There's no such thing as the "perfect" trail shoe. The choice depends on the trail you're running (how rocky, slippery etc.); the distance; whether you're in a race (in which case, you'd trade weight for comfort and durability); there's the shape of your foot: no shoe will fit everyone well. And there's an enormous amount of personal taste in terms of cushioning, support, trail feel etc.

Having said that, I'm *really* impressed with these. I like my trail shoes light and fast, not heavy and clunky. I don't need or want lots of support from my shoes. These run fast and smooth, are light for a trail shoe (my size 10 pair weigh 665g, 23.5oz), and they look frickin' awesome. But you'd better run like the wind to live up to the appearance of these babies!

The rear end of the shoe is amazing -- utterly unsurpassed in my experience. The height of the upper is just right: it feels lightly supportive without getting in the way of a natural ankle flex. The sole is not too thick: on trails, you really don't want to be balancing on a tower of foam -- you'll just roll your ankle. Yet the cushioning feels plush yet stable. And the splayed out "wings" (about which I was initially skeptical) really seem to help align the heel strike, without getting in the way, or catching on rocks. Genuinely, this is a significant technological advance. Kudos to Salomon's designers.

The uppers are also great: the welded tape-over-fabric construction does a good job saving weight and eliminating pressure points. The fabric is open enough to be breathable, but dense enough to keep dust out of the shoe. I personally don't see much advantage of Salmon's Quicklace system over conventional lacing: you can certainly tighten the shoe very quickly, but you still need to tuck the buckle away, so you don't save a whole lot of time. Still, it works well here, and doesn't seem to loosen up while running. Maybe if you're hitting any water crossings, I guess that the Quicklace system will absorb a lot less water, and dry out quicker than regular laces. That would be consistent with Salomon's background in adventure racing.

I'm not quite so unreservedly thrilled about the forefoot. I enjoy trail shoes with flexible, compliant soles that allow me to feel the trail. These are very soft, more like a road shoe. That makes them feel very fast on smooth trails, and you waste less energy flexing the sole. But I think these could do with just a little more protection: running over rubble, I was getting more penetration than I would like. Perhaps it's just a matter of getting used to a softer forefoot. We'll see.

My other quibble is that the sole narrows a little too soon on the instep, just behind the ball of my foot. The first time I wore these, I got a blister on the front side of my arch. If I could have maybe 1 mm extra width there, it would solve the problem. However, now that the skin there has toughened up a little, it's not bothering me any more. My feet are flat, and slightly on the wide side: so this would probably be less of a concern if you have normal to high arches, and/or normal to narrow feet.

If I spent more time on the negatives than I would normally, it's just because these shoes are so damned good, that I would really like to see them perfected (according to my tastes, at least.) But let me emphasize that despite my quibbles, I still really like the shoes, and I plan to wear them both for training, and in a number of upcoming trail races.

And if I win wearing these shoes I'll be sure to follow up here! :-)

Oh man, this shoe is lighter, faster, more nimble than the regular Wings which I love. Thought I was going to use these as a race shoe but now train in and pretty much wear all of the time. I still like the Wings and wear them to not wear out my Slabs too fast. A little pricey but worth every penny for these lightweight beauties.

Really comfortable shoe that provides alot of support. Plus, this shoe looks AWESOME! you cannot go anywhere without people taking a look at what you are wearing on your feet.

Love this shoe! I have run in the wings and in the XA Pros 3D Ultras and these are my favorite! The upper is breathable and the shoes are super comfortable. I get compliments on these shoes everywhere I go and I tell them BC.com!