Saucony Peregrine 13 – Review

If you need to buy new running shoes, the chances of a Saucony shoe entering your list of potential purchases are quite high. They have history, a legacy to uphold, and everyone knows you’ll be able to perform with them.

Peregrine 13 is a part of a long line of Saucony trail running shoes that has evolved since 2011 when the first model was launched. It is well-known in the trail community and well-appreciated due to its comfort and versatility.

Specs

  • Weight: 265g
  • Drop: 4mm
  • Lug size: 5mm
  • Key Features: Pwrrun midsole, Rock plate, lightweight

Review

This was my first proper trail running shoe and I think it was the perfect one to start. Great comfort, great aesthetics, good cushioning, they felt fast on me since the beginning.

When I bought my pair, I also considered the Brooks Cascadia 16 and the Altra Lone Peak 7.
The Lone Peak 7 was ruled out because it was a very different shoe than what I was used to. Since I needed a race-ready shoe, I was afraid I would not adapt quickly to them, but the desire to try a pair is still very high!

In the end, I chose the Peregrine 13 over the Cascadia 16 because the Peregrine felt much more like a race shoe, lighter, more aggressive, and in the reviews I’ve read, people used the Cascadia 16 more for a day-to-day trainer and not for races.

This is a shoe for short/medium distance trails due to its characteristics. Perfect for my short trails and OCR races with 8 to 12 kms.

Why the Saucony Peregrine 13?

I am not gonna lie to you, the biggest point that led me to buy them was the looks. It’s a shoe that looks and feels fast, especially in the color I bought them. For the price they were – 100 € – compared to other options, it was the best choice.

The biggest points that led me to buy them were:

  • The hype around Saucony and their race shoes
  • The outsole looked great with a good lug size
  • I wanted a shoe with some cushioning but not a lot of cushioning
  • Attractive price point

I bought them in July 2023, trained and raced a lot on them. Here are some photos of all the faces, outsole, and lacing system one year after:

First feel

After they arrived, the first feel on my feet was truly amazing. They were comfortable, and bouncy but not too bouncy, exactly what I was looking for.

I bought half a size less than I usually use. On my first run, I got blisters – lesson learned! – so I advise you to buy your true size. Besides that it was exactly what I was expecting, great traction on dry terrain, felt very fast, comfortable, and great water drainage.

After some runs

Unfortunately, I felt the first huge downside of this shoe on my first race with them. The race had lots of places with wet rocks, moss, river crossing, and cobblestone pavement and I never felt I could put all my speed on these parts.
When I went to this race, I only had 3 or 4 trainings with them, so at first, I thought that the outsole neede§d a bit more time to get ready. But that was not the case. Every race I had in the rain or wet rocks was a struggle.

In contrast, the feeling of the run in dry terrain, technical ascends and descends with loose rocks, and technical stone pavements was really really amazing!


Everything I will say below only applies to dry terrains:

  • During ascents, the middle and outsole provided me with a good energy sensation propelling me forward.
  • On descents, I was very impressed by the way I could feel the ground but at the same time always felt protected from sharp rocks. I remember to check my post-race data on my Garmin and it recorded a pace of 2’30’ on a long descent, the highest I have ever done!

I just loved running on them, but I wish the outsole was as responsive in wet terrains as it is in dry terrains.

Things that impressed me:
  • This shoe is and feels very very light, it felt like a feather during races.
  • Ground feeling – having control of where you step is of the utmost importance and with this shoe, you can feel all the rocks but without getting hurt on the sharp ones.
  • Middle sole – I think this is what causes the above point to be so positive. The material Saucony uses here is perfect. Not hard, not soft, just the perfect bouncy sensation, and in 1 year of hard usage, it never changed.
  • Water drainage – coming out of a river? Not a problem, in 1 second all the water inside the shoe is gone. If they had a better outsole with more grip on wet rocks, this shoe would be a real champion.
Things that let me down:
  • The grip on wet terrains – Can’t avoid this topic, I hope you have a better sensation than me, but I never felt 100% safe to speed up my pace on wet terrains. Mud, moss, wet rocks, wet cobblestone roads, the feeling was never great in any of them. I know this is a hard thing to develop and accomplish, but regarding this, my Merrell Agility Peak 5 with Vibram Megagrip outsole is much better.
  • Outsole design – At first I loved the outsole design, felt light, with some little spots exposing the middle sole, and the line on the back to save some weight. But after 3/4 months of usage, I started noticing that the line on the back was breaking. In the next months the line completely tore. Is it a serious issue? I am not sure, never felt instability on the back part of the shoe, but I think that if I had more technical races requiring sharp turns and sharp rocks maybe it would be a problem. The new Peregrine 14 has the same outsole design, so I am curious to read some reviews around this topic about them.

Final thoughts

My first proper trail running shoe. I will never forget them. Saucony gave me great feelings, they almost conquered my devotion to the brand if it wasn’t for the performance on the wet.

When I needed to buy a new trail running shoe after my Peregrine 13 reached the end of life, even tho I knew about the problems, I was really tempted to continue with the Peregrine 14. The only thing that made me not buy them was that I felt Saucony did not improve anything in the outsole. It looks and feels exactly the same on Peregrine 14, even tho many people felt the same as me about the performance on wet terrain. If at least they had put the same outsole design as the Endorfin Rift I would be very tempted to give it another shot because I absolutely loved racing on them on the dry.

Besides that, maybe an elite athlete would not use them very often, but from the experience I had, I can recommend them to intermediate athletes who want to feel faster and have great ground control on technical dry terrains. I bought mine for 100 €, and I think you can get the Peregrine 14 around the same price also, so at a low price point they deserve a chance.

Do you think this was a good first serious trail running shoe?
Follow my next races and results here.

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