VJ Shoes ACE Review. The Top Shoe for Full on Winter Trail Running?

RTR Contributor Mike Postaski, a top ultra runner from the snows of Idaho goes deep on the VJ Shoes Ace ($180), a studded broader fitting, water proof shoe for winter running.with a non hardening eTPE midsole foam. Details, 06:30 Ride, Cons, Performance 10:06 Conclusions 11:00 Comparisons.
Full Written Multi Tester Review:
https://www.roadtrailrun.com/2024/01/vj-shoes-ace-review-bring-on-ice-4.html
Samples provided at no charge by VJ Shoes where the Ace is available here:
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Is the VJ Ace the top winter trail running shoe on the market right Now hello this is Mike P here from Road trail run and today I’ll be bringing you a full video review of the VJ Ace the VJ Ace features 17 starshaped carbon steel studs it comes in at 38 in the heel 30 under the 4T for

An 8 mm drop Midol foam is e tpe nice and soft the ace is listed on vj’s website at 9.7 o That’s 275 G my size us 10.0 comes in at 11.5 Oz now that’s 326 G as far as fit VJ recommends that you don’t size up as much as you may

Typically have with VJ models of the past now typically my TR to size is a us99.5 but in VJ I’ve been wearing a a US 10.5 which is a full size higher than my typical TR to size now I’ll vary between a us9 and A2 and a us10

Depending on the distance of the shoe the fit of the shoe that kind of thing but VJ is the only brand that I’ve worn a 10 and 1/2 in I followed their advice so I only went up a half size which is somewhat normal for me not a big issue

And this fits me perfectly so I do have to say I’m a half size down compared to some of their other models I find that these fit my foot really really well the toe box is just perfect the width across is perfect as you can see here this

Looks totally different if you’ve run in the VJ Ultra you’ll know the tapered toe box you don’t have this rounding along the edge over here so you have a nice comfortable toe box we’re not talking Ultra wide here but there’s enough space and I find that in cold conditions I

Don’t know if this was the reason why they went with this but in colder conditions you generally want a little more space for the toes it tends to keep your feet warmer you also could be wearing thicker socks and generally when there’s issues with traction we’re talking about running in snow obviously

Running in hard packed snow running on sections of ice possibly sheer ice the more space you have up front the better kind of feel you have under that 4 foot the lacing is quite reminiscent of a shoe I have just over my shoulder here

The Hoka Tech ton X as you can see the lacing is extends quite far down similar to the tekon X1 also if you take a look at this shoe it does look quite similar to the tekon X1 it almost seems as if they copied the general design from the

Lacing to the two-tone design of the midsole and even the little bit of a swallow tail the VJ Ace features a waterproof upper now it’s not an official gortex upper but it is waterproof proof I have tested it in snow and slush definitely gives you as much if not more protection and warmth

As a gortex upper does they don’t have a particular snazzy name for it the label here just says waterproof so it is the upper is a quite thick engineered mesh like I said you have that waterproof outer and you also have a gusseted tongue with an inner booty liner similar

To most gortex designs all in all it ends up being a little bit on the thicker side and that probably contributes to some of that 11 plus oun of weight but again you do have the waterproof aspect gortex shoes typically tend to be a little bit on the heavier

Side so no real issues there in the front quite a protective tow bumper you won’t have any issues bumping chunks of ice rocks anything around on the trail there it should be quite protective moving on to the rear heel counter not overly rigid not overly soft somewhere

In the middle I’d say one thing to knowe is the ankle collar is quite soft quite comfortable around you don’t have any hard edge here I didn’t have any issues I will say this heel area is very soft if you see here there’s not much rigidity at all to the

Collar around the heel and achilles area I found the upper to be quite warm on the run I tested this in temperatures down into the 20s probably in the upper teens my feet felt extremely warm comfortable not too clammy in those very cold conditions speaking of cold temperatures this ETP Midol is quite

Insulating from the ground and that’s something I found in some of my colder test runs it doesn’t Harden as a traditional EVA foam does in cold temperatures you know sometimes when you go out running it’s very cold they can tend to firm up the foam is not as responsive when the temperature gets

Colder this shoe maintains its softness even in the coldest of temperatures I tested this in extremely cold temperatures and it felt soft underfoot the entire time it does seem to be insulating like I said with the Eva Foams they tend to almost feel a little bit cold like as if they’re transmitting

Cold ground to the bottom of your feet this kind of feels totally different the softness tends to really insulate the foot I mean in conjunction with the waterproof upper my foot felt totally warm even in the Cold shoe the out soole is of course vj’s top of class 100% Beal rubber in all of vj’s models the ultra the spark Extreme 2 that I’ve tested hands down the best traction and grip that you will get in any Trail shoe on the market this features the same rubber here but again

You add those 17 star Shaped found the ride of the VJ Ace to be excellent lots of flexibility in this shoe and I really love a flexible ride in a shoe especially in technical terrain sometimes a little bit of stiffness is okay if it’s really Rocky but generally I prefer to have just enough protection to allow flexibility

In the ride and this really fits the bill give a little Flex here you can see the Flex up front you can see I’m able to twist this shoe so what this means is when you’re in that kind of uneven terrain maybe chunks of ice chunks of hard snow you

