Inov8 – reviews of the best trail running shoes

What’s so damn good about Inov8?

Inov8 running shoes are gaining more traction on the Danish trail and crossfit market month after month. What is so special about these Inov8 running shoes?

They will be the lightest in any category.

You get incredibly light running shoes for orienteering, trail running, off-road running, ultra running, asphalt running, crossfit, etc.

I’m personally a huge fan of Inov8. That can’t be said too often. Inov8 just does it every time – surprises me positively. Every time you get to a point where you think, now they can’t do this and that better – they fucking do it. And that’s world-class development if you ask me.

Watch the video about Inov8, choose your model, or scroll further down to get an overview of which shoe you should get. I’ll give you a very practical insight into the structure of the running shoes, which can otherwise seem somewhat opaque.

How to find your Inov8 shoe

To arrive at the model that suits you, you need to ask yourself the following questions in order of priority. In each case, I will give you answer options so that you can tick which direction you should go. Next to each answer option, I have also noted which shoes you can use)

1. What type of training do I do?
2. How long have I been practicing my sport and how serious am I?

1. Types of training

Let me cut to the chase. You have the following options:

• Crossfit – indoor primarily (Bare-XF, Fastlift)
• Normal running training – asphalt and hard surfaces (Road-X, Road-X-treme, Road-X Lite, Bare-X)
• Trailløb – småstier og grus (Roclite, Trailroc, Terrafly)
• Off-road – mud and snow (Mud-Claw, X-Talon, Bare-Grip, Oroc)

2. Level and risk of injury

Inov8 operates with “drop”. Drop is an expression of the height difference between the heel height and the tip of the shoe height. If the heel is 35 mm and the front is 25 mm, it is a 10 mm drop. In this way, we are not talking about running style here. The same types of pronation wedges are not placed in the running shoes. Instead, the drop is used.

The lower the drop, the closer you get to a natural running style. With a 0 mm drop (also called zero drop) you can build a very natural running style. However, you should also look at the thickness of the sole. There is not much natural running style and a running shoe with zero drop and 20 mm thick sole. If you are new to natural running, I would recommend that you start in a pair of 9 mm drop shoes. It is a really good middle ground, and then you have the opportunity to let your body adapt to the new running style.

In general, Inov8 has the following types of drops:

• 9mm drop (Fastlift, Road-X, Roclite, Oroc)
• 6mm drop (F-Lite, Roclite, Trailroc, Terrafly, Mudclaw, X-Talon)
• 3mm drop (F-Lite, Road-X, Road-X-Treme, Road-X Lite, Roclite, Trailroc, Mudclaw, X-Talon, Oroc)
• 0mm drop (Bare-XF, F-Lite, Bare-X, Road-X-Treme, Trailroc, Bare-Grip)

You can read more about the different running shoes and their drop at Inov8’s website.3 arrows indicate 9 mm drop, 2 arrows are 6 mm drop, 1 arrow is 3 mm drop and “zero” is 0 mm drop. As you can see, several of the models have different drops. Let me demonstrate with an example. F-Lite is found in several categories. This is because it is made in several versions. The difference in the drop usually also means a reduced weight. Thus, there is F-Lite 195, F-Lite 230, etc.

Mont Blanc vertical kilometers

Inov8 has been a sponsor of one of the toughest shorter races in the world several times. The race is known as the Vertical Kilometer. You run 1000 meters of elevation gain over a distance of 3.8 km. That’s a 26% gradient. It hurts. Really hurts. You can read more about vertical kilometer here.

I have personally had the pleasure of running the distance. You can’t help but underestimate that route. A guess would be that the world’s fastest on a 3.8km flat route is 10 minutes (2.5 min/km). The world’s fastest would probably climb this route in around 30 minutes (7.5 min/km). When I ran the Inov8 Vertical Kilometer in Charmonix Mont Blanc my best guess is that I could do a flat 5km in 19 minutes. It took me 52:30 minutes to get to the top. That’s 13.8 min/km. That sounds slow. It is slow. If you ever get the chance, do yourself a favor and take the trip. If I have to give you one piece of advice along the way – you can’t run up there – just go!

I am incredibly excited about the race, which has 400 participants from approximately 100 nations every year.

Inov8 trail running shoes on sale and discount

If you are looking for Inov8 running shoes on sale, you should stop by one of the retailers on this page. It is not difficult to find Inov8 running shoes on sale. This is due to several reasons. inov8 is a modern company that knows that the internet is the way forward. Of course, you cannot get the same advice when you buy goods online as in a physical store.

Inov-8 running shoes for men and women

Overall, you can say that Inov8 makes running shoes for men, women and unisex. They are primarily known for their unisex models, which they have also been criticized for. This is because many other brands like Asics and New Balance have made a lot of effort to make gender-specific models. However, they have caught up with this in recent collections.

Crossfit shoes – why now?

Crossfit is one of the world’s fastest growing sports. Unfortunately, the range of crossfit shoes is not increasing nearly as much. It doesn’t matter much when Inov8 has such good crossfit shoes as they do. The most well-known model is the Bare-XF 210 – a superb shoe for cross training. Crossfit is great for the body, and a perfect companion for your run. With crossfit, you get to work more muscles, and your training becomes much more versatile. If you ask me, Inov8 is one of the leaders in crossfit footwear. They at Inov8 saw the light and started developing these shoes early. And thank you very much for that.