The Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3. All images: iRunFar/Bryon Powell

The Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3 ($200) has the few essential tweaks we wanted as a way to lastly give this shoe the complete reward that we couldn’t give its predecessors. The third iteration of this tremendous light-weight path racing shoe has a 6-millimeter drop, by means of reported 24- and 18-millimeter heel and toe stack heights, and an precise weight of seven.1 ounces (202 grams) in a U.S. males’s 9. The shoe is unisex.

These days, the path racing shoe panorama has modified. Some manufacturers’ path tremendous footwear have come to market as principally a lugged outsole on a rocket-fueled highway midsole. Outcomes are blended. In a straight line, footwear like the brand new adidas Terrex Agravic Velocity Extremely and The North Face Vectiv Professional 2 are extremely quick and really enjoyable. The rockered form and carbon fiber plates switch power like no path footwear earlier than them, however these footwear are caveated by their downhill efficiency. Very easy trails and fireplace roads are wonderful, however add rock options or camber, they usually turn out to be a skittery journey.

Just a few manufacturers are racing into this territory, innovating on the fly, and seemingly hoping to discover a match for some runners or be the primary to market. The innovation is, by and huge, coming from shoe manufacturers which have spectacular highway applied sciences, not ones that come from a strictly path or mountain-oriented background, with The North Face being an exception.

And, though Salomon just isn’t shy about its highway intentions with absolutely carbon-plated footwear just like the Salomon S/Lab Illusion 2 and lots of extra choices for each day coaching or stability, they’ve left the S/Lab Pulsar 3 largely alone from an excellent shoe standpoint. It has no carbon plates or nitrogen-injected super-foam, and, for my part, that’s an excellent factor.

The place these aforementioned footwear fall down with their stability, weight, and outsole dynamics, the S/Lab Pulsar 3 doesn’t. It’s a simple, tremendous light-weight shoe that’s pretty much as good for going up as it’s down.

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Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3 Higher

A lateral view of the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3.

Due to its built-for-speed qualities, the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3 just isn’t a mountain operating shoe within the custom of La Sportiva or Dynafit, however the higher is perhaps extra sturdy than choices from these manufacturers, whose intention is to be burly and match for the alpine. Whereas these footwear stand as much as powerful path situations, they’re extraordinarily un-fun to make use of, buying and selling bouncy midsoles for precision and floor really feel.

Taking a racing shoe off-trail sometimes means a dying sentence for the uppers, however talus operating within the mountains has not broken the S/Lab Pulsar 3’s higher. This impenetrable materials is made from Matryx mesh, the tremendous textile that’s turning into de rigueur in any high-performance (and high-priced) path shoe designed to final.

Salomon has used Matryx uppers in all three editions of the S/Lab Pulsar, and never one from the road has suffered injury. In reality, all three variations stay in my rotation to at the present time. The integrity of this abrasion-resistant materials makes it an eco-friendly possibility. Now, with a a lot beefier outsole, this shoe will final a whole bunch of miles, with put on occurring at a extra equitable charge between the higher and outsole.

As I remarked in earlier evaluations on this line, the SensiFIT lace system is sort of redundant. The higher stays as comfortable as ever. For my huge ft, there’s nearly no use for the laces.

Time and miles have battered my ft to the purpose the place I don’t discover further discomfort from this slim shoe (perhaps I’m overdue for a podiatry appointment), but when your tolerance for precise-fitting footwear is low, you might need issues with the S/Lab Pulsar 3. That stated, there’s a tiny bit of additional room available by operating sockless, and to credit score the Matryx materials once more, whereas being extraordinarily powerful, it’s truly extra pliable than you’ll anticipate. My ft, spilling over the perimeters, truly discover sufficient give to sit down comfortably.

It is a one-piece higher, which means that there isn’t any gusset, and the tongue is tack-stitched to the remainder of the shoe. One massive part of TPU overlays line the entrance of the shoe close to the toe and alongside the lace eyelets.

