I've had a bit of a bonanza of new kit purchases recently, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the three items I've recently bought; a pair of inov8 Mudtalons, the Salomon Advanced Skin 12 litre vest, and the GeekyHiker chest pack. First up is the shoes - watch this space for reviews of the two bags.
The Mudtalons have been on my radar to try for a while - I was excited by inov8's complete redesign of their range, offering a more natural, 'foot-shaped' fit in a range of sizes, and parity across the range, meaning once you've found your size it should be the same in all models. The Mudtalon is the most aggressive of the new models - it has deep, widely spaced lugs, designed for running on soft ground. I felt these would be a good alternative to my usual La Sportiva Mutant - the Mutants perform really well on a wide range of terrain, but as I've got faster on muddy, grassy descents they have started to slip a little. There are two variations available, the Mudtalon and the Mudtalon Speed. The Speed has less cushioning and a smaller (4mm) drop; it's designed for short, hard efforts. The Mudtalon is more cushioned, and has a 6mm drop.
I decided to try the Mudtalon rather than the Mudtalon Speed - I prefer a little more cushioning, and I don't get on well with low-drop shoes. I went back and forth a few times on sizing; my wide, short feet didn't seem to be a natural fit for the new inov8 shoe shape. It's definitely worth trying these shoes in a shop if you can - they are available in full and half sizes, and in a 'wide' and a 'precision' fit, so you may need to try several different combinations of those options to get the right one for you.
The main attraction of these shoes is the traction on soft ground, and here they are superlatively good. I have been throwing them around wet, muddy, boggy fells, pushing the pace on speed sessions, and I have yet to find a soft surface they don't grip well and feel really secure on. They also felt surprisingly bouncy - inov8 have put their 'boomerang' footbed into these shoes. It really does return a lot of energy, so much so that at high speed downhill I almost felt that I was being unbalanced by the shoe at times.
The shoe has some downsides too. They are noticeably slippy on rock, due to their small surface area. I'm told by runners who had the previous iteration of this shoe (the Mudclaw) that the Mudtalon is a big improvement, but they still are not as sticky as a shoe designed for trails or rock. Lake District running is almost always a mixture of terrains, so you will always be compromising on something! If you're looking for a shoe for running on predominantly muddy or grassy routes, the Mudtalon is perfect. If you're running on more mixed terrain, you might prefer a less specific shoe.
I also struggled with the shoe feeling quite loose - my foot slid inside it when contouring and descending, which was uncomfortable, and would probably cause blisters after more than an hour or so. This may be that I haven't yet found the right fit in this shoe. The idea is that you go for the 'precision' fit if you want to avoid your foot moving inside the shoe, while the 'wide' is for people who want a bit more room. I couldn't seem to find a size in the 'precision' fit that was comfortable, so I ended up with a 'wide', but I would revisit this if buying another pair, to try to avoid my feet sliding around in them.
Overall: excellent grip and energy return on soft ground, don't buy them if you mainly run on mixed terrain, and take your time getting the right size.
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