I eventually did hear back from Inov8 (see earlier post) and had a helpful exchange with someone there who basically made a bit of a case for the new red/blue ones being an improvement, but also acknowledged that there was enough of us out there who actually preferred the previous yellow model and hence they'd decided to do a a re-run in a different colour to meet that demand.
The 'logic' behind the new red/blue ones was that some people seemingly wanted/needed a flatter heel because they were finding with the yellow ones their heel rolled on harder ground....which seemed to me a bit odd because it either seems to suggest they probably weren't best equipped for fell running in the first place, or might have wanted to consider buying a shoe designed for hard surfaces (no shortage of those around) rather than one that was designed for the very muddiest of off road conditions (clearly not very many of those around that are much cop). Why Inov8 would compromise the shoe that set the standard for muddy conditions by trying to turn it into something that people with poor balance could use on harder surfaces was beyond me, but I'm sure it made sense somewhere along the line.
In any event, the rather dismal red/blue ones I've got will stay relegated to training duties until they can be justifiably binned, and I'm hopeful S Claus may bring me a nice new pair of green/black ones.....I still think Inov8 were daft for replacing the yellow ones, but good on them for listening to those of us that were grumbling about it and responding accordingly. Picking up on Derby Tup and Graeme 78 I'd happily have a pair of 330s again too for old time's sake and my brother never quite recovered from the sad demise of his much loved 285s - poor chap has been moving from slightly unsatisfctory shoe to slightly unsatisfactory shoe ever since.
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