Given I am a size 13 and, thus, barred from the Salmon S-Lab series, I thought that I would try out the Mantras. Salomon has marketed this as a "door to trail" shoe. My normal weekday run is 1 mile of pavement to the trail, 8 miles of mixed fire road and single track, and half a mile on the pavement on my way home. When it comes to running on the street (and even a good deal of fire roads), this shoe is perhaps the worst I have ever worn. The sheer lack of responsiveness and the slow transitions make one feel as if one were running in hiking boots. When one moves over to single track and more impacted dirt trails, it is a slightly different story. The protection on rocky terrain is quite nice and the shoe is high enough to help prevent the occasional ankle roll. I thought it would take a while to get used to the lacing but found I didn't even notice it on my first run. It still lacks responsiveness, but you don't notice it as much. I developed some blisters on runs longer than 20, especially when there was significant downhill mileage. After only 220 miles I've noticed tears on the sides of both shoes, right where the shoe flexes. This is a pretty incredible lack of durability, and for one that logs a lot of miles each month, it is completely unacceptable. I don't think I will be purchasing a Salomon product again anytime in the near future.

Robert

San Diego, CA

Just ran the Ragnar Relay in the Appalachian Mts. in W.V. in these shoes. It rained the entire day leading up to the race and most of the night of the race. Needless to say the trails were a muddy mess. The shoes worked out great and were very comfortable, even though they were wet and muddy from the start. Traction was not a problem regardless of whether it was rocks, mud puddles, on slippery wood bridges, through creeks, etc. I bought them from Road Runners figuring that I could return them within 90 days with Road Runners awesome VIP policy. I am definitely not returning these shoes and if Salomon's other shoes are anything like the Sense Mantras, I think I will be trying and buying others. If you are on the fence, give them a shot. I doubt you will be disappointed. I run in Brooks Puregrit as well, which I also like, but something about the Salomons that I think just felt better. They made me want to get out there and tear it up!

Eagle

Pittsburgh, PA