I've had my eye on this shoe and the Trailhead for quite sometime, but I never pull the trigger. I own 4 pair of the Primals and a pair of Boulder Summits...those are my top favorites from Lems. There are just too many negative reviews regarding this shoe, so I just stick with my Lone Peaks or Mesa 2 trail when I go trail running. Solid review as always and have a safe Memorial Day Weekend.
I wore lone peaks for trail running for years but switched to topo recently. Check out topo pursuit or really any others they make a ton of nice trail runners. I own the lems mesa because I loved how they look but theyre surprisingly stiff and I just use them as a casual shoe to wear around town now.
I've no idea what it is but any drop seems to hurt the bottom of my left foot right behind the ball of the foot, dead in the middle. Even the little 2.5mm leather heel liner caused this in my Jim Green for a few weeks until my feel made an impression. The interesting thing about it is that this is a much more noticeable issue with shoes that have soft insoles or midsoles than it is with leather or cork like in the Jim Green or even Vivo. Things that have no midsole at all feel the best, for that issue. Just a 4-6mm rubber outsole. But that lack of padding has been a bit of an adjustment for my hips, lol. That is what I don't love about Lems. They all seem to irritate the bottom of my foot. I swear I am standing on my arches. They just aren't for me but I can see that they would work well for many people. My wife likes them but doesn't care about zero drop at all. As always thank you for sharing your experience with us!
So I wear Lems and Astrals every day casually and for work. I LOVE the sock upper Astrals have and something about the safari colorway of the Mesa.. I dont normally wear stuff like that but kept coming back to them.. I read the reviews n accepted that but decided to get them as casual around town shoes. They were much more stiff than I expected. I got a full size up as Lems run about a half size too small so with how narrow these are.. it worked out great. Love em. I keep a pair of Loyaks in my truck since theyre technically water shoes but are used by parkour and kayakers and worn casually by people since they just look like normal sneakers but are very minimal so they have been my weekend/after work casual shoes for years. 3 pairs. and still are but now I have the Mesas if I wanna mix it up.
Surprised to not see Astral or Topo on your channel. Would love to see your opinion on both brands but especially the astral loyaks. Long time staple for me.
@@JohnDAlmonte I'm gonna leave that to the podiatrists out there 😂 in general we firmly believe more minimal shoes are great for foot health, but when it comes to specific ailments like those, I'd probably see a doctor to get their take. I heard once that minimal shoes are great for people whose feet are already healthy and want to stay that way and get stronger, but if you're coming into these shoes with pre-existing problems that's not always the best thing.
So does this have the same last/toe box as the Chillum/Drifter/etc line? For someone who is pretty comfortable in a Primal 2/primals then do you think they would be too narrow?
@@Laotzu.Goldbug The Mesa and the Trailhead are I think the only two of Lems shoes in their narrowest last. The Chillum and Drifter are slightly wider and in their middle category, the Primal 2 is in their widest. So I would think that if you're real comfortable in the Primal these would probably be too narrow for you as is a noticeable difference in their widths. I love Lems widest last (the Primal), am ok with the middle (Drifter, Boulder Boot Grip), and find myself a little uncomfortable in the Trailhead and Mesa.
