Salomon Sense Ultra - Review

Salomon S-Lab Sense Ultra - Review

Stoat Rating: 8/10
(This rating assumes you don't have a comfort issue with the eyelet)
Weight: 283g in UK8.5
Sizing: About right

History Lesson

Salomon does make life difficult.  Not only do they have the longest names ever, but they swap them around to confuse people.

So...

For the past few years, Salomon has made a shoe called the 'S-Lab Sense Ultra' which you all know as the red 'Kilian' shoes.  This shoe (now in its 6th revision as I type) has been renamed as the 'S-Lab Sense' and they have brought out a new shoe under the name 'S-Lab Sense Ultra' intended to provide a little more comfort to those who wanted a bit more cushioning for long ultras.

I'm going to cut to the chase - I only ran 45km in these shoes and returned them.  There are aspects of the shoe that I thought were excellent and I suspect that this could be an awesome shoe for many people.  Certainly, there are plenty of reviews out there and they are almost all extremely positive. However, I had some issues with the shoe so this will not be a full review so much as a few observations on what worked and didn't work for me.

The Good

The fit:  Excellent on my feet.  Perfect toebox shape - not too wide but fairly squared off.

Comfort: Excellent with the caveats below.  The upper feels soft yet supportive, the cushioning takes the edge off harder surfaces without being unnecessarily squishy.  I found the cushioning in the forefoot to be perfect.

Outsole:  Studs that strike a good balance and excellent rubber compound make the outsole a good choice on most surfaces apart from extreme mud.  I found the shoes worked particularly well on road and that is where the geometry seemed to work best.

Build quality: Excellent as far as I could tell, but I didn't have long in the shoe.

Issues

Most of these are points that I think relate to my feet and preferences so please interpret them accordingly:
The top lace eyelet: This was the deal breaker for me.  The top lace eyelet on the inside of the shoe sat right on top of the navicular (little bony lump on the inside of the foot).  I didn't notice this at first, but after a few miles in the shoe, it rubbed like anything.  One of the things that exacerbated this was that there wasn't much tongue overlap so the eyelet ended up rubbing directly on my foot.  I'm not clear if this was a manufacturing issue or just an unfortunate clash with the geometry of my foot.  Salomon kindly offered a refund because of this issue.

Eyelet rubbing on navicular

The Heel:  Many reviews that I have read suggested that this shoe felt lower than an 8mm drop shoe.  I can't agree.  I normally wear 4mm drop shoes and these felt like the heels were high from the moment that I slipped them on. Further, the combination of the higher drop and wide stiffish heel made for a slightly clumpy feel leaving it with an unstable feel on uneven ground.  On roads or smooth surfaces I quite liked it but, on rocky downhills, I didn't get on with it at all.

The Quicklace:  It's not a deal breaker, and I have used it before and still bought the shoe, however, I don't like it.  I find it tricky to adjust and the thin laces cut into the top of my foot.  I also find that by the time you have faffed around trying to tuck the lace away into its pocket (which is normally trapped under the lace) it is slower to do up than a normal lace. I also have concerns about what happens if you snap one in a race - a normal lace can be jury-rigged or replaced.  I feel like it's a technology trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist - normal laces are just better.

Aesthetics

I like the look.  Excellent, clean lines, understated.

What I'd change

Reduce the heel height by ~4mm and reduce the width of the heel in line with the upper.
Increase the width of the tongue to cover the eyelet.

Summary

I thought that this was an excellent shoe.  The front of the shoe is perfect. If it wasn't for the eyelet issue I'd have kept them as a perfect long distance shoe to be used on firm, relatively even terrain.  Just watch the eyelet when you try them on.

Salomon has announced version 2 of this shoe which seems to have been beefed up somewhat.  It reportedly weighs in around 300g, has more protection and the colours look terrible (and strangely out of keeping with Salomon's bold/clean branding).  It is certainly not the direction that I'd have taken it.

As a final thought, I find Salomons range is slightly confusing/frustrating.  They have a large number of shoes that all have a ~8mm drop with a fairly chunky heel and lower forefoot (Ultra, Rise, Mantra, Pro, Wings... the list goes on) but then a big gap to the S-Lab Sense which is a very minimal stripped-back shoe.  I generally fit Salomon shoes well, and would love it if they would bring out something with a 4mm drop and a bit more comfort than the S-Lab Sense, but without increasing the drop and adding a big bulky heel that makes them less suited to technical terrain.

[Edited to add, this autumn they are going to bring out the Sense Pro 3 - 16mm at the forefoot / 22 at the heel which sounds like it could be my Cinderella shoe... let's see]