I was hoping that the new version of this lightweight street racer would prove to be the brightly shining light in Saucony's galaxy of running shoes. Well, sometimes dreams come true and sometimes they don't.
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On first impression, the Fastwitch 6 is a beautiful shoe with a stunning orange and black color scheme that will be especially pleasing to graduates of Princeton, the University of the Pacific and UTEP. It's also quite protective for a shoe that weighs in at slightly less than 7 ounces. Some of us likely have some old wool socks that weigh more than that!
The Fastwitch is unique in delivering a firm ride for a racing flat, feeling more like a European model than an American runner. Pull out the supplied insole and you'll see that the top of the midsole feels rock hard. This seemed promising for runners who have become weary of overly-cushioned models.
The Fastwitch provides more than a modicum of control – it's a performance stability racer, perhaps too stable for most runners looking for a low-to-the-ground flat. (I found myself wishing that it was a bit more neutral.) One of the positives about this shoe is that its structure supports a mid-foot landing. The heel cushioning is fairly neutral – neither overly stiff or soft; it's just "there."
Unfortunately, the Fastwitch 6 seems to be afflicted with two near-fatal flaws. The first is the fit problem. I had to order a full size up (since I had heard rumors that it ran unusually short), and yet the shoe barely fit. I have narrow feet. Still, I had to put on an old thin, ragged, worn-out pair of Buffalo Chips Running Club socks in order to manage to squeeze my feet into the 'witch 6. But this is not the worst of it.
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