Saucony Kinvara 16 Introduction

The Saucony Kinvara 16 is a lightweight daily trainer that can be utilized for your daily runs, workouts, and a possible race day option.

At $130 USD, it is one of the most affordable daily trainers on the market. With an upgraded midsole, it has improved the energy return compared to the Kinvara 15.

Saucony Kinvara 16 First Impressions

My first impressions with the shoes that it was very lightweight, especially the feel of the midsole.

The outsole looked worrisome to me because there were only a few patches of rubber; one just under the big toe area and the lateral area of the heel. The rest of the outsole was exposed midsole. Made me question how durable this shoe would be.

On my first run I ran on concrete, dirt, and some gravel. I felt the midsole was pretty responsive, but on the firmer side. As I was running on the gravel though, I can sense the ground feel based off the lower stack height of the shoe.

I didn’t have any issues with the upper whatsoever. The toe box, the material wrapping around the top of the foot, and the heel counter gave me no issues on the first run. Felt very comfortable.

Saucony Kinvara 16 Upper

The upper uses an engineered mesh that is fairly breathable. It uses an outer layer and inner layer duo that reminds me of similar materials it uses for their Endorphin Pro series and the Speed series lineup.

Not as translucent as the Pro and Speed though as the inner layer provides more of a thicker net material but still provides breathability. The structure of the engineered mesh material on the upper does wrap around your foot securely with no saddling. So far, I’ve had no issues when it comes to rubbing, hot spots, or blisters.

The wide tongue is gusseted, which means that I had no issues with it moving around during my runs. It is thinly padded to make it both comfortable and saving weight.

The shoe lacing system is pretty standard with no issues of feeling some sort of insecurity around the ankle. No using the runners knot needed.

The heel counter uses some serious structure around the heel/Achilles area, no pliability whatsoever. It is however fairly padded but thin around the ankle part. I’ve been using ankle high socks, and I’ve had no heel slippage or no irritations.

Saucony Kinvara 16 Sole Unit

The Kinvara 16 uses a revised and reformed PWRRUN midsole, which feels very light underfoot. With the feeling of lightness, the PWRRUN midsole also is much more responsive with the energy return it provides during the striking of your foot on ground contact. Although the ride of the PWRRUN midsole compound is more on the firmer side the insole it uses, FormFit, provides some sort of forgiveness and softness underfoot.

The outsole provides rubber on the big toe area and the lateral part of the heel. The rest of the outsole is exposed PWRRUN from the midsole. I found this to be a little troublesome especially for what the purpose of the shoe is supposed to be, which is a daily trainer. Currently, as I am writing this review I have just over 50 miles (80km) and some of the non-rubber parts of the outsole do have some minor wear and tear.

As a neutral runner that strikes mostly on the midfoot, I found this ride to be quite stable with the wide platform in the forefoot area. Taking tight turns were not a concern for me when on the track and out on the roads.

Although I have not ran in any wet or muddy conditions the outsole would seem to be okay in those conditions. And without any sort of plate inside the midsole and the stack height a lot lower than other daily trainers the ground contact is fairly visible to the senses of your foot.

If I were to compare this sole to other brands, I would put the Kinvara 16 in more of the firmer/responsive ride. Whereas other daily trainers such as the Hoka Mach 6 would be a balanced/responsive ride and the New Balance FuelCell Rebel would be more in the balanced/plush ride.

Saucony Kinvara 16 Conclusions

In conclusion, I really enjoyed using the Kinvara 16. Would I recomend this shoe to a friend? Of course!

At first it was a weird sensation of ground feel when I first started testing them because lately all I’ve been wearing these days are high stacked cushioned trainers. But the more I ran with them the more I started enjoying them.

What sold me with the Kinvara 16’s was the 14 miler (22.53 km) that had some 6:30 paces (4:00 per km) sprinkled in it. The shoe felt responsive and felt it gave me enough protection under foot.

I only worry about the outsole because after 50 miles (80km) in the shoe I can already see some minor wear on the lateral part of the outsole where I usually strike the ground.

I still think I can get at least over 300 miles (482)km in the Kinvara 16’s as long as I’m not running on any surface/terrain that will completely destroy the exposed outsole.