ROBBE: Taylor wasn’t wrong in his criticisms of the shoe. I had the same conclusion in that this shoe is either too voluminous or a half size too big. While it wasn’t immediately noticeable, after about 10 miles into a long run, I felt like things weren’t as locked down as I had hoped. This was on roads, by the way, so I can imagine it’d be even more pronounced on the trails.
While my foot wasn’t sliding around, it was just … roomy, especially in the forefoot. I didn’t have any hot spots or irritations, probably the midfoot lockdown was satisfactory (though not perfect). Tightening the separate zones didn’t really fix this problem. It just felt like there was too much upper, too much width, just too much. Not enough to be a dealbreaker or ruin the run, but I just didn’t have that exceptional locked-in feel that you really want from an upper. Which is a shame, because I feel like this may have been a top-5 shoe of the year for me if I had that.
I should point out that I do have a narrow foot, and I always feel like fit can be super subjective. Point being, this may be great if you have a wide or higher volume foot.
Funny enough, it reminded me of a better version of the Craft Xplor Hybrid, a gravel shoe that had a fantastic midsole and ride, but was ruined by a downright terrible upper. The H1 wasn’t as bad as that shoe, not at all, but if they nailed the fit, the H1 would be an absolute game changer.