Have that wide toe box you have that flexibility in the shoe to Contour over the ground underneath and along with the star studded spikes in the bottom of the shoe it’s just great for winter running moving on to some potential Cons with this shoe I mentioned in the beginning

Talking about the upper this soft heel that’s something I also did notice on the run again you could see could pretty much just push this down right here my heel feels a little bit disconnected as it’s kind of not coming along for the ride as the shoe flexes so to speak I

Think there could use a little bit of bolstering around the inner edge here I didn’t have any slippage so that was not an issue but it just f felt a little bit soft I would like to feel it a little bit more locked in another issue that I

Did notice I at times got some pressure when I was running particularly in the scense and I noticed that where the gusset is tongue is attached to the inner waterproof liner there there’s a a seam right there and right on this corner there’s some pretty thick

Stitching in there so when I really Lac this down it seemed to put a little pressure on the top of my feet other than that as far as cons the only thing I would say maybe um the weight I mean we’re looking at 11 1 12 ounces here in

My us10 that’s a little bit on the heavy side typically for me I’m 138 lb 5′ 10 typically when I get to the 11 o range is when I tend to notice sheer weight of a shoe so 11 and2 is a little on the heavy side but again this is a winter

Shoe made for pretty extreme conditions so you do have those studs in there if you are running in any other type of gortex shoe there’s going to be added weight if you were using any other type of traction devices say micro spikes or if you had screwed your own sheet metal

Screws in there that’s going to add weight if you’re using yak tracks something like that that’s going to add way more weight so again relatively speaking compared to some other shoes I would say it’s actually probably I would say on the lighter side but generally speaking compared to a regular running

Shoe say if you were going out and you didn’t need the spike traction it’s going To market right now and in my opinion the answer is yes absolutely the past 2 weeks we’ve had a couple of storms roll through we had a solid twoe period where we were in the 20s snow cover Trails everything if I didn’t have to test other shoes I would have picked the VJ

Ace for every single one of those runs the traction on the snow especially early morning Frozen conditions impeccable now of course this is a winter trail running shoe you have spikes on your feet some of those runs I actually had to drive to the trail head

Typically not trying to brag here but I could run about a half mile from my house and I’m at the closest trail head again not trying to brag but with the spikes I made that little drive a couple times cuz I didn’t want to mess up the

Spikes on the sidewalks this is a specialized tool for winter you’re not going to run these old all year long even within winter you’re going to use these only in specialized scenarios but that also means they’re going to last longer so typically if you get a winter

Shoe like this it’s going to last you several seasons and I would say if you at all go out on the trails and run in those type of conditions having a studded shoe with integrated studs and not just screwing your own sheet metal screws into your shoes I would say it’s

A must have when you get to those periods where it’s 2 weeks the trails are snowbound or even longer depending on where you live it’s just great to have a shoe like this now I’ll just go through a couple of comps some shoes that I’ve tested recently I’ll talk

About maybe some different scenarios that you might want to choose one shoe or the other if you’re running in any type of slick conditions mixed conditions any potential for ice VJ Ace hands down number one pick but I’ll just go through some of the other options

Here I have an old sense Ride 4 GTX this is a bit firmer Under Foot I typically use this just for cold weather casual use I have used it hiking running the midso is a bit firmer the drop feels a little bit more apparent in this shoe I

Typically don’t run in it too much but it’s great for casual use it has a nice look another option the Merill agility Peak five gortex this of course doesn’t have the traction on the bottom but it does have gortex very breathable gortex as you can see this shoe is very clean

Because I actually did run it in very snowy conditions if it’s just snowy and maybe there’s no issues with traction sometimes you get that couple inches of snow and you don’t need a spike or anything like that a regular gortex shoe or or even a regular trail running shoe

Is just fine the gortex is great if your feet are cold moving on here we have a Merill zero now this is another shoe we tested on the channel again nice and clean I’ve been using this out in snowy conditions this is a great shoe for winter activities snow shoing hiking

Deep snow if you have this Gator and maybe a long pant that comes over this your feet will not be wet at all great shoe but this is definitely on the heavier side in compared to the VJ Ace it’s less runnable it feels a little bit

Almost clunky On The Run nice and soft underfoot but you get better Ground full with the VJ a if you want to run and it’s slippery I would go with the VJ a but this is a great shoe for other winter activities finally I have an old

Solomon Ultra Pro here here I don’t know if you can see here I have some screw holes in here what I did before is I would typically use my micro spikes here they give you a little tool and you could screw in your micro spikes or sheet metal screws wherever you want the

Advantage of doing something like that is if you have a shoe that you’re really comfortable in the upper the feel of the midsole something you just like that shoe and you just maybe need a little bit of extra traction you can put them in yourself but again you’ll have that

Kind of cleat like feel they won’t feel as smooth as the VJ AC’s spikes those star studded spikes are really very tiny in comparison to doing a sheet metal screw or a product such as the micro spikes okay so I hope you enjoyed this video review of the VJ Ace again for me

The top winter trail running shoe on the market right now if you need that traction on ice this is a top pick if You’ like to see more these types of video reviews leave us a comment anything you feel like asking fire away thank you for for Watching