I bought my pair of Inov-8 Trailroc-245 in March 2015 from Løberen in Denmark. A year later, April 2016, the state of the shoes are no good. The toe cap of one of the shoes has loosen up, I have a rip in the toe box and the outsoles are weared down in some places.
Picture-1. The Trailroc-245 Trail running shoes 1 year after I bought them.
First a little about how I have been using these shoes:
I do not run much on trail, around once a week, my typically trail-run is around 7 Km long and 450m ascent, rather technical, with different surfaces, often with loose small stones, some part of the track is very steep, but noting extreme, the shoes have only been used for this type of running, nothing else.
I normally using minimal or barefoot shoes, when I run, but when I started trail running, I had a problem with the sensibility of these type of shoes. When running downhill my feet was very bad treaded by every smal stone I hid on the path, so I went looking for a shoe with a harder sole, but still as minimal as possible. This was not easy, as many trail shoe has a lot of cushi, shock absorbing etc. So when I came across this pair of Inov-8 I were relative enthusiastic.
The sole is much harder than my minimal shoes, but still rather flexibly and it has pegs underneath to give a good grip on the hill, there is almost no drop from heel to toe (3 mm), the shoe sit tight on the foot, more space around my toes would have been preferable, but all in all acceptable. In general I liked the shoes and have been rather happy with them, as they fulfill what I were looking for. The grip on the trail is amazing and my feet have it much better after a run, as I do not longer feel every little stone there pass under my feet, even I would have liked a bigger toe box.
So what is the state of the shoes now?:
The toe cap of the right shoe has given away, see picture 2. This is something I normal only see on much cheaper shoes, and my opinion is that Inov-8 has a glue problem here, to me it look likes, that also the left shoe will have this problem shortly.
Picture 2. The toe cap is giving away.
There is a rip in the outside of the toe box of the left shoe, see picture 3, and the right shoe is worn on the exactly same place, see the red circle. I wonder if a wider toe box, would have prevented this, as I do not think the rip is provoked by outside worn, the material is in general good shape on the rest of the shoe, I think it is the bend of the shoe there have provoked the rip, so maybe we are talking about a not so good design.
Picture 3. The shoe has a rip in the outside of one of the shoes, while the other is worn at the same place.
The soles are worn down, especially in the zone where I land with my feet, see picture 4, even there still is a lot of grip in the shoes from the rest of the sole. The wear will always be higher where the sole first meet the ground, but that the pegs have totally gone, in such a short time, is that right for a good sole?
Picture 4. No pegs remain in my foot's landing zone (front outside).
Conclusion
The period I have used these shoes I have been generally happy for them, only lately there have been problem with them, and it is clear to me today, that the shoes are worn down and I need to buy me a new pair, and that is much earlier than expected when I bought these shoes.
That shoes wear down is rather normal, but a good quality shoes with a price tag as the Trailroc-245, should, after my opinion, last longer. I have never used the shoes in extreame conditions or outside the trail, I do not think running a short trail runs once a week is very excessive, so in the end I'm rather disappointed with the shoes, even they had a promising start.
