Tag: running shoes reviews

Brooks Levitate: My Human Hamster Wheel Shoes

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Brooks Levitate

In thinking back about my runs in the Brooks Levitate, I realized that I haven’t taken them for a spin outdoors. As my motivation to run has waned (seriously, seriously waned), I’ve opted to throw on shorts and a T-shirt and hit the treadmill rather than take the time to pile on the layers and risk saying “to heck with it” and skipping a run altogether. Spending 10-15 minutes to get my gear together because I always seem to forget something and have to go from room to room looking for it is agonizing. It makes me feel like the run is taking forever and the run hasn’t even started yet! Cold weather and slippery roads are a good excuse to stay inside, but really I’m not afraid of harsh conditions, just afraid of getting too frustrated to stick with running through the tough times to get back to my previous fitness level.

So, I have a treadmill-exclusive pair of shoes.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Weight
My men’s size 8 weighed in at a hair under 10.6 oz. This comes as no surprise. The Levitate is a premium daily trainer with all of the bells and whistles: a plushly padded heel collar, a thick, full-coverage rubber sole, and Brooks’s new polyurethane-based DNA AMP midsole. I generally prefer lightweight shoes. If I start light my feet and I’ll stay light on my feet, plus less to carry over the long haul. However, some shoes’ performance belies their weight. The OG Saucony Triumph ISO springs to mind as a built-up model that feels ready to fly — it’s one of my favorite marathon shoes since it’s forgiving when I’m fatigued and my form deteriorates. The Levitate isn’t nearly as inspiring of a heavyweight. Its weight gets in the way of any springy sensation I’m supposed to feel from the DNA AMP. This might change when I put it to the test on pavement, but on a treadmill it just feels heavy. Sacrificing some of the luxe features might have made this a livelier shoe. 5/10

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Ride
I didn’t notice the promised energy return from the DNA AMP (Brooks’s answer to Boost, incidentally also licensed from BASF), but I didn’t hate the ride. The full-coverage blown rubber outsole provides ample cushioning and allows for smooth transitions. Heavy, but they don’t run like bricks. I like the feel enough to still reach for these for treadmill days and I am looking forward to new models that will make use of the DNA AMP midsole material. 7/10

Fit
Brooks is famous (with me, at least) for having pointy toe-boxes. The Levitate is no exception, but the smooth knit upper material is accommodating and allows my toes to splay. My narrow heel stayed locked in the padded heel cup. Not a tuned racer fit, but excellent for a trainer. 8/10

Comfort
The Levitate boasts a premium price and premium materials, but only manages middle of the road comfort as far as I’m concerned. I’m expecting an “ahhhh” experience when I step into these and they’re just alright. Disappointing given the components and cost, but taken alone, not bad. 6/10

Traction
I can’t offer an informed opinion about the traction in outdoor conditions. The traction pattern looks reasonably aggressive and I had no problems on the treadmill. I can’t in good conscience take any points off in this category. 10/10

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Flexibility
There’s not much of it. I think this is a plus as it seems to keep me in check (whereas the VERY flexible Altra Escalante had me flopping all over the place if I didn’t pay close attention). Stiffness is a plus for me on the treadmill as when I’m exhausted and pushing the pace at the end of a session I occasionally misstep onto the sides of the belt if my feet have too much free rein. 7/10

Durability
Another trait Brooks is famous for (again, with me) is its luscious blown rubber. This buttery soft sole material contributes to great cushioning and grip, but it also wears about as fast as butter would (unproven theory, obviously). Even with only treadmill miles on these, I’m already seeing significant wear in the forefoot and the lateral heel of each shoe. The upper seems to be holding up beautifully. If I stick to only using the Levitate on the human hamster wheel, they could last for 300+ miles (about what I’d hope to get out of a premium trainer if I ran my shoes into the ground instead of compulsively growing my collection), but that’s hardly a reasonable use case. 6/10

