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One brand that I’d never really run in is Saucony.  Twice – once in 200 and again in 2010 – I tried Saucony and both times had to ditch the shoes almost right away because they just didn’t fit my feet.  But earlier this spring, after seeing many fellow Coyotes running in Saucony shoes (the local Saucony rep runs with us and does shoe demos and stuff which has definitely helped with brand awareness), I decided to give them a shot again.  First, I dove in with the trail runner Peregrine 2 and then, after some early success in that model, I bought a pair of fun, flashy Kinvara 3.  Over the past couple of months, I’ve put right about 200 miles on each of them and I’m now ready to write my review.  

There’s a lot I like about both the Peregrine 2 and the Kinvara 3’s – the Kinvara are light and the Peregrine aren’t “heavy”, they both have a 4mm heel-toe drop and the Kinvara especially are damn good looking.  Also, and most important for me and my Morton’s toes, both shoes really fit my feet.  Straight out of the box, I took each shoe on a long run (11 miles in the Peregrine and 18 in the Kinvara) and didn’t have any issues whatsoever.  But despite those good things, there’s also a major problem that will make me think twice before I purchase either shoe again.*  Because I think it’s important and in case you get bored, I’ll start with the negative part of my review.

Both of these shoes have a major durability problem.  I keep pretty good track of the miles on put on my shoes and as of today, my Peregrine 2 have 222 miles and the Kinvara 3’s are at 226.  And both shoes are just about ready to be retired.  The upper on the Peregrine started showing serious tearing along the sides about 20 miles ago.  The split/tearing is just on the upper level so far (there’s a mesh layer underneath that’s still together).  It’s much more pronounced on the left shoe than the right, but the right shoe also has some tearing around the sides similar to what’s in the second photo below.

Unlike the upper, the soles on the Peregrines still look great.

The Kinvara upper started tearing in multiple places last week, about 40 miles ago.  On the Kinvara, it’s the right shoe that’s suffering worse than the left, but the left shoe is also showing initial signs of tearing.  If you look closely you can see my finger below one of the tears, showing that this tear isn’t just a surface-level thing.  The below picture was taken yesterday and I ran in the shoes this morning – the two separate tears you can see are now nearly combined into one long one and my finger can pretty much poke through.

Also, the Kinvara soles are very worn (even if all the dust and dirt makes it hard to tell).

I can still run in both shoes and the insole doesn’t feel broken down, but they’re at the point where I would usually recycle them for fear that they would have a major failure in the middle of a run.  I’m not sure if it would actually happen, but I’d hate to be halfway through a run on some trail in the middle of nowhere and have a shoe fall apart!  

I am not a heavy runner and do not tend to wear shoes out quickly and I feel like I should easily get at least 350-400 miles out of all but the very lightest racing flat type shoes.  Saucony might claim that in order to make the shoe light, they had to use material that isn’t as durable as some heavier shoes, but just in my personal experience, I’ve found plenty of similarly light (or much lighter) shoes that are considerably more durable!

To give some perspective, I used to get well over 500 miles out of my New Balance MT100s and 101’s before they even started showing serious wear, the Brooks PureConnect gave me over 300 before I chose to retire them because they’re too narrow for long runs but the upper and sole were both still in good shape and my Skechers Go Runs are at 267 and still going strong.  See below for how those shoes look today.

Brooks PureConnect – 300+ miles dirty but still looking good, without any tearing in the upper:

Skechers Go Run – 267 miles, again filthy, but without any tearing or splitting:

Even my K-Swiss K-Ruzz (original model) gave me 230 miles before I ditched them because the soles were breaking down (the upper was still in good shape); the K-Ruuz is more of a racing flat that is about a half ounce lighter than the Kinvara.

Now that I’ve provided a warning about the shoes, there are probably some people who won’t mind if their shoes only last 200-250 miles.  So here are some more thoughts (mostly positive) about the shoes.

• Comfort: Like I said above, they’re both comfortable shoes right out of the box.  No break-in period required.  I prefer the fit of the Kinvara to the Peregrine, I think the Kinvara have a little wider forefoot, which is good for me.  
• Weight:  The Kinvara 3 (listed at 7.6 oz for size 9) is about a perfect weight for me.  It’s light enough to do marathon and longer races and has enough support for those distances.  The Peregrine (listed at 10.6 oz for size 9) is heavier than I would ideally choose, even for longer trail runs/races.  But they’re definitely not “clunky” heavy.  And I was willing to sacrifice some weight for comfort.  
• Flexibility:  Neither shoe is particular flexible either bending it in half or trying to twist it laterally.  The Kinvara is slightly more flexible than the Peregrine, which makes sense.  Something more flexible would be better, but as my training runs get longer, a little more stability is probably better. 
• Heel-to-Toe Drop:  Both are 4mm from heel to toe.  That’s a perfect drop for me.  I don’t feel the need for zero drop in my distance training shoes.  My form feels just fine at 4mm.  I wouldn’t mind if both shoes were a little lower to the ground throughout, but that’s not a huge issue.
• Soles:  The Peregrines feel great on all the trails I’ve run on.  They’re plenty grippy.  I’ve used the Kinvara on a lot of trails too and while you feel the rocks more, I think they’re still perfectly well suited for all but the nastiest trails.    
• Appearance:  I dig all the color options, especially for the Kinvara.  My first pair was the black and yellow ones at 10 o’clock but I’m also a big fan of the yellow at 6 o’clock and the white and blue one at 8 o’clock.