike is in a couple of weeks and will be four days. That will be a much better test. But so far so good.

They should be here in a couple days. Thanks for the review.