TL;DR it's probably not as good a deal as the reviewer says, at least not in the way they suggest. Plates barely matter, and to the extent they do, they matter within the context of a super foam like ZoomX. Cushlon is... fine. I'm sure it's a perfectly serviceable shoe, but it's going to feel approximately nothing like a Vaporfly or Alphafly. It might be a fine trainer for some people, and if it's durable, then it's a good deal.