Hi-Tec Infinity and Salomon Crossmax: review

In this post I'm certainly not going to compare these two shoes because they're very different and, as you know, shoes are very foot and personal-preference specific. What I may love may be too tactile or narrow for you; and what is great on forest trails may not be as fabulous bundu bashing through highveld grass and rocks, rocks, rocks.

I've had both of these shoes for a few months. I haven't had a hotspot, blister nor discomfort. I've worn them at orienteering, on trails and socially. OK, let's look at them.

(L-R) - Adidas Supernova (road shoes), Hi-Tec Infinity, my foot, Salomon XR Crossmax, Adidas Response TR17

Hi-Tec Infinity

I had tried on both the men's and women's models and I preferred the fit of the men's shoe. Just 'cos the label says "men" it doesn't mean that girls can't wear 'em too.

Aside from the delicious colour, the first thing that caught my eye was the almost 'uniform' shape. As you'll see in the photo above of various shoes (and my foot) together, the Infinity doesn't have a mid-foot 'swelling'. I find this a bit odd because feet are not straight up and down; nor toe shaping.

Although this is quite a narrow shoe, on my foot I can feel that the shoe doesn't have as much space mid-foot, but, surprisingly, it hasn't caused me any discomfort. I think that what saves it is the less-structured, fabirc upper, which doesn't restrict the foot. Remember that when you run your foot splays to broaden even more.

What I do enjoy is when the shoe is wet. The upper seems to cling to my foot more, which I like.

The tread is vertical - in the direction of movement. I'm no aeronautical engineer but I fancy that tread should go at an angle - like 45deg or more to prevent sliding? I've found the shoe to be quite slippery on wet rocks and wet paving. Then again, not much sticks like glue on these surfaces when wet.

On surfaces with loose gravel and stones, especially downhill, I find that running technique probably has more effect on grip than the shoe. If you're landing solidly on your foot and trying to stabilise every step, you're going to slide regardless.

The sole of trail shoes is often flared to create a bigger surface area to provide better stability and weight distribution (often seen in road shoes). Being a more narrow shoe with no flaring, I see the Infinity to be a faster shoe, suited to runners who are lighter on their feet and confident in their foot placements. Less baggage. The midsole isn't more substantial than others, yet the shoe makes me feel 'higher' up.

Toe protection is very good; you may miss out on that black toenail if you slam your foot into a rock.

I find the heel cup comes up a bit higher than usual - half a centimetre lower would be better on my foot. You'd only really feel this on steep descents. I like the cutaway on either side of the ankle bones.

I don't generally destory uppers so I can't comment much on durability - but from the events and runs that I've done, the upper looks none the worse for wear and I find the fabric easy to wash after races.

This shoe has Hi-Tec's Ion Mask technology on the upper to repel water. It's fun to demonstrate but it doesn't really make too much difference to me. If my feet get wet it is usually because I've walked through a river, in which case water has gone in through the neck and soaked my socks too. Also my feet don't have issues when they're wet so I don't get too concerned about this.

The laces... Lots of people are fans of quick-lace systems. I'm not. I like regular laces that you tie in a double knot because you can change the lacing pattern, you can create different tension at the bottom, across the top of your foot and at the neck and my gaiters fix better on traditional laces - quick-pull laces have less tension. Let's say your feet are swollen. So, you loosen the laces to get more room in the shoe. Then your foot pops out the neck and slides in the heel cup. Mmm... I'm just particular so my comments on quick-pull laces (as applicable below as here) come from this.

For doing what they do - keep your shoe on - these laces do the job very well and the tension doesn't seem to loosen.

And weight... my shoe (UK 7.5) weighs 301g. Lighter than all my others - by 30 to 68 grams. When you're lifting up each foot x-number of times in a race, a light shoe feels nice-nice.

I wore my Infinity shoes at the Kinetic Adventure yesterday. I guess we were out for about 2h30. Good comfort, no problems and laces stayed as is and didn't need to be readjusted at all.

Although I've had absolutely no issue with this shoe I don't know whether I'd take it to run a 100km in. I would definitely change the laces to regular laces - that's just my preference. I also fret that the narrowness would be an issue over time and distance. My feet aren't broad, but they're not narrow either. Experience has taught me that with distance, duration and heat (feet swell more in hot conditions) if I feel a bit of narrowness in the shoe near  my outside toes, I'll be prone to developing 'triangle' blisters under my little toe and its friend next door. Man, I hate that! That said, this can happen too if a shoe is too wide - then there's rubbing on the outside of big toe too. So, it is based on past experience of other shoes and not the performance of this shoe that I'm hesitant. I've definitely been happy in them for three hours of uneven and rocky terrain and a few more hours would probably be just as pleasant.

Salomon XR Crossmax

Designed to be used on road and trail, the Crossmax is one of my preferred Salomon offerings. I still prefer the original S-Labs but have no serious complaints about this shoe.

The first two outings I did in this shoe were an 8km and a 6km road run. Although the ride is, as expected, different to a road shoe, my foot was comfortable. I remember doing a trail race about 12 years ago and there was a two kay section of road linking trails. Man, I really felt the hardness of the sole in my joints. No issue with this one on tar. I wouldn't make a habit of running on tar with any of my trail shoes, but it is nice to know that if you run on road to the start of a trail that you're not going to feel it.

I've got the lovely blue/grey colourway in the women's shoe (not this picture above which is the men's). My size in this is a UK8. The weight of the shoe is 331g.

(Compare to my old favourite Adidas TR17, men's shoe - UK8.5 and weighs 369g - this is with velcro around it from my desert gaiters)

The sole tread pattern makes sense - at an angle to direction of forward motion. The lugs stand out from the base of the outer sole. Not totally aggressive but definitely present. Sole is flared; not quite as much as my road shoes. Not made for bouldering or kloofing, it's not surprising that it isn't great on bare rock.

Because this shoe is a 'door to trail' combo shoe, the midsole is softer than Salomon usually uses - like in the XA Pro. Hard soles are nasty - for my weight and style.

The upper is structured through the use of heat-moulded bands. The Sensiflex band catches me right around the mid-foot bones and is there to give the upper structure. It is rubber-like and does expand with your foot. I do like the broad u-shape of the top of the shoe.

The top of the heel cup is nice and low and I feel no interference with my ankle bones with pronation and supination movements.

The laces - my comments as above apply to this shoe too. I really don't like quick-pull laces. Fortunately this can be remedied by replacing quick-pull with normal laces - something I still need to do.

I don't think I've had wet feet in these shoes... then again, wet feet doesn't really bother me.

I've had no blisters or hotspots or discomfort from these shoes.

(L-R) - Adidas Response TR17, Hi-Tec Infinity, Salomon XR Crossmax

In conclusion...

These shoes are very different to each other in fit but, for my feet, I've found them both to be pretty good. No discomfort, rubbing or irritation from either.

My main barrier to using both of these shoes for long distance races is purely mental - I'm sure they'd both hold up. I've done most races Adidas Response TR for so many years (like over a decade - for the most part) that I just trust them and generally favour these for long races. They're not bottom of the range, they're not top, they're pretty simple shoes but they suit my feet perfectly. Feet are so important to having a good race and as I loathe having sore feet I tend to be very cautious and conservative. When I've taken other shoes to long races in recent years I've had sore and sensitive soles, triangle blisters... So I tend to avoid other shoes for long races, keeping them to sprints, orienteering events and short-distance trail runs.

But, bit by bit I'm getting used to the Infinity and Crossmax and I wear them regularly. As my confidence in them builds with each run and race - like 2h30 at the sprint race yesterday in the Infinity - I'll take them out on longer distances.