"Awesome shoe with a few flaws." - Review of La Sportiva Fireblade Trail Running Shoe - Men's

The Fireblade was my first trail shoe from a smaller company (rather than Asics, Brooks, etc). Mine just endured a full summer's abuse on rough/rocky trails, so I'm ready to speak for them. Pros: These shoes performed well and held up nicely. The sticky rubber tread kept me upright on slick and steep sections of gravel/snow/mud just as I had hoped. If not for some interior cushioning flaws, these likely still had some miles left in them. They are very lightweight just as advertised and seemed true to size, fitting my neutral foot (mostly) comfortably. Externally they were solid and outperformed any of the previous trail shoes I've run in. Cons: I think there was a slight sacrifice in protection to keep these shoes light, as I found myself feeling pointy rocks through the bottom and sides more often than I should have. Also, although the interior fabric was soft and cushy, the heelcup rubbed my heel in such a way that a couple holes wore straight through the fabric, prematurely ending the life of these shoes. Bottom Line: While I felt the Fireblade could get the job done, I was more impressed by its sister shoe, the Raceblade. The Raceblade is even lighter, features a sewn in upper to keep crud out of your shoes, fits a little more snugly (good in my case), and is build with a more frictionless interior fabric that has witheld a lot more abuse than the Fireblade's interior. And being about the same price, I'll be buying just the Raceblades in the future.
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