u/ac-slater-43

I'm replacing an Inspiron 15 with an Ideapad 1, and am dismayed at the out-of-the-box difference in the displays. Do Lenovo screens not do white?

I'm posting this both as a warning of sorts, and also to get feedback on similar experiences with Xero and other manufacturers.

My recent experience is what I believe to be pretty conclusive evidence that Xero has reduced the toebox size of the Prio over the last year. I've been wearing them for 3 years, and have bought a new pair each year since I walk a lot. Last month I bought pair #4, and noticed after a week or so that my toes were right up against the front of the shoe. I attributed this to the sizes being made smaller, so I purchased a half size bigger. All seemed well, but a few weeks in I started to have irritation on the inside of my big toes from them rubbing up against the nail of my #2 toes.

After 3 years of wearing Prios and not having these issues, I can only conclude the toe boxes have been made smaller. Why an existing shoe model would be changed like this is beyond my comprehension - really annoying. But it tracks, because it seemed like something was different every time I bought a new pair - e.g. the shoe laces got shorter (harder to tie) over the years too.

Some research into this also made me wonder about the stack height, since I recall from prior years Xero often not including this in the specs. At the moment their website says the Prios have a 5.5mm outsole and a 3.0mm insole, but there's no "stack height" listed - which makes me wonder if there's a midsole they've snuck in. I ran across the Run Repeat website which, remarkably, cuts shoes open to measure these kinds of things, and the results are fascinating.

Prio: 12.2mm (!!) measured at the heel, an apparent 3.7mm delta from specs 11.8mm at the forefoot, a drop of 0.4mm (So much for "zero drop") https://runrepeat.com/xero-shoes-prio#heel-stack

And another model just for kicks:

HFS II: 13.1mm at the heel, 12.1mm at the forefoot No height specs on Xero's site for this one, but it's also advertised as zero drop - which it isn't https://runrepeat.com/xero-shoes-hfs-ii#heel-stack

I'm thus relegating Xero to the "pound sand" category.