Saucony Guide 19 Review

The Saucony Guide 19 is for you if...

You want a stable daily trainer that doesn't feel overly corrective

You prefer a balanced ride over super soft or bouncy foams

You love max cushion running shoes and versatility

What is the Saucony Guide 19 made for?

The Guide series has long been Saucony's cornerstone stability model. It has provided asymmetric geometries, deep sidewalls, and broad bases for many iterations, helping to make sure that all of your footstrikes are consistent and balanced throughout your strides and transitions. That part of Saucony's formula has been well-established and time-proven.

But what's new with the Guide series is an ever-increasing emphasis on comfort and enhanced cushioning. Merging the stable features that Saucony has perfected with max-cushioned geometries and foams, Saucony is looking to emphasize what consumers want in their shoes these days--not just a shoe that keeps them stable, but a shoe that feels good while keeping you stable. 

For us, the Guide 19 succeeds in that mission. With subtle yet effective stability and an abundance of soft cushioning underfoot, it feels like Saucony has captured the best of both worlds in a single shoe.

Comfort

For us, the midsole foam was a Goldilocks level of not-too-soft and not-too-firm. It felt squishy underfoot, almost like a gel, but we didn't find ourselves melting into it. This did NOT feel like a situation where a brand added extra foam just to add extra foam. In the Guide 19, the high stack height feels intentional, with the platform crafted in a way that enhances stability features instead of simply making this a taller shoe.

Even going beyond intended use cases, the Guide 19's wide base and supportive side walls made us confident enough to take it on some smooth trail runs. We felt abundantly secure and confident through every run.

In the upper, the memory foam collar gave us an appreciable and secure fit, and the upper is plush enough for all-day use, if that's where you want to take it.

Performance

The highlight of this shoe, performance-wise, is how well its stability features work. We had an significant pronator and a moderate pronator both test the shoe, and in both cases, the gentle Center Path Technology used got rave reviews. The stability provided is not aggressive, but it is effective, and if you've been averse to the heavy-handedness that stability shoes have employed in the past, we think you'll be pleasantly surprised by this approach.

The foam underfoot felt plush but stable, and worked well for easy runs, long runs, and even walking. The ride stayed consistent over time, which really impressed us and made the shoes easy to keep reaching for time and time again.

We would like to specify that our testers for this shoe prefer high stack heights and lots of cushioning for easy paces, as opposed to lightweight, speed-oriented performance. If you also prioritize comfort and max cushioning over fast, light, and speedy, then the Guide 19 will be right up your alley.

Fit

The Guide 19 feels true to size in length and provides a slightly wider feel than we're accustomed to (in a good way). Its roomy geometries are a dream for flatter, wider-footed runners, but we found the ankle collar to be just a little low cut and insecure upon initial step-in. We were able to work with the lacing to get our lockdown right after a little work, and once we got moving, we found the Guide to be secure enough to negate that first impression.

A highlight for us was the roomy toe box. We felt like we could splay our toes out and could keep the shoes on our feet all day long, thanks to the gracious fit, both horizontally and vertically.