Looks
The Levitate is pretty smooth looking for a Brooks shoe. With only 3D-printed overlays and precious few of those, the Levitate has risen above (ha) Brooks’s “traditional old school trainer” look. I wouldn’t recommend wearing them on a date and they don’t compete with the likes of most Nike sneakers and some of New Balance’s suaver models, they’re just fine. They look sporty and there’s no need to make excuses for that since they’re a literal running shoe! I’d be happier with a white midsole (I have to admit that I like parts of the “traditional old school trainer look”) than the shiny silver, but that’s really just a quibble. 7/10

Price
At $150 retail, the Levitate is not cheap. There are more budget-friendly models available with adequately nice materials that can beat the Levitate in many of these categories, and a number of category peers that could too. The upper, midsole, and outsole strike me as overbuilt rather than premium since they make the shoe far heavier than it needs to be. I’m not so put off that I’ll steer clear of v2, but I’m not overly impressed. I might be missing out on how this shoe shines on the road. If that’s the case, I’ll post an update. But for now, I can’t endorse the price. 4/10

Suitability for Intended Purpose
I think a lot of people would like these for daily training, and despite my words of tough love, I am a fan too. The Levitate features a comfort fit, ample sole material, and enough cushioning to absorb high mileage. 10/10

Overall
Weight: 5/10
Ride: 7/10
Fit: 8/10
Comfort: 6/10
Traction: 10/10
Flexibility: 7/10
Durability: 6/10
Looks: 7/10
Price: 4/10
Suitability for Intended Purpose: 10/10
TOTAL: 70/100

Your mileage may vary unlike my all treadmill, all the time mileage on these shoes, so take this review with a bigger grain of salt than usual. The first iteration of the Levitate is a decent workhorse, but uninspiring. I’m hoping that Brooks can drop the weight (or at least the price) when they release v2.

 

 

 

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Hoka One One Hupana Review

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temporaryTL; DR: Not your mama’s marshmallow-y HOKAs. Light, fast, and responsive enough for fast efforts, the Hupana is a model I find myself reaching for over and over. Love it. (Click here to jump to the overall rating if you aren’t down for the full 1,200-ish word review.)

After some major missteps with the Clifton (making a near-perfect lightweight do-anything model heavier, more structured, and decidedly un-Clifton-like) HOKA One One gets its act together with the Hupana. This shoe has a sleek knit upper plus sole geometry and stack height comparable to a “regular” running shoe. A firmed up version of HOKA’s RMAT foam does double duty as both midsole and outsole, lending the Hupana a quiet, smooth ride. I put over 75 road and treadmill miles on these before I knew it — despite having loads of shoes in my collection (a truly unhealthy number of pairs), these were the ones I consistently wanted on my feet. It’s not all sunshine and roses with these, but it mostly is. Read on for my review of the Hupana in ten key areas, ultimately arriving at an overall numerical score out of a possible 100 points.

Disclosure: I bought these shoes myself and my opinions are entirely my own.

Weight
In the same way that I failed with my Saucony Freedom ISO review, I did not weigh the Hupana before I ran in them, and weighing them now after a fair amount of use is not only a gross way to use my food scale, but doesn’t give the model a fair shake. As much as it pains me to do it, I have to rely on the stated catalog weight. I have some reviews in the pipeline with at-home weigh-ins, so I won’t always make excuses! Running Warehouse has the exact same women’s model weight below listed for a size 8, not the size 7 specified by HOKA One One, so I’m leaving their specs out this time because I suspect that’s a mistake, not some different size, same weight sorcery cooked up by HOKA.

Per Hoka One One: 8.2 oz (men’s size 9)/6.3 oz (women’s size 7)

For about half an ounce more than the Saucony Kinvara 7 (Kinvara 8 review coming soon), you get a densely woven upper (will run warm in the summer, for sure), a semi-plush inner lining, and a thick, protective midsole. While the Hupana isn’t as lean as the Kinvara 7, it’s easily as spry and willing to pick up the pace. Its 8.2 oz weight matches that of the Nike Zoom Elite 9 (review coming soon) and is a couple tenths of an ounce lighter than the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v3 (review also coming soon). The Hupana is in good — FAST — company with these similarly lightweight models. 8/10

