Topo Athletic  Pursuit 2 Trail-Running Shoes - Women's

These shoes were only available online so I could not try them on at the store. I really wanted to love these shoes but unfortunately I just couldn't. I found when I put them on the arch hit my foot at the edge of the heel. It felt funny and a bit uncomfortable. I had hoped my foot would adjust so I wore them in the house for several hours. I found that my heels were getting numb and tingling (like they fell asleep). I still wanted to like them because the toe box was wide, the material was comfortable, and they looked great. But after wearing them a couple more times around the house, I realized my heels were not happy and I returned them.

I first used Topos about eight years ago and liked them. I used another popular brand for a year that was narrower and ended up with a Morton’s neuroma and had to have foot surgery. After recovering, I started running in Topos again and now I won’t run in anything else. The wide toe box is the best design I’ve found. Because the heel is more secure than other wide toe box shoes, it holds my foot in place and I find I have great stability even though my toes are free to wiggle. These are my absolute favorite for trail and road running, and the Vibram soles are grippy for slippery rock hikes too. I highly recommend them!

The Topo Pursuit 2 Trail Running shoe is arguably the BEST shoe I have ever worn. However I will never be able to wear them because of poor quality control. I ordered two pairs: the shoelace tabs/loops on the first pair started unraveling after two weeks; the tabs on the second pair were unraveled out of the box.

I was dismayed when Topo's Runventure was discontinued, but the Pursuit 2 is extremely similar. When I compared them side by side, it was difficult to see much difference in the overall shape, cushion, and toe box. I tested them on a training run and then wore them for a 20-mile race, and they felt solid. Only slightly heavier (less than a full ounce) than the Runventure, and slightly less flexible. (Or maybe it's just that my old pair was pretty beat up by the time I stopped wearing them.) I still prefer the Runventure 4's colorways, but overall I'm happy with the shoe and will likely repurchase.

In love. These are the most comfortable shoes! Yes my foot is a bit sore from getting a workout because these are my first minimalist shoes, but they are the first shoes I have been able to walk in where my toes don’t slam into each other. I have hammer toes correction on both my little toes, knock knees and in-toeing, so my life before now was about deforming my feet to get them into shoes that never felt right. These do, finally. I haven’t had any manufacturer issues with these issues, but if I do and it is something as simple as the loop starting to fry, I will sew them. I know they’re expensive, but I’ve never had a shoe so perfect in my life. If it’s within the year, I will just exchange them because this is REI.

Loved Pursuits for years but the latest iteration is about 1/8" narrower than previous models. And for folks with bunions, that's a big difference. So I returned them and will try Terraventures again. Very disappointed.

Altras started KILLING the backs of my heels. I needed another zero drop. Great, roomy toe box for us fat-footers and super cute! I wondered if a 9 would fit or if I needed a 9.5. The 9 fit like a princess slipper.

Love the comfort of Topo. The issue for me is structure. I feel some ankle fatigue wearing these on long walks.

These have the best toe box (finally a true foot shaped toe box) with plenty of room - way better than Altras - by a lot. As a forefoot ultrarunner, these shoes are so easy to run in and I can do all the miles. My foot isn't having to fight the shoe like other shoes. They feel amazing underfoot. Great for mountains, canyons, dirt roads - they do it all!

I needed to replace my Topo MT-4s, so I tried this because I wanted better traction on steep dry kitty-litterish downhills. These did very well at that, were comfortable, and and had cushion. Also were much more breathable than the Peregrine 15s I tried. But I had a lot of trouble lacing them to be comfortable. I have high arches, narrow heels and insteps, and fairly spread out toes. One foot is also a half size larger than the other. I was prepared to keep them despite too much bumping against the toe guard on my larger foot but when I took them off after 10 miles of hiking the soles of my feet were killing me and a blister was developing on the ball of my smaller foot, so I don’t think sizing up will help. My knees also hurt even though I go barefoot and wear other 0 drop shoes. They seem like good shoes, and they handled rocky steep terrain well, so I think it’s mostly just a mismatch for my feet. The width in the toe box was just about perfect.