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The Saucony Xodus Ultra 4 has leveled up. A Vibram outsole and a max cushioned shoe that doesn’t look like the mega-cushioned shoes, it’s hard to beat for anyone who wants comfort and security in a trail shoe.
Hearing that this was a max cushioned shoe even before opening the box I already had my ideas of what it was going to look like and was preparing for a chunky shoe.
I opened the box to find what looked like a pretty standard cushioning and then had my doubts about this max cushioning statement. But in this case, I am happy to be wrong, it’s a cushioned shoe without all the bulk.
The next question for me was naturally, what can these shoes do? So I tried every trail I could to max out the ability of these shoes and I haven’t found that limit (yet).
While I can’t say I’ve done every type of trail and run in these, I’ve tried – soft dirt, rain/mud, heavily rocky and gnarled roots, pine needles, 19% grade (up and down), mile repeats, minute intervals, easy runs, hairpin switchbacks.
It’s almost a goal to try to break this shoe now.
