Trail Runners

The best footwear is footwear that FITS YOU! We can recommend until we're blue in the face, but if the shoes don't fit your feet, anything we say means nothing.

My advice is to try on a number of different brands. You probably have a better chance in a high-end running shoe store than at, for example, REI.

Admittedly this advice is coming from a woman (there is far less variety out there in women's shoes than in men's, and what's available is not carried by a lot of stores) with deformed feet who is very hard to fit. But shoes that don't fit right make existing problems worse, so if your feet are young and healthy and will squeeze into almost anything, beware–you're setting yourself up for problems later on if you aren't fitted carefully now.

I don't think you'll be able to get the Montrail Vitesse, unfortunately it's been discontinued a couple seasons ago. My favorite shoe ever, and they did away with it. Mary's right; go to a good shop and get fit by someone who knows what they're doing.

Vitesse
Amazing old school shoes that you probably can not find because they stopped making them around 2005 or 2006. If you can find a pair that fit your feet consider yourself lucky. To me they seem better suited to multi day fastpacking than pure trail running because they are built like a tank and indestructible. Best for C, D, E width feet. Great Anti roll feature.

Fireblade
like all La Sportiva shoes, they are best suited for narrower feet – B, C, maybe D. I wear a D width and they were a bit too narrow for me. Even though they are Great shoes and I spent many miles in them for about a year, this width issue forced me to move on. For narrow to average width feet, these are one of my favorites. Great shoe for long slow 50 mile days. Low profile heel makes them run a bit flat footed, but not as flatfooted as the Inov 8 Flyrocks.

As others have said… the best is what fits you. If you are EE width, you might also want to take a look at some of the New Balance trail runners since they make most model in that width.

–mark

Ok, so after careful consideration I ordered the following from runningwarehouse for my 10.5 EE foot:

Inov8 Roclite 315 in size 11
Inov8 Flyroc 310 in size 11
Montrail Hardrock 09 in size 10.5

As soon as I opened the box for the inov8's I knew they were too narrow. I tried them on and sure enough, they didnt feel terrible but they didnt feel great either. I really wanted to like them because of all the great things I have heard about them but I dont think they would work for my wide foot. Other than the width they felt fine but I dont think i'd feel comfortable going up another half size. The Montrail Hardrocks however fit great, even a little roomy actually (strange how a 10.5 feels roomy and an 11 I can just look at and say there's no way thats wide enough). I just didnt like the hardrocks all that much otherwise, they seem like they would be great on trails but the grip just doesnt seem sufficient for backcountry and streams.

So, bottom line…i'm sending all 3 back and am going to try the Inov8 Terroc 330 (I hear they are a little wider) and the golite sun dragons next. I know the sun dragons have serious durability issues for a lot of people but I figure as cheap as I can get them online if they last half as long it will be worth it, and they have that fit system that looks like might work for my wide foot. I think i'll look into some New Balance as well, any thoughts on their best trail runner?

I've also got the terroc 330s on order from http://www.hike-lite.co.uk they advised me to go for these as they have the widest forefoot. I take a UK/New Balance 10.5 EE so I've followed their advice and gone with a 11.5. Hope it was the right choice!

so they had you size up a whole size instead of just a half? hm….maybe I should try that as well. Let me know how they fit once you get them.

yeah, I was told they run a half size small, plus an extra half size for width. I use orthotics as well. Apparently the heel area is narrow too. Dunno, I'm curious, but if they don't work I'll be going for salomon ultra wide (M+) as I know these run the same as NB EE

I also have wide feet and usually wear a 9.5 to 10. I tried several of the Inov-8 shoes and most were too narrow. I liked the terroc 330s but found that they rubbed one of my ankles. I settled on the Roclite 295s and have been happy with them. A very roomy toe box.

so what size did you go for???

+1 on 295's

I too have a wide forefoot, and the Roclite 295's are fine. I use my normal shoe size. I've recently bought a pair of Mudclaws, and they are much narrower in the forefoot. Not sure if they will work for me yet.
Inov8 use 2 lasts. The Endurance last, and the Performance last. The Endurance last is much wider in the forefoot.

I'm with Mike. I wear size 14, when Iwander around with no shoes on, the Monster hunters show up to make plaster casts.

I mean the foot kind, not the kind from the Kiss song.

well my 330s arrived today and they are perfect fit – they seem to fit exactly the same as New Balance 10.5EE (UK size) – so the advice from the retailers to go up a full size was spot on