Ride
You already know what I’m going to say since I’m barely holding myself back from gushing on this point. Smooth heel to to transitions. Quiet footfalls (noisy shoes are a pet peeve of mine as they make headphones-free running less than serene). Good groundfeel and feedback without being bone-jarringly firm or harsh on my legs. In short, the ride is superb. 10/10

Fit
No-fuss fit with excellent lockdown thanks to the stiff knit upper. The heel is adequately plush without being skate shoe-like, allowing for secure foot hold at minimal weight.  Logos printed on both insoles are completely intact, so I know my feet aren’t sliding around. Pull the laces and these are good to go with no fine tuning needed. 10/10

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Comfort
The Hupana is another shoe that disappears on my feet so my thoughts don’t run to “ahh, so comfy!” as I’m running, but it’s also plenty cozy enough that it’s a delight to slip into after a long day in high heels. No complaints, but the comfort isn’t something to write home about. The Hupana is performance-oriented, so I don’t think that’s a knock against it at all. 8/10

Traction
The grip is surprisingly excellent. I felt as surefooted as a billy goat on wet roads and sidewalks in these. I was pleasantly surprised that midsole foam could grab the ground so well. Even wit some areas of moderate wear in the toe and lateral heel, the traction is undiminished. However, one thing to note about the Hupana’s midsole-outsole: it builds up static like crazy. Shuffle across a carpeted floor in these and you’ll turn yourself into a weapon. Worse, run on a treadmill and you’ll shock yourself over and over if you reach for a water bottle or incidentally touch the machine with your hands. I released a shock so powerful on my home treadmill that it actually turned the machine off. You’ve been warned! That said, I’m still very impressed with the traction and I can live with the perils of using the Hupana on a treadmill. 10/10

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Flexibility
It’s not reasonable to expect much flexibility out of a sole that’s just a thick slab of foam. Even with a number of flex grooves carved out, the Hupana is hard to bend, with a flexion point just in front of the first row of lace eyelets. I don’t think this negatively impacts the ride character, but it’s not an asset either.  7/10

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Durability
This version of RMAT foam is way more resilient than the easily shredded RMAT found in the Clifton 1. My pair of Hupanas is showing a bit of wear in the toe (light wear), forefoot (light wear) and lateral heel (moderate wear), but otherwise looks great. Much of the shallow texturing on the “outsole” is still intact. No creases in the midsole and no fraying in the upper or laces. The upper is stiff enough that it holds a sharp crease at the flexion point just in front of the first row of eyelets, so that may be a failure point in the future. 9/10

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Looks
The two-tone blue knit upper on my pair is accented with orange at the toe, heel, and eyelets. It’s more sophisticated for a HOKA (who has produced a veritable glut of garish models, like the Speed Goat), but it’s not quite there for me. You could slap a Skechers logo on the side and I wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. A truly monochrome knit might have been more sleek. I don’t totally hate the looks of these, but they don’t excite me either. 7/10

Price
I’m pretty accustomed to spending between $120-$140 for running shoes. The Hupana’s MSRP is $115, which is pretty great. It’s not the cheapest performance model out there (that title probably belongs to the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v3), but it’s reasonable and given its durability and excellent ride, it’s a great value. 9/10

Suitability for Intended Purpose
HOKA bills the Hupana as an all-day shoe that can carry you from the grocery store and daily chores right through to your run. It’s meant to be as performance-oriented with its RMAT outsole as it is stylish with its knit upper. I agree with the performance side of this, but am disinclined to wear the Hupana with anything other than running clothes. However, it gets the uptempo running part of the equation so right that I can’t fault it too much for getting the lifestyle shoe part wrong. 9/10

Overall
To recap for you TL;DR folks:
Weight: 8/10
Ride: 10/10
Fit: 10/10
Comfort: 8/10
Traction: 10/10
Flexibility: 7/10
Durability: 9/10
Looks: 7/10
Price: 9/10
Suitability for Intended Purpose: 9/10
TOTAL: 87/100

I’m a tough grader, but in my defense, there are a lot of excellent shoes to choose from, so it’s important to know where a particular model shines and where it stinks. Overall, the Hupana is great and will likely be on my feet for a marathon this spring.

