Shoe Review: The North Face Flight Vectiv

I’ve been waiting for new trail running shoes from The North Face for so long. I have been running for many years in TNF Ultra Endurance, these were my favorite trail running shoes. I had more than 6 pair of these shoes. I did so many races in them including my hardest race ever TDS. TDS is the part of the UltraTrail du Mont-Blanc, its 120 kilometers in the mountains with more than 7000 meters elevation gain. Oh terrain is also very technical. So, my old TNF shoes did great and I loved this model so much.

So, I was so exiting when THF announced new trail shoes. Finally.

TNF FLIGHT VECTIV:

• 6 mm toe-to-heel offset;
• 3.5 mm lugs for a rugged grip across all types of terrain;
• Sole Unit: VECTIV technology designed to maximize energy on the trail;
• Stack Height: 25 Mm / 19 Mm;
• Weight for women’s model 8.64 Oz (245 G).

I received my FLIGHT VECTIV right before the race Black Canyon 60K. So there were only one options to put them on and test at 60 kilometers around beautiful Arizona landscape. The first trail shoe with a 3D carbon-fiber plate sounds very exciting, but even I am not an elite athlete I though that I still can feel benefits from carbon plate.

Let’s talk about what I like about these shoes: the rubber and grip. It works well with clay and dirt, nothing sticks shoes doesn’t get heavy. It works well on wet stones, sands, no complains. Previously they used Vibram soles on all of their shoes and Vibram is certainly the best outsole, but I must admit that this rubber is also very good.
The design of the upper confused me the most. The upper is made of a single material, shoes do not have a separate tongue, so it is woven together with the upper. It was inconvenient for me as I could not tighten them comfortably enough; also the heel, there are small pads inside so that the heel does not slip out and they work, but there is not enough of the usual roller around the heel, filled with something soft, firstly usually it helps to prevent stones/sand from getting inside. Since the heel does not fit snugly and wraps around it not only made me feel uncomfortable, but also allowed fine sand and stones get inside. I realized that my shoes full with small stone immediately when I started to run across the field with small stones.

3D carbon-fiber plate. Once again, I am not a professional athlete. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t notice any advantage of the plate on the trail. Quite the opposite, the sole seemed very stiff to me. Every time I put my feet on the stones, the wave gave off to my feet. Usually the carbon plate already creates the effect of running on concrete, when it is not pair with soft foam, then this effect is very well felt, and if you add stones and run on them here. It was definitely painful for me to run over the stones in this model, and after that my legs hurt more than usual and longer. I cannot say that this model does not give advantages to those who have iron legs, but for amateurs I do not think that this model will be a good idea. I have the eyes on the cheapest version of this series VECTIV ENDURIS. They have a classic upper with a padded heel and tongue and no carbon plates, I think these will be my favorites.