Customer Reviews Altra Superior 4

Thanks to Altra's fantastic customer support I was able to get these shoes after I had a snafu with the Superior 3.5's. The 3.5's felt fantastic, but were 1/2 size too big for me. I went ahead and opted to receive a pair of the 4.0's. Right out of the box these shoes are questionable. There is no stiffness in the sole. It takes very little pressure to bend the shoe in on itself. Also the front half of the upper is a very stretchy type of material. The back half of the upper looks like it is made out a material similar to vinyl. The laces are about 6 inches too long. It iis very lightweight. I decided to give them a go on a 6.5 mile trail run out here in the Mid West. Nothing too technical or rocky. Here are my first impressions as I will be sending this shoe back asap. -They have no cushioning from rocks and roots. I had the rock plate installed and I could feel every object underneath my foot. I'm sure this is something I could get used to eventually, but there are other problems as well. -The uppers are incredibly sloppy. With the shoe properly laced up my foot continued to move and roll whenever I encountered technical terrain. They are okay in a straight line, but as soon as you need to turn a corner or run on anything with a slant your foot just washes away. There is way too much movement. I first noticed this movement when I tried on the shoes. All you have to do is plant your foot firmly on the ground and move pressure to either side of the shoes. You will be amazed at the amount of play and lack of lateral support in the upper material. -The tread has zero grip on rocks that have any type of moisture. This applies to roots as well. You just slide right off of those objects. I understand that no sole is perfect, but any decent trail shoe should provide some traction on wet objects. I intended to take these to the Grand Canyon when I go run rim to rim to rim, but it is clear now they would not be adequate shoes for that.

This is not an upgrade over prior Superiors, rather its more along the lines of discontinuing the Superior and starting a new shoe. This new Superior will not accomodate a high instep, likely due to the tongue being stiched in on one side, so you cannot adjust the lacing accordingly without leaving your foot exposed for debris to get in, along with the laces rubbing the top of your foot. I'm buying all the 3.5s I can, and then will evaluate other brands for my next shoe after 5 years in Superiors.

I was really excited about these for an all around running shoe, but once I got a few miles on them I realized that the design of the sole is very poor. I love the zero drop feature but the sole has far too much give and any unstable terrain will send your ankle rolling. Another thing, that may be with my foot in this shoe, is that my ankles collapse very badly due to the soft sole. I have to consciously keep my ankle in a stable position, which isn't a bad thing but I'm afraid this shoe will lead to bad positioning and possible injury.

This is a terrible "upgrade" of the great original superior 1.0. I owned (still own) 2 pairs of these. My sons have also superior 3.0 which they liked. My first complaint is about the top fabric - totally different and significantly less breatable relative to the original 1.0. Second complaint - the sizing is terrible. I wear size 11 of the original superior 1.0. Fits perfectly. Tried 10.5 and 11 of the superior 4. 10.5 - too small - very tight at the middle of my foot. Tried 11 - the middle fits but the front is too long/big. Also, after wearing the 11 for couple of hours in 2 occasions my feets were sweating from the middle to the back of the foot pretty bad. Not breathable like the original. I consider this specific "upgrade" a total screw up of a great shoe. I tried few of the other altras and currently have/think that the lone peak 4 is the closest to the original superior 1.0. However colors (with the exception of the blue) are terrible - Altra needs to fire their current designer and person responsible for color selection.