The S/Lab Pulsar 3 has essentially the most profitable match profile of all three editions. The primary one was comically comfortable, requiring many minutes to get your foot inside. The second was a lot improved as a result of the higher merely had extra give. The S/Lab Pulsar 3 slides on in seconds, such as you’d anticipate from some other shoe, even and not using a still-lacking heel pull-tab. I’m unsure if Matryx has been reconfigured through the years or if the entire bundle now simply has just a little extra give. Sock-like is an overused descriptor, however this shoe really is.

For the report, all three editions of the S/Lab Pulsar I’ve examined have been the identical measurement, a unisex 12.5.

Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3 Midsole

A medial view of the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3.

Vitality Foam is Salomon’s long-used midsole tech. Within the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3, it supplies fast response and gentle bounce, a sensation lacking within the aforementioned mountain operating manufacturers’ midsoles, even in new fashions just like the La Sportiva Prodigio (evaluation), which for me, nonetheless miss the mark.

Of all three editions of the Pulsar, this model of Vitality Foam, mixed with the 6-millimeter drop, offers a pleasant quantity of roll by way of your stride.

That is the extra rockered form of any earlier Pulsar — and people had been additionally fairly rockered — and makes the shoe adaptable to the highway while you’re not hammering on trails.

Regardless of the shoe’s intention for pace, the midsole is solely not as agency as you’ll anticipate. Salomon struck a really inviting steadiness between power switch and that “need to run in” really feel we search for, particularly when your entry to costly footwear is proscribed and also you want your one or two fashions to do extra than simply be reserved for racing.

Underfoot safety is enough, in all probability principally because of the outsole, though the S/Lab Pulsar 3 makes use of Salomon’s ProFeel movie, a really skinny plate within the forefoot.

Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3 Outsole

The outsole of the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3.

Of all of the updates to the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3, it’s the outsole that’s uniquely redesigned. The Contagrip materials is identical, however the lug depth expands to a whopping 4.3 millimeters, in comparison with the S/Lab Pulsar and S/Lab Pulsar 2’s 2.5 millimeters.

With hindsight, Salomon’s flaw in under-equipping the unique variations’ outsoles made it a much less apparent possibility for a lot of path conditions. The two.5-millimeter variations merely underperformed in a wide range of situations — from free, dry path to technical rock to moist and muddy path. Sliding and treading evenly was a trademark of these footwear and one thing that stored them from being really all-around racing weapons.

After I first received into path operating round 2006, the Salomon Speedcross was a flashy possibility. I can nonetheless recall the aggressive and tremendous luggy outsole of that shoe from that period. Whereas the S/Lab Pulsar 3 just isn’t that excessive, it’s reminiscent and a daring replace for this specific line. Now you’ll be able to principally throw any path situation, dry or moist, on the S/Lab Pulsar 3 and be assured together with your selection.

Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3 Total Impressions

A high view of the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3.

The place the unique S/Lab Pulsar was in pretty uncommon air, this 12 months, a string of comparable footwear have come out that give stiff competitors to a shoe just like the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3. Particularly, these embody the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 (evaluation) and Brooks Catamount Agil. These footwear additionally are available in a featherlight bundle whereas offering barely totally different dynamics in midsole trip with supplies like Pebax and carbon fiber. Each have an equally adept outsole to match the S/Lab Pulsar 3’s new design, and the Merrell additionally provides a Matryx higher.

Nonetheless, Salomon has risen to a brand new degree with the S/Lab Pulsar 3, and it ought to stay atop the pile, or at worst, simply alongside comparable footwear on this class.

Light-weight racing footwear had been a considerably abandoned class in path operating for some time due to the emphasis on footwear for ultramarathons, however now, as shoppers are discovering extra curiosity in shorter-distance operating and racing, we’re benefiting from the depth of choices and competitors.

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• Have you ever tried the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3? Did you get pleasure from them?
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