Until next time, happy trails!

-Ultrarunner Hope

Saucony Freedom ISO Review

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img_2413TL;DR: If New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v1 and Adidas UltraBOOST had a baby, it would be the Saucony Freedom ISO. This shoe carries on the legacy of the smooth, quiet, Zante v1 as well as the marshmallowy midsole and high price tag of the UltraBOOST. Well worth adding to your quiver of shoes if it’s in your budget. (Click here to jump to the overall rating if you aren’t down for the full 1,500-ish word review.)

In prepping for this review I put over 70 miles on the Freedom ISO on a mix of roads and treadmill belts, with no runs over 10 miles. Having experienced some burnout from training (as much as I love it, it can start to seem like work at times if I’m not in the right headspace), I’ve taken a very conservative approach to ramping up my mileage in preparation for marathon and ultra-length efforts planned for this spring and my Freedom ISO use happened to fall at a time when I was focusing on shorter, intense workouts (read: FUN!) over long miles. I found it a bit difficult to collect coherent thoughts about this shoe because it simply disappears on my feet during a run. If I’m not thinking about it, I’m certainly not making intelligent and useful observations about it! However, not noticing a shoe is a great testament to that shoe: it feels natural, like an extension of your foot; it’s there for you and will do what you ask of it without complaint. That’s the Freedom ISO. If you’re looking for a more distinctive ride character from a shoe with an MSRP of $160, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re happy with a workhorse shoe with a smooth ride, a bit of squish, and that is lightweight enough to not slow you down on the long haul (I imagine), the Freedom ISO might be for you. Read on as I assess this model’s strengths and weaknesses over ten key traits, ultimately arriving of a score out of a possible 100 points.

Disclosure: I bought these myself and my opinions are entirely my own.
Further Disclosure: I may have eaten far more than one serving of Tagalong Girl Scout cookies in the course of writing this blog post.

Weight
I didn’t weigh these before running in them and I think it’s both unfair to weigh them now when who knows how much rubber has worn away, dirt has become embedded in the upper, etc. and gross to do so since I use the same little scale for food prep. So I have to place my faith in what I can find online.

Per Saucony: 9.0 oz (men’s size 9)/8.1 oz (women’s size 8)
Per Running Warehouse: 9.1 oz (men’s size 9)/8.0 oz (women’s size 8)

While the weight is totally outclassed by the dreamy, feather-light Hoka One One Clifton v1, those extra ounces get you a more structured, supportive upper and an almost-full-coverage outsole (the EVERUN is visible through a window under the arch) that is showing virtually no wear for me. As someone who routinely chews up outsole rubber (Brooks shoes with their soft blown rubber look abused after a single run on my feet.), this is a welcome feature. 7/10

Ride
The almost-full-coverage sole makes for smooth, quiet transitions, yet is flexible enough to feel nimble. When I’m dodging pedestrians in Washington, DC, I want to feel light on my feet and the Freedom ISO delivers. It’s not slappy on the treadmill either — this shoe readily picked up the pace for whisper-quiet footfalls on the ol’ human hamster wheel. The toe spring is adequate to encourage fluid motion without fatiguing the foot. A bit squishy like the Adidas UltraBOOST, but that protection will likely be welcome for longer efforts. Reminds me of everything that made the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v1 so great and such a game-changer. 10/10

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Fit
Saucony’s ISOFIT technology beats all comers in my book: knit uppers, engineered mesh uppers, plastic heel clips, Flywire, all of it. This is a shoe with no heel counter that offers such a secure heel lockdown (without using a lock-lacing technique) that the graphic on the footbed didn’t wear off for me on either shoe. My feet stayed where they belonged. Both the interior bootie mesh and exterior mesh feel plush and premium. They hug the foot gently, not in the way that many shoes which tout a “sock-like feel” really feel like squeezing your foot into a too-small tube top with a sole on it. The laces are stretchy without being bungee-like and it’s easy to dial in the fit before each run. 10/10

