Trail running shoes, from the sensible to the ones I'd actually race in
Trail shoes are the one category where paying more genuinely buys you something you can feel: grip that holds on wet rock, a rock plate that stops you thinking about your feet, and foam that still has life after three hundred miles. It is also a category where the same shoe sits at four different prices in four stores, because running specialty shops discount last season's colours and big boxes don't.
Here are the four I'd point you to, cheapest first.
The sensible one
ASICS Men's Gel-Venture 11 Trail Running ShoesASICS$69.99 $89.99
The ASICS Gel-Venture is the default trail shoe for a reason. It is cushioned, it fits like a road shoe, and the lugs are enough for dirt paths and gravel. It is not a shoe for mud or scree. For most people getting off the pavement for the first time it is the right first pair, especially when it is on sale, which is often. The women's version is the same shoe:
ASICS Women's Gel-Venture 11 Trail Running ShoesASICS$69.99 $89.99
ASICS Men's Gel-Venture 11 Trail Running Shoes
3 stores · read Sep 12The one I'd buy for actual trails
The Hoka Speedgoat is the shoe I recommend most often to people who are going to run on real trails every week. It is soft, the grip is excellent, and it is forgiving of tired legs on long days. It runs a little narrow in the toe box. Prices vary between running stores and general sporting goods stores more than any other shoe here.
HOKA Men's Speedgoat 6
4 stores · read Sep 12The mud shoe
Salomon Men's Speedcross 6
5 stores · read Sep 12Salomon's Speedcross has the most aggressive lugs on this page and the quick lace system that either delights you or annoys you. On mud and soft ground it is unbeatable. On hard-pack and road it feels like running on cleats, because you are. Buy it for the conditions you actually have.
The hiking-shoe honest answer
Merrell Men's Moab 3 Waterproof
5 stores · read Sep 12If you walk more than you run, the Moab is the better buy than any trail runner. It is heavier and stiffer and lasts twice as long. It is on sale somewhere nearly every week of the year.
The budget pair for occasional use
HiTec Women's Catalina II Trail Running ShoesHi-Tec$39.99 $69.99
For a few hikes a year, Hi-Tec's Catalina at its current price is hard to argue with. The foam will not last a serious runner a season. It is not meant to.
How to buy
Trail shoes are discounted by colour, not by model. When a new colourway arrives, last season's drops by twenty to forty percent at running shops while the big boxes hold list. The rows above show you which store blinked first.