Discussion: Replacement for Oroc ?

What are people with wide feet who loved their standard fit Oroc 340 or 280 doing now for replacements? (And I suppose there's not enough of a critical mass to try to petition Inov-8 to bring them back, sigh)

I just bought a pair of 280's a couple months ago. Not sure if it was a limited run, or some old stock that turned up. Still listed:

https://www.zappos.com/p/inov-8-oroc-280-red-dark-...

And I'm pretty sure the Oroc series were always on the precision last (narrow) rather than the standard last (wider)

These are the only o-shoes that have ever fit my feet correctly. They were gone from the US for a while but I found that I could still buy them from overseas. They are back to being available in the US now - the red version linked above. These fit the same as the previous blue/green ones. In fact they seem to be exactly the same aside from the color.

Ok that's interesting. All along I thought we had standard fit but more googling seems to support the "All Oroc's are precision sizing" notion. And searching for "oroc" on Inov-8's site returns nothing, so I'm not convinced they're "back".

Anyway, can anyone comment on consistency of fit between 280 and 340? We've only had 340's so far but if 280's are available and they fit the same, we're buying while we still can.

I have a pair of 340s that are the same size as all of the 280s (and X-Talon 212s) I've ever owned but they seem much bigger. I don't ever wear them with regular socks, I use them exclusively with enormous waterproof winter socks. They are several years old, however, and n=1, so I have no idea if this is typical with the 340s.

I have 2 pairs of "old" 340s (yellow), the most recent bought back in 2013, which are comfortably wide, probably D. Then last year I bought a pair of 340s from the UK that are 'precision fit' (black/neon green), and they are noticeably narrower but have worked out OK. I also like these shoes and was sorry to see them go - will probably try some 280s from Clint's link.

They definitely were back on Inov8's site at least for a while, as seeing them there made me search for them in the US again and find them at Zappos. But they do appear to be gone from the site yet again. :-(

The Oroc 280's are/were Precision Fit. The Oroc 340's were Standard Fit.

It seemed like when Inov-8 first discontinued the Oroc line (in the US at least), they "replaced" them with the ArcticTalon 275 (Precision Fit) and the ArcticClaw 300 (Standard Fit). They are Inov-8's with metal spikes, just tailored and marketed as winter running shoes (which is a larger market then orienteering). I'm not sure of the future of the Arctic series shoes.

In other spiked shoes for the US market, the Salomon SpikeCross is now the Salomon SpeedSpike. Icebug doesn't have the OLX studs available in the US anymore, but they have several BUGrip models still around.

There seems to be a new Oroc 280v2 which basically is the X-Talon 225 upper with an Oroc spike outsole. I've only seen it available in Scandinavian and Czech online shops so far: https://www.sporticus.cz/p/inov-8-oroc-280-v2-blue...

280s were based on X-Talon 212, 340s were based on Mudclaw. So they were never the same fit, 280s would have been narrower. These models were made before Inov-8 introduced the precision/standard dichotomy.

Just noticed an older thread discussing this topic:
http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/me...

To confuse matters more, the link at the bottom of that thread from furlong47 still takes me to an Austrian store that has Oroc 340 in stock. And for a reasonable price. However the webpage states they are Precision Fit. ???

Those are the ones I bought from the UK last year and they definitely are Precision Fit - narrower than the old ones. Still, I like them.

I still have a couple pair of the older yellow 340's - they've held up remarkably well (500+ & 1000+ miles and counting). The new 280's I got do feel a bit tighter than the 340's, but the 340's have a lot of mileage and probably no small amount of stretch - so its hard to do a direct comparison.

I had always read that both were precision last but can't say with certainty. The 340's were definitely more snug than a couple other models of Inov8 that I have owned that definitely had standard (wider) last. The standard feels too sloppy when running on uneven ground for me, so I prefer the precision.

