I've been wearing escalantes for a few years and I hate the current model. They decided to make it a knit upper so the volume in the toe box was reduced. They also do feel narrower than previous versions. I have mid volume feet and probably wouldn't rec them to someone with high volume.
I bought these for running and I have mixed feelings. I like running in them, but I haven’t ran in other running shoes, just barefoot shoes that aren’t made for it before these.
Walking however I really hate, I find them too squishy and bulky, my gait definitely becomes unnatural and I get tired much more quickly.
I’m a “barefoot” person, and I can’t say that these meet the typical requirements of this subreddit, but these are my running shoe of choice.
If I ran more than 5k distances, I would likely return to even more cushion.
This is just for me. Some folks here run in sandals and actually barefoot. Not me.
I have these shoes and really like them. They have just enough cushioning to be comfortable walking on concrete, but not enough to hurt stability; however, I would prefer if the heel counter were a little stiffer. For running on concrete, you would probably want a bit more cushioning. I haven’t had them long enough to say for certain that the outsole is durable, but I’ve done a few rounds of pickleball and a little shadow‑boxing on concrete (pivoting into the ground isn’t good for the outsole), and it seems fine to me. I have medium‑width feet, and the shoe fits great; if it’s too narrow, I would suggest elastic laces to relieve the pressure points. I have some other Altra shoes, like the Lone Peak 8 and Experience Flow, and I would say the Escalante 4 has the least amount of volume, so if someone’s foot width is beyond medium it may feel a bit tight. The tongue isn't generally something I focus on so I can't comment on that.
[RunRepeat has an indepth review of the shoe](https://runrepeat.com/altra-escalante-4).
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SUPERBLAST 2
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Marathon workhorse, but loud and clunky at slow paces.
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