Topo Athletic Topo Athletic Vista Review / 65 miles

My size 12's came in weighing: Left 12.9 Ounces, Right 13.0 Ounces
Sample size weight: 10.9 Ounces
Heel Stack: 38 MM
Drop: 5 MM
Upper: Tightly woven mesh

Neutral shoe
Outsole: Vibram® Megagrip
Lugs: 4 MM
Price: $175 USD 

Overall, the upper is a very comfortable and a supportive upper.  Here are some details of different aspects of the upper

Laces: The laces are a nice ribbed style of lace. 
-My first few runs were very wet runs, either because it had rained/stormed the day previous, because I was running in heavy morning dew or because I was actually running in active rain. 
-The first run, I had the laces single looped and the moisture somehow caused the laces to "puff" up and come untied.  I double looped them and they did the same thing, which is a first for me.  I sinched them up even tighter in a double loop and no further issues on that run.
-My second run, I started with a double loop and they "puffed" up again with moisture and loosened up, but I retied them and then no issues.
*After the first 2 runs, they stopped puffing up and remained tied like I am used to.  I am not sure if they had some kind of coating on them that reacted to the wetness or what exactly caused this, but it did stop after the first 2 runs.  They reacted like nice ribbed laces I am used to after the first 2 runs.  
Tongue: It is not gusseted, but they have lace loops on the top of the tongue that keeps the tongue securely in place during runs and it performed great on all runs.  I had no lace bite, no movement and the tongue did the job it is meant to do, including a nice midfoot lockdown.
Upper material: The upper is a tightly woven mesh that is comfortable on foot, breathable to a point and drains water well.  The one caveat, which will be repeated in the Collar note, is that while the material drains the water well, it also seems to absorb some and stay "moist" for a while.  It took some time for the shoes to dry out after the runs (which at least half of them involved me getting them wet). 
Heel: The heel is nicely structured to keep the heel in place while not being to beefy or cumbersome.  I had zero issues with heel slippage, rubbing etc.  It has a set up for a gaiter attachment, which is a nice feature.
Collar: The foot collar is nicely padded, but not overly padded.  They found a good compromise in providing enough protection for the feet while not making the shoe overly heavy.  2 notes of issue:
First issue: As noted in the upper material comment, the collar did take a while to truly dry out. I felt no added weight in the upper on the run, but it didn't seem to dry out quickly either post run.
Second issue: My right shoe is showing wear around the inside part of the foot collar area, which is odd.  It's not in an area that I rub on the run or when putting my foot in.  The only thing I can figure here is that some of the thorny weeds I encountered on a couple of my runs in Ohio that tore up my legs pretty good (see picture), may be the cause of the wear.  The thorny weeds may have played a part in ripping up the collar area, I went through some significant patches of them.
Toe Room: With the foot shaped toe box, it allows room to splay while running and it was a nice shoe to rotate in while testing other shoes with a tighter toe box.  The more I run in Topo shoes, the more and more a fan of their design I am.  Some reviewers commented they thought the toe box was a smaller design, but it felt just like the Phantom and Fli-Lyte design to me.
Weight:  The shoe is 13ish ounces in my size 12, which is near my 2 heaviest shoes (road/trail) reviewed since I have started documenting these.  While the shoe is heavier than I would normally like, it is a well balanced shoe on the trail.  It did not seem to take on weight like the Skechers burst and I didn't notice any of the weight causing an over balance while on the move.  My longest run was 17 miles and I did not feel any negative effects of the weight.  With that being said, on the next version I hope Topo finds a way to trim some weight.  To be fair though, I had no negative feedback while on the move from the weight, so credit to Topo on the balance of the shoe. 

The Vibram 4mm MegaGrip performs top notch as anyone who knows Vibram would expect.  I covered all kinds of terrain in all kinds of conditions and through 65 miles, I see zero signs of wear.   The shoes gripped great, I had no issues with slippage or feeling out of control in any conditions.  

Topo uses their ZipFoam underfoot in the Vista.  Now, each version of Zipfoam is different between their shoes.  They do not really differentiate their naming conventions of the tuning of the foam used for each shoe.  What I can say is I think they tuned this version slightly softer (more compliant) and the result is an extremely nice underfoot feel, without being to soft for trails.  I like having some firmness in the midsole for trail work to maintain some stability underfoot and Topo landed in the sweet spot for me on this shoe. 

The midsole stack was a bit of a concern for me before testing miles, but it handled well on all terrains which did include some technical areas.  That concern is no longer on my radar 

These shoes traveled from Ohio, over to Pennsylvania and then back to the base state of Texas.  I am originally from Ohio, my family is originally from Pennsylvania and we had a family/friend reunion of sorts that took me back to Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

The shoes ran in Salt Fork state park Ohio, Wooster Memorial park in Ohio, The David s. Ammerman trail in Pennsylvania, the Rockton Mountain Trails in Pennsylvania and  Houston Memorial and Huntsville State Park in Texas. 

The types of trails range from Rail to Trail, single path, dirt, mud, rocky, overgrown green, piney, mulched, rooty, thorny, sandy, a little bit of road and pretty much all terrain types.  There were both wet and dry conditions, all though probably more on the wet side overall. 

The elevation was varied from flat to gradual grades to some steep inclines/descents. 

These were a pleasure to run in.  I was slightly concerned with the stack in how I would do with them on more technical type of terrain, but the shoes handled everything well.  The few times I had to run on the road to get around a closed portion of a trail system, these shoes felt great on the road.  They felt great on the Rail to Trail path as well, providing that extra grip on the gravel.  

I was wondering how they would do on rocky, rooty, curvy, single track type of conditions and after some hesitation, I become fully confident in them on all trail types.   I didn't have any issues with loosing footing or feeling out of control. I think the shoe being well balanced in combination with a nice lockdown and the Vibram outsole has a lot to do with the confidence I had underfoot. 

My longest training run was 17 miles and I had no blisters, pains, hot spots etc. at all with this shoe.  From a trail perspective, I would absolutely use this shoe as a grinder miles type of shoe as it is versatile enough to do all types of terrains and protect you while on the run.  

Would I race in it?  Maybe, it would have to be the right scenario of race.  If it was a course that was largely technical, I would probably opt for something a little more nimble and light underfoot as I think the weight could come into play in that scenario, but I also don't think this shoe was intended for that type of scenario.  If a trail system has varied terrain types with nice stretches of runnable path, this shoe would absolutely be in consideration. 

On one of my runs I had to do a decent amount of hiking due to the trails being very overgrown, with the greenery up to my midsection in height.  Since there are some snakes in the area, I chose to pay more attention to where I was putting my feet and keeping my eyes in search mode.  What I can say, is this shoe would be a fantastic hiking shoe if you are looking for one.  When my wife and I go for hikes, this is probably the shoe I am going to grab. 

This shoe is a recommend for daily trail miles, rail to trail miles, trail systems that vary and include technical aspects and even some racing scenarios, as well as a strong recommend for a hiking shoe. 

In my experience of over 65 miles running in this shoe, my feedback is this shoe meets the intended purpose of the shoe design from Topo.   It is a model I would easily recommend to others if they are in the market for the shoe.  

The areas of the shoe that shined for me are: The underfoot feel, the lockdown of the upper, the confidence underfoot of the outsole on all kinds of terrains. 

The areas of the shoe I hope they look at for improvement on the next iteration are: Look for areas of weight reduction, look at upper materials that may dry quicker, review data to see if the wear on the collar and odd experience with the laces are just one offs or if others have noted the same.