Born in the North of England, where off-road and mountain running is incredibly popular, Inov-8 are the kings of extreme mountain running with extremely grippy, and very durable shoes that can take a real beating. 

A small brand that loves to push the technology boundaries and constantly seeks out the newest innovations that would suit its market. Shoes are made with a fit for purpose, no fluff mentality with technologies that are very relevant to off-road running. 

Trail shoes and mountain running shoes with excellent sticky rubber treads that grip amazingly well on wet rock, rock plate technology that supports that metatarsals in your foot and incredibly supportive uppers that lock your foot in place to allow you to run in extreme conditions, and some of the key features. 

The range is built on a number of different midsole depths from very low profile and therefore very nimble and ground reactional shoes, to slightly deeper midsoles for more protection on longer runs.

Lug depth and spacing are always very well considered to allow anything from maximum muddy grip to wider lower profile lugs for hybrid road to trail running. Inov-8 spend much of the design and development time on outsole design as its vitally important for an off-road shoe and it makes or breaks the overall performance. 

Inov-8 do make the odd road shoe now, but we would recommend you stay away as they are not perfected. But if you are looking for a Spartan racing shoe, or a great mountain and trail shoe, then you cannot go wrong with an Inov-8 product. Support a small brand, who really care about the consumer and you will get a great shoe in return. 

The best mountain running shoe from Inov-8 this season is the Inov-8 x-Talon 230

The best obstacle racing shoe from Inov-8 this season is the Inov-8 Mudclaw 300

The best trail running shoe from inov-8 this season is the Inov-8 Parkclaw