Comfort
This is one of the most comfortable shoes we’ve tested—full of padding, with an foot-cradling, Ortholite sock liner, fat tongue and a high cushioned heel.

Speed
All the extra padding makes this a little heavy for speedier runners—it’s definitely a slow, cruising, comfort ride.

Agility
One thing works for the agility of this shoe—a firm forefoot, which gives you a clear, crisp sense of the trail underfoot. Two things work against it: 1) The heel is quite high, so the shoe feels tippy in off camber terrain, and 2) the laces don’t do a great job of locking this shoe on your foot; unless you have high-volume feet, the fit will likely feel a little sloshy in the rocky stuff. Thicker socks help (after all, this is tailored somewhat to be a winter-ready shoe).

Traction
The lugs are not big, but this shoe had good traction on dry terrain. A strip of soft, red rubber (Salomon’s winter specific “Contragrip”) down the middle of the sole showed very quick wear and tear in volcanic rocks, while the stouter black rubber did not. I did not test the shoes in wet or snowy conditions.

Laces
Pull-tab laces have their fans and detractors. One of the problems is you can’t really customize the fit of the cross lacing—there is no friction in the lace grommets, so you can’t really cinch the forefoot while leaving the top of the arch looser, or something like that. Overall, that means it’s harder to dial in the perfect fit for different foot shapes, and there’s less security of fit.

In these shoes, in particular, the pull-tab laces have a flaw. The laces themselves cinch down onto the lace pocket, making it hard to tuck the laces where they belong. (If you fail to tuck the laces away in the little pouch at the top of the tongue, it’s a serious tripping hazard. I took one of the worst trail running falls I’ve ever taken in a pair of shoes when I failed to secure the laces and they caught my foot during a fast tempo run).

Value
This is a pricey shoe—but it’s made with premium materials, and has a very high quality construction. You can find shoes that offer similar performance for up to about $30 cheaper, but probably not one this comfortable.