Comfort
There are probably shoes out there with better step-in comfort (Non-racer Asics spring to mind as ludicrously comfy, though they’re not really my cup of tea.), but these are fantastic. They feel cozy walking around and they feel just as nice on the run. You’ll sacrifice some snap in the ride in exchange for the soft midsole feel, and while these aren’t a great choice for serious 5k racing, they can still pick up the pace gamely. 10/10

Traction
Pretty crappy, honestly. In case you thought this was going to be a total love fest, it’s not. This shoe felt downright dangerous running in straight lines on damp roads, let alone cornering on smooth granite near the White House. Not a winter shoe, probably not a Belgium or Seattle shoe unless you’ll be using it exclusively indoors. I don’t know what it is about Crystal rubber, but it just doesn’t bite the ground very well in any application that I’ve seen. I don’t think this can be rectified with a different lug pattern; the shoe needs a different rubber compound entirely. 3/10

Flexibility
What the Crystal rubber lacks in traction, it makes up for in flexibility. No complaints here as the shoe bends in half easily (albeit in the very middle of the arch, which doesn’t seem completely useful) and doesn’t feel clunky on-foot. 7/10

Durability
With a careful wash, these shoes would probably look brand new still. No fraying on the upper or laces and barely any wear is visible on the outsole. No midsole creasing either. If I didn’t have such a serious running shoe addiction, I could probably put 500 miles on these without issue. 10/10

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Looks
Not as sexy as the New Balance Fresh Foam Zante v1 or v3 (I have to watch my girlfriend around the v3 — she wants to steal it — that’s the measure of a beautiful performance running shoe with real crossover appeal), but very striking and pairs well with the loud outfits popular with road runners like myself. Not a great choice for casual wear for me personally, but if I want to let on that I’m a runner, I wouldn’t mind wearing it with street clothes. You can read “EVERUN” through the translucent Crystal rubber outsole, in case you forgot you had a teched-out, premium shoe, or missed the branding on the lateral heel. I’m being a bit snarky since I’d prefer grippy rubber over rubber you can see through, but I do think it’s a cool touch. 7/10

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Price
Oof. $160 is a lot for a running shoe, especially with great models from New Balance, Hoka One One, and even Nike (just to name a few) coming in at less than $120. You do get premium tech for this premium price, but you can get as good of an experience for far less coin elsewhere. EVERUN mimics BOOST in brand name capitalization, bounce, and price, and I think it does it better. 5/10

Suitability for Intended Purpose
Saucony hasn’t limited the Freedom ISO to the “uptempo performance trainer” category or anything like that, but instead has billed it as a shoe that “starts amazing [and] stays amazing.” It was indeed ready to roll out of the box with no break-in required and has remained consistent from day one. Its weight and form factor do put it in that “uptempo performance trainer” bucket, and I think it excels there, but doesn’t lead the pack. The Saucony Kinvara line with its simpler uppers and lighter weight is more of the ideal racer-trainer for me.The fit of the Freedom ISO isn’t race-ready for short distances, but for distances from the half marathon to the marathon it should be quite capable. It can go fast without feeling mushy and it can go slow without feeling ponderous. Without a real stated mission for this shoe from Saucony (at least that I’m aware of), it’s hard to measure its success, but it’s nicer to have an even ten attributes to rate, so I won’t let that stop me. 8/10

Overall
To recap for you TL;DR folks:
Weight: 7/10
Ride: 10/10
Fit: 10/10
Comfort: 10/10
Traction: 3/10
Flexibility: 7/10
Durability: 10/10
Looks: 7/10
Price: 5/10
Suitability for Intended Purpose: 8/10
TOTAL: 77/100

Pretty good score for an otherwise great shoe that’s held back by a steep price and sketchy traction. I’m not promising even a date for my next post since I’ve already proved myself to be a liar on that front, but I’m aiming to post more consistently while still keeping the “quality” (don’t roll your eyes!) high. Until next time, happy trails!

-Ultrarunner Hope