Friday, August 19, 2011

Inov8 Evo Skins Review

Inov-8 EvoskinI couldn't wait for these to come out!  Inov8 is a popular shoe brand at my Crossfit gym.  I tried these shoes out the other day.  
  • They only come in small-med-Lg, so the odds of them fitting you well are low-medium
  • They are impossible to get on.  It tok me a while to notice you could unsnap the straps, but resnapping them once they're on is a chore.  I really broke a sweat, mainly because of lack of flexibility.  Bending and fiddling with shoes for minutes is a pain.  This would be mitigated through practice
  • I have two worthless smaller toes that would not go in to the proper slots.  I fixed this however by adding a small amount of lotion to my feet- then BAM they fell into fitment. 
  • Note the holes at the end of the toes? Those are for air escaping when donning and sweat escaping when exercising.  Now this is pretty nasty: After doing a crossfit workout, sweat SQUIRTED out of these holes.  It was disturbing to watch.  For a 'shoe' with so much open space, they are very hot.
  • The shoe was very slippery with sweat (even before I figured the lotion thing out).  I tried to do things like 'karoke' and it is dangerous to have feet sliding in shoes.
  • My WOD consisted of box jumps and olympic lifrts, not appropriate due to feet sliding inside of shoe
  • So, no good for sports like crossfit.  The next day, I wore these shopping on my feet for hours.  I was losing circulation in toes and ended up barefoot.  
  • Here's the Good!  what an attention getter, people love the looks.
Another good review here

Zhik - Outdoor Retailer 2011 Summer Market

Another Minimalist shoe vendor entering the market. Plimsoll type shoes, great for casual wear. I will be looking for a review for them used as a running shoe.