Here is what she told me about the icebugs. I wear Altras because I like the zero drop and the wide toe box. I wanted something with spikes, so I thought I'd ask her opinion, since she runs 100 times more than me, and she's won some big races. Figured she would know what she's talking about.
"I'm going to sound like a paid advertisement, but I love these shoes!
For winter running they are by far the best shoes I've found. I tend to compare them to the Salomon Spikecross since those are what I used before.
The pros: more than twice as many spikes, wider toe box (if you wear the Animas), lighter weight, flexible sole, BUgrip.
BUgrip is a technology they use where the carbide spikes are flexible within the shoe. This means that when you run on mixed terrain like we often have in spring (rock, mud, ice, snow) the shoes still feel very natural. The spikes move around the rock so you don't even feel them; whereas with the fixed spikes on he Spikecross my feet would slide along the rocks. This is also a great feature when you are running on solid ice, which we had LOTS of last year. With the Salomons, if the spikes aren't able to dig into the ice you end up sliding and you will go down really hard. With the Icebugs, if the spikes don't initially dig in, they will bend and you will often regain balance within half a second. The grip is so awesome that I can easily scramble up and down slab all winter long.
Cons: expensive, once they get wet they stay wet, stinky, the upper is very durable so it takes awhile to break it in."
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