Salomon Exit Sport Tested

Salomon Exit Sport - Tested

The Exit Sport is the latest in Salomon's long-running family of Exit all-round outdoor shoes. They're designed for a mix of walking, festering and just general casual knocking about. Because much of the Exit Sport's upper is open mesh, it's best saved for dry, warm days when it'll help your feet breathe more easily and soggy toes ain't an issue.

Salomon is one of those companies who go in for a raft of branded technical features, as far as the Exit Sport goes, the most important ones are the Sensifit lacing system which is designed so the lacing pulls the upper snugly over the foot for maximum support and the Ortholite footbed, which has an EVA heel section for better shock absorption along with an anti-baterial treatment to reduce pongs.

The chassis is what Salomon calls '2D' and is embedded in the sole unit to control pronation and increase stability. Think lateral stiffness and longitudinal flex and you won't be far wrong.

Salomon's shoes have been our long time choice for knock about casual / outdoor wear for ages now. Generally they seem to be ideal for wearing on a day to day basis, then knocking off a quick ten mile, casual walk without a change of footwear and the new Exit Sports seem to fall squarely into that niche.

They're instantly comfortable on the foot with a medium volume, medium width sort of feel. The lacing system is slick and makes it easy to adjust the upper snugly right down the forefoot. Subjectively we'd say they're a slightly more generous fit than last year's Elios.

Underfoot ride is generally cushioned and springy making them nice on harder surfaces and in warm weather you really appreciate the open mesh sections of the upper which do help keep the top of your foot cool and happy.

The Contragrip sole seems decent and grippy enough on anything except slippy mud though it's still not overly toothy, but then you won't want to be wearing this in the wet unless you enjoy the sensation of sopping wet socks. A Sport GTX version with Gore-Tex liner is also available.

For a soft-feeling shoe, they're also reasonably stable laterally making them competent on rougher ground, though not as precise feeling as some, less-cushioned shoes.

The jury's still out on durability. We tend to wear holes in the heel liners of Salomon shoes over time and the mesh areas look vulnerable, then again the parts of the shoe most likely to suffer rock and abrasion damage are reinforced, though the EVA section - the grey bits of the sole - can also suffer cosmetic abrasion damage.

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