Have any of you tried going back to Integrators (narrower fit) or Falcons (wider) recently? After a few years in the wilderness (tough blister inducing shows that fell apart before feeling comfy) they seem to be back on track in my n=1 experiment. Integrators were my favourite shoe for decades and I was gutted when they went bad about ten years ago. Only bought one good pair since as they’ve lasted much longer again.

Tim, you said your old wider 340's are "yellow" and your Precision 340's from UK last year are black/neon green. Not sure if it's significant but which ones match the photo from the Austrian shop? And do the newer shoes actually say Precision Fit or indicate that in any way? (e.g. the emblem with the P inside?)

I'm most interested in getting Nathan another pair before his current pair are EOL. Last year I bought us both 340's from a place in the UK called Start Fitness. Not sure if it's the same place you got yours but neither the paperwork or the shoes say Precision or Standard anywhere. They look just like the Austrian shop photo. We evidently got the last pair of each size that Start had. I just checked mine against an older pair of the same size that I got somewhere in the US (don't recall where but I'm guessing Gale) a few years earlier and they fit the same. Identical colors, too. The older pair were originally bought for Nathan but then became mine when he outgrew them.

Bottom line, we have 3 pairs of 340's between us and no clear idea whether they are Standard or Precision. If they're really Precision then we know he will fit those and can order him another pair.

Becks, I pretty much gave up on Integrators because the adhesive for the sole failed on so many pairs, and because when I got Nathan's hand-me-down Oroc 340's I discovered they were so much more comfortable. That said, I do have a pair of lightly used newer style Integrators that I got as compensation for a pair that fell apart after only a few hours of use. These are I'm guessing ~ 2 years old and appear to be better made. However they are actually too wide for my feet and I've relegated them to winter running on icy trails when I can wear thicker socks with them. The part I don't understand is an Integrator that's too wide for me. Maybe they were mislabeled? (Or maybe this is a clue that my 340's really are Precision Fit?)

Hmm..yes, that is strange (and the sole falling off previously sounds very familiar). Not sure about the new version of Falcons but they used to look very different to integrators, so maybe not mislabeling?! Not sure!

Mitch, to answer your question and clarify - the ones I got from the UK look exactly like the ones in the Austrian ad. I still have the box they came in and it says "Oroc 340 Unisex Precision Fit" on it.

Thank you, Tim. That's very helpful info.

Becks, I think I've figured out the Integrator mystery, though if anyone connected to shoe sales and marketing has more definitive info, please share. It appears that the Integrator model has been repositioned from being VJ's "narrow" width offering to being their "middle" width offering.

After looking carefully at both my newest (too-wide) Integrators, which have the coloring/graphics of the current model shown on various vendor sites, and at my daughter's Integrators which have an older color-scheme but are still of the newer style construction, there is a clear difference in width. Clear even though they are a couple sizes different. And looking at vendor sites, the Integrator is now described as "Normal" width, while the Bold is now described as "Narrow" width. And Falcon continues with the "Wide" designation.

Best online descriptions I found without an exhaustive search are here:
http://ol-shop.at/vj-bold
http://ol-shop.at/vj-integratorstarstud
http://ol-shop.at/vj-falconstarstud

Seems like Inov-8 is continuing to innovate: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/09/graphene-running...

Innovate is another hijacked word, whose original meaning is destroyed by the culture of marketing and deception.
Say if you stay in a "deluxe" hotel you know this one is with bugs, etc

C'mon Yurets, you know you really need a compass with a maglene needle, that is 20 times more....

FYI, it looks like new models of Oroc 280 are out. Not sure what the difference is between men's and women's, aside from the available size range and the trim color. If anyone tries these I'm interested in how they compare to the old ones, especially with regard to fit.

https://www.inov-8.com/us/oroc-280-v2-mens-trail-r...

https://www.inov-8.com/us/women/shoes/trail-runnin...

Oroc 280 v2 in the US?

I'm going to Silicon Valley last week in April, so I checked to see it I could find these new Orocs on EBAY, but no luck.