Altra’s new Experience Flow is the successor to the Experience, last season’s first Altra shoe with a drop. This season there are a trio of Experience shoes, the Flow, the Form, and the Wild. Four millimeters is a small space when you hold your finger and thumb apart to measure the distance, roughly the thickness of a cushy EVA insole, so that makes it as much about your footstrike as it does about the foam. The stack height, like the other Experience models (the Wild and the Form), is a comfortable 32mm heel and 28mm in the forefoot, a drop which has been effective in the footwear industry for more than a decade. The outersole is somewhat spare, with strips of textured rubber under the ball of the foot and on the lateral heel, the remainder of the sole is toughened foam, a proven configuration that maintains the shoe’s light feel. The Altra Experience has a roomy forefoot, well cushioned midsole, comfortable interior.
Testers: “Good light feel, that’s protective and responsive, you know, kind of bouncy. ”
New shoe • Price: $140 • Sizes: Men 7-13, 14, 15 ; Women – 5.5-12 • Weight: 9.9 oz. (men’s 12); 6 oz. (women’s 7) • Shape: semi-curved • Construction: Strobel slip-lasted, EVA Strobel board • Recommended for: low- to high-arched feet with neutral biomechanics