Peregrine 8

I have a pair of Peregrine 7's that I absolutely love, but they're pretty beat up so I went to get myself a pair of the new Peregrine 8's. Unfortunately, the fit of the shoe has changed in the new generation. The toe box of the 8 is a lot smaller than the 7, causing my toes to feel squished together. Had to return the pair.

I love this shoe, it is supper comfy (albeit a bit narrow) and the sole has incredible traction. However, the durability of the uppers is very very poor. I've had these shoes for five months and put 153 miles on them according to my foot pod. All of those miles have been on mellower single or double track with almost no rocks, but my outer toes have worn through the uppers, and now that there is a hole, it is rapidly expanding. I'd guestimate the lowers have at least another 150-200 miles in them, so it's a big bummer to basically have to throw away a pair of shoes that should still have a good bit of life left in them. I'll not buy another pair of these until the uppers are reinforced to have the durability I'd expect from a trail shoe.

I'm so sad because these are very comfortable, but the quality is awful. After 2.5 months they started to separate at the toe. At 3 months a hole started showing up at the pinky toe in both shoes. At 3.5 months the entire front has separated from the base and the flexfilm has peeled off the uppers. At 4 months now and I have rocks in my toes, trip on the front with the toe falling off, have reinforced them on both sides with gorilla tape inside. I can't afford another pair of shoes after spending so much on these just a few months ago. I'm a high school art teacher averaging 9k steps a day and I wear another pair of shoes half the time. No way should these fall apart like this! They're so poorly made I was compelled to find the website to write this review.

This is my fifth set of the Peregrine line and within two weeks the right front little toe area was starting to blow out. A week later the left little toe area blew. I have mentioned in the past that the sole tracsion is getting worst each generation and this one holds true to that theme.

The Peregrine has been my go to shoe for racing and training since I first tried the Peregrine 4 (which held up for over 400 miles). When the side of my Peregrine 8 tore after a little over 100 miles, I thought, "I must have gotten a defective pair, Saucony makes a good shoe." So I bought another pair, this time keeping closer tabs on my mileage. At 122 miles, the top tore in the same place. For me, the cost for mile is too high. This is just a bad shoe. When does the Peregrine 9 come out? Until the Peregrine 9 comes out, I am trying out a shoe from another manufacture.