Customer Reviews Altra Escalante Racer

Shoe has some design highlights worthy of mention: 1. The woven upper is durable and has great airflow. 2. The zero-drop footbed molds perfectly to my feet. 3. No hotspots in the footbed that cause any blistering from day one. However, there are some oversights and problems with the design - and UNFORTUNATELYAltra doesn't have the management talent or resources to support customer feedback and improve their products. Customer support will ignore your emails or just hang up on you - don't bother being polite, they won't be shy in relating how little they care. One shoe developed a loud rubbery squeaking sound about 150 miles in. The cause is the middle forefoot tread poorly designed and too soft given the structure - so it is slipping while the forefoot is bending on any smooth or semi-rough surface including concrete and asphalt. Nothing is visually identifiable as wrong, but a rudimentary understanding of physics should make the problem obvious to any designer. Now add this problem to the poor lacing system wherein laces need to be tightened row by row instead of pulling through together, which combined with the floppy tongue, crumples the upper in strange ways such that you NEVER get the same snugness on each foot or even run to run! The frustration this shoe has created for me is enough to immediately knock 2 or 3 stars off. Combine this malfunction and dissatisfaction with absolutely apathetic customer service - 1 star. No question. I've been a runner for 25 years and purchased my first Altras on the recommendation of other runners. I won't be recommending Altra to anyone else. I'm on to the next brand.

Update: placed a warranty claim with Altra. They said the rubber sole coming off the toe area and a bald midsole with less then 100 miles is considered normal. BEWARE I love the fit and feel of this shoe. BEWARE, the rubber doesn't last. I have 77 miles on these according to the Nike running app. The rubber at the front toebox edge is gone, and the midfoot rubber is already smooth.

If you have the potential to have plantar fasciitis don't buy this shoe. I haven't had issues for years with plantar fasciitis and as soon as I started to train in these I have bilateral pain. I have worn other Altria's (Solstice) with no issues.