Customer Reviews Altra Solstice

This is my 4th Altra shoe purchased. This is the ONE, the shoe that finally fulfills the Altra vision - low, fast and foot shaped. My primary use is for race walking and this shoe is perfect. It is very similar to my last Altra, the Vanish-R, a racing flat, with just a tad more cushioning and a better fitting web top. I can do tons of training miles with the Solstice and they are also light enough to race with, might even be better than the Vanish-R for longer distances. Of note, these are true to size, unlike my 3 prior Altras. Kudos to the design team, you really nailed it this time!

I wanted the black, but it wasn't available and so I ordered these. My feet are so big that the toe box makes me look a bit like a clown.

Fits like other Altra shows I’ve had. These have minimal cushion and are super light. Ridiculously comfortable.

This is the greatest sneaker ever! so comfortable, so much room for my toes. The perfect sneaker. Looks good too. The only thing is Altra's laces are too long and too thin. Replace them with flat laces and you are good to go!

I wanted a zero drop shoes that still provided protection from the ground. This shoe NAILED it!! I couldn't be happier with it. What I love about it is that it still feels like a shoe, instead of a sandal or just a thin strip of rubber. He felt warm and comfortable and safe, and yet still felt exceptionally healthy and natural. DEFINITELY will buy more Altra shoes.

This shoe fits like a glove! I usually wear a size 12 and I ordered this a half-size larger (12.5), which I would recommend. Very light weight. I like the larger toe box and zero rise. The shoe has a minimalist feel which I like, but if you like lots of cushion, this shoe may not be for you. Appears to be well constructed. We will see how the sole wears on the road.

Great shoe! Buy size bigger than you usually do, as I found out when I ordered my first pair of Altras.

My husband wanted a flat shoe to wear on our Concept 2 rower. He found these shoes are perfect for the job, light, flexible, and well ventilated. On long rows of 40 minutes or more, his feet stay dry and comfortable with no hot-spots. He also says these shoes are very comfortable for walking in the house. He loves the wide toe box on these shoes. He usually runs and walks in Asics Gel Kayanos, which also have a wide toe-box. However, the Asics are too clunky for the rower and he wanted something with a flat sole. He saw my Altra Soltices and decided to try a pair for the rower. He might just try them for walking and running, too.

I also have the Altra Escalante in size 11.5. For my foot, the Solstice fits snugger in the MIDFOOT, but same generous room in the forefoot, toebox, and heel. I purchased the neon orange color, and they look great. My hipster wife even digs them. (The Escalante in black looks OK at the gym, but with jeans have a slightly "orthotics" look to them. The Solstice looks more modern, and I feel OK wearing them with jeans, instead of my typical Vans Era in black.)

I used to run in Altra Superior 2, even though I wasn't doing trail running, because they fit so well. The road shoes I tried never fit quite right for me. I tried the Altra Solstice and LOVED them. I did go up half a size from the Superior I used to wear, so I think they run a touch smaller than the trail shoes, but the fit is great. Comfortable and light. Everything I want in a running shoe. I'll be back for another pair soon.

These shoes are incredible. Had to lossen up the lacing before they fit correctly, but from there everything felt great. The wide toe box is my favorite part. They look about a day of walking around to break them in but are now ready for anything.

Narrower than other Altra models

I’m a big fan of Altra. With guarded enthusiasm, tossed the factory laces, installed Lock Laces and ran 15 miles in them the day they came in. Wow! This is a great shoe! It’s not plush like the Escalante but that’s ok. I don’t mind stripped down - and especially for only $90! I enjoyed the wide toe box and well ventilated construction. It allows the runner to focus on form and enjoying the experience of running. I do hope Altra keeps this one around and keeps it simple - and fast. Awesome shoe!

Shoes looked good in the box and felt nice and were ultra-lightweight. Unfortunately I have wide feet and couldn't put the shoe on, and Altra doesn't make a wide. Some shoes that are marked medium width I can fit in but this pair was difficult to impossible so I said it was narrower than most.

Not sure what happened to Altra (at least the last two that I tried). I have a weirdly shaped foot and Altra's have fit my foot so beautifully in the past. For some reason they seemed to have changed their design and made their shoes more narrow (again, at least the last two I've tried which were the "Solstice" and the "One V3"). This is clearly strange because the whole thing they market themselves on is width of their shoe. This isn't solely based on how tight they felt. I actually measured and there was about 1/4" to 3/8" difference in the width of the shoe. The Altra I've been running in for the last year has been the Altra One 2.5.

The shoes were really tight around the midsole.

This is my 2nd pair of Altra shoes, previous was their casual walking shoe, so I am familiar with their zero-drop and wide toe box design. I prefer the wide toe box since my biggest complaint with other traditionally designed shoes was that my toes get cramped and I tend to get blisters. The Solstice looks great for a wide toe box design and is very light-weight. Unfortunately, the minimalist padding and possibly the shape of my foot, makes the lace area slightly uncomfortable, since the loop and even glue joints can be felt, along with the laces themselves. I have to create as much slack in the laces as possible for comfort, so it could also be that the shoes are a little narrower in design versus the walking style I had previously. the pictures below try to illustrate the situation. The discomfort has gotten slightly less each day as I have been wearing and breaking them in. So I hope the trend continues. If the top of foot was cut a little more generously or had some cushioning, I would likely be giving these a 4 or 5 star review.