Reviews by User: quattrotom (2)

These shoes are extremely light, similar to lightweight road trainers. They also have an incredibly sticky sole - I run mostly off-road with these, so durability hasn't been an issue for that (the road might kill the tread quickly). Now the downsides for me: there are only three attachments for the laces on each side - creating hot spots/pressure points when trying to snug up the shoes for running off-road. The sole is also extremely flexible, which is fine for dirt, but sometimes permits a little too much rock penetration. My feet were more tired than usual after running a root and small rock-ridden trail. I've recently purchased the XA Pro 2, which weighs only slightly more, yet addresses these two negatives perfectly (4 lace attachments and stiffer, but still flexible sole). If you're only running soft dirt, these may be fine for you.

Also own the XA series (the lightweight version) and I find these to be by far superior with only a slight increase in weight. This model has excellent traction (been doing some recent runs on snow/ice covered sidewalks and well packed snowy trails). The lighter weight XA series only has 3 attachments for the lacing on each side while this has 4 - it disperses the pressure much better. The weight difference is minimal - these seem to still weigh less than all other trail shoes I've owned and are similar to most road trainers. I consider these either the best or one of the best trail running shoes I've owned and will definitely use them for lightweight overnighting this summer.