Inov8 - Mudtalon Zero

They still/again have zero drop trail runners? Trailfly zero, mudtalon zero. Trailfly speed is 4mm drop. So I'm not sure if you're looking in the right place?

Topo mtn racer has better grip. Inov8 has better grip also; Trailfly for hard trails and Mudfly for wet/mud.

I have the Mudtalon zero and they are a great orienteering shoe if metal studs and cramped toes are not your thing. They also feel bouncy and fun to run in. But the new Trailfly does not fit me at all and the midsole and grip felt a bit meh. For the stuff they're good at I'd rather wear a road shoe. My wife loves them though and did her latest ultra race in them.

Inov-8's new lineup has wide options for every shoe. The one's I've used have been super durable shoes. I like the zero, but some of their thicker shoes with drop might align with your preferences better. Offensively ugly, but really good shoes. For sizing, always go by the bigger foot. Perfect would be to find a friend with opposite problem and split pairs, but that's pretty unlikely..

I don't know about Nordas myself, but about Inov-8. They quite recently brought back a zero-drop model, and they have wides available. I also get heel slippage with Altra 9+ wides, Trailfly zero has nice and snug heel. Trailfly Zero is basically same width in the toebox area, but shaped differently. Altras rub my big toe, Inov-8 squishes my little toe. For the same shoe size Altra is a bit longer and more voluminous, it could be half-a-size difference.

Inov8 mud talons or trail talons. I have the old mud talons, good ground feel and crazy grip, not the most comfortable longer distance. Otherwise VJ Maxx. In group tests the La Sportiva Mutants often come out in top of anything grip based. Haven't tried them myself but that rubber has an excellent reputation.

It depends on how much mud and slippery stuff you are going to encounter. If it's 10 mins of mud in a 3 hour race then you can loose 3 mins by wearing your Pegasus trail if not then get 6mm+ lugs on your shoes. If it's ice then any trail shoes plus decent ice grippers/studs will work well.  I did a race at the weekend with roal to trail shoes plus grippers and it would have worked brilliantly had I bought decent grippers rather than use my wife's 5 year old £3 a pair rubber grippers with metal coils on. I do a triathlon in Scotland and wear my Inov8 mudtalons with 8mm lugs and they work really well. Half the run is mud or bog and I do not slip or slide. I've tried it in Nike Ultrafly and I was a lot slower! The most efficient trail shoes on runrepeat seem to be the Saucony Endorphin Edge and the Xodus Ultra 3. So if one of those has enough grip I would maybe give that a try. The best shoe is the one you already own, so if you have the Pegasus trail just wear it... But it is a very middling trail shoe. It does every pretty badly. It's not massively comfy, it's relatively slow and it's good poor grip... But you can look up your own metric see what you might like then try on a couple of them 🤞.

I have wide feet and went for inov8 mudtalon wide in 1.5 size up. They were still not wide enough so I'd say she can skip them altogether with this shape of feet

I much prefer the new Mudtalon to these - have had both. The X-talon a pure soft ground shoe I think though. Wouldn't like to be caught on wet slabby rock. You can get a range of fits in the newer shoe too - precision, standard and wide which helps.

Long reply here but I understand this quite niche problem all too well. I have a bunion in the same place on left foot but actually have skinny midfoot so always struggle to get a lockdown in 'wide' shoes. The Inov8 Trailfly and their new range works well here. I'd actually go for the standard fit over wide as the toe box is already foot shaped. The width I think is in the midfoot. For example, I have a pair of precision fit Mudtalons and get a super snug midfoot lockdown but the toebox still lets my foot spread. The problem you actually have is that a lot of 'wide toe box' shoes still carry that super straight line on the inside of the foot which obviously doesn't work. Even the Prodigio Pro mentioned is quite accommodating but suffers from this to a degree as the bunion pushes the mesh out and can become uncomfortable by forcing your foot or all toes away to the side. Salomon shoes are quite bad for this, even though I suck it up and wear them as the midfoot just suits my feet. The Trailfy is the comfiest shoe I've worn in years, and I've even cleaned mine up and now wear them for walking around daily and the gym. They do a Trailtalon too if you need more softground grip, plus a road shoe. Edit to add: if anything like me, mine is just on the one foot so if I buy wide shoes, the other is super sloppy. This is why a better shape toe box works better than a wide fitting shoe in my opinion.

Gravel is a tricky surface, I agree. It probably depends on the the percentage of a certain terrain in a run that I choose the shoes. Generally, for steep grass I like Mudtalons with 8mm lugs, for snow the Genesis and for barely runnable rocks Bushidos. But then again, there is always a trade-off, since a run is usually composed of different surfaces. As an allrounder in alpine environment, I often go for Dynafit, Prodigio or Ribelle Run. YMMY. (And yes: I might have too many shoes).

I bought a pair if the new mud talons (having had x talon and several pairs of old mudclaw 300s) Worn once and sold them on. Seemed cheap, grio wasn't great and the quality felt far lower. (Upper glued to a block of foam). Seems like they've decided going more main stream is more lucrative🤷‍♂️

I maintain that it was a crime to replace the Mudclaw and Xtalon with that shoe. They replaced their fell shoes with a trail shoe that's good in mud. They're just shit at contouring and too fragile to bash through heather etc.

I’d have to check but the ones I saw definitely had far more stack. As for the mudtalons, the issue has never been the drop but the total lack of precision and durability compared to the mudclaws and xtalons they were supposed to be replacing. It’s rearranging the deck chairs in the titanic.

The obvious one is that they’ve replaced their fell shoes with a trail shoe that’s good in mud. It’s super sloppy on foot, no precision, high stack and delicate so it falls apart when you bash through heather or bracken. The roclite 275 has been replaced by the trailtalon. Again, it’s much higher stack and a baggy fit. It’s just not the same shoe. I’m not the only one - I’d say at least twice a month the topic of inov8 being in the bin comes up on the club run. Far fewer seen in races these days and those that are seen are often old mudclaws or xtalons. I’d rather race in walshes than mudtalons. I’m similar on being a long time repeat customer of theirs.. I’ve probably worn 8-10 pairs each of 212s and mudclaws down to slick. I can’t see myself buying another shoe of theirs unless something drastically changes. If they are forged in the fells (as they like to emphasise), they currently reside in Regents Park.

They’ve shifted from a fell shoe to a trail shoe that’s good in mud. They are too high stack and baggy to have the precision you want in a fell racing shoe, plus they aren’t nearly as durable. They fall apart after really quite limited heather bashing.

It’s a trail show that’s good in mud. They start baggy out of the box and get baggier somehow. Contouring in them is horrific!

They made a strategic decision to make shit shoes and send them for production without testing them. When the mudtalons fell apart after one run, they blamed a bad batch. Well one year on and it seems clear that every batch for every new model is a bad batch. Ultimately, they have shifted from a fell running brand to a trail one that’s chasing trends while still trying to bank on their previous fell, grippy credentials that got them to where they were. They don’t even make a fell shoe any more. It’s resulted in a completely disjointed product line and marketing strategy where they are selling shoes aimed at the fell which are too baggy and high stack to be much use. Similarly they are running a get dirty marketing campaign while releasing white t shirts and shorts!! It all went downhill rapidly when the ASDA guys came in.

They still don’t feel like a fell shoe to me though as the mudtalons cannot contour to save their life. Just so rolly! Their supposed fell shoe is just a trail shoe with big lugs.