La Sportiva Jackal II BOA Shoe - Women

I have put about 50 miles on these, and feel like they are a very specialized shoe. They work great for steep uphill and downhill trails with rocky features and hard packed dirt. However, I'd say these are too rigid to be a daily training shoe or a road-to-trail shoe. I thought the boa would provide maximum customization, but they have ended up being a constant agitation. Keep them too loose and you will twist your ankle (happened the first 2 times I wore them); crank them down too firm and they cut off circulation at the ankle and make your feet go numb in a mile. It's nice to be able to loosen them for uphill and tighten for downhill, but I've never had to tinker with laced running shoes like this. The fit is secure, but the heel never quite feels totally locked in and makes you run more conservatively. The grip is excellent for technical terrain, and the mesh sock gaiter keeps dust and pebbles out of the shoe nicely. Even with the mesh upper though I am noticing the shoe still holds in a lot of heat as the temperatures get into the 70s and warmer. The rocker keeps you in a nice landing position for steep downhills and provides a nice pushoff, but the stiffness forces you to a fixed striding postition that feels a little unnatural to me. I usually alternate between striking more forefooted or flatter footed depending on undulating terrain, but this shoe has no flexibility or give to work with. One perk about the rigidity is that its almost impossible to overstride in them, but I would not say they are a very comfortable shoe either. I might keep these in my shoe rotation for the most techical local trails, but I think there are better rugged trail shoes out there.

I’ve run regularly in the lace up version of the Jackal, and I like them for medium duration days (2-3 hours). Though they don’t necessarily feel propulsive on the trail, the ground feel allows for dexterity in technical terrain. The BOA version was much narrower fitting to me, and I only wore them a couple of times before returning to my other model. I was hoping the BOA would improve on some slight insecurity I feel in the heel of the lace up version, but the narrow fit didn’t work well with my foot.

As of photo, around 150 miles. I've used these shoes every week since I bought them. Love the boa dials, the wrap-around fit helps me feel really secure all throughout the shoe and the super grippy sole of the shoe has helped prevent me from losing footing all throughout the wasatch and uintah range.
The lugs are still doing just great even after 150 miles, although I might be running a bit more gently and cautiously than some others. I cannot recommend this shoe enough.
I run on my toes, so I wasn't sure I was gonna like the 7mm drop, but this is all around a very comfy shoe and has a great balance of cushion and trail feel for me to feel secure and pull longer days on these.