2nd Annual: Your Worst Shoe Purchase of the Year

TrackFan55 wrote:

...

Best shoe: Reebok forever floatride energy 2. Have found it perfect for anything faster than easy pace. Have even been able to run 200s at mile pace in them. Recently got the 3s and so far disappointed but only 30miles in

How do the FFE 2 and 3 compare to the first version? I've used 6 pairs of the first version and have two left. Best shoe I've ever had for steady & long runs and slower tempos. Was planning on buying v2 or v3 once I finish my v1s, but disappointed to hear that you don't like the 3s.

Kenaneeser Beckelay wrote:

agip wrote:

Adidas Adizero Adios Pro

the $220 carbon shoe

I swear that thing makes me run slower than any other shoe on the planet. I just sink into the heel and have to work hard to get out of the resultant hole. It's like running uphill, all the time.

That’s interesting. Are you a heel striker? I can kind of see what you’re getting at, but I’ve never had that problem as a mid/forefoot striker.. it is sort of a bizarre shoe in many ways, but still fast for me nonetheless… as a supinator, I hate how aggressive the heel bevel is.

ja, heel striker.

I tend to run fastest in shoes that bounce me a bit off my heel strike rather than let me sink into the shoe.

I love the adios boost 3,4,5 for that reason.

This year, I have to go with ASICS Novablast. I’ve never been able to wear ASICS in the past, but heard such good things I wanted to give them a try. I find them really clunky. I also got the big heel blister others have mentioned. I’m using them now just as regular walking around shoes, and they are ok for that. The cushioning is great on concrete floors. But they are horrible for me to run in.

Damn. The Novablast seems to be mentioned quite a lot this year. I didn’t pull the trigger on that one.

A lot of reviewers love it, which almost made me buy it. The more I looked at it the less appealing the huge heal was. It’s probably a great shoe for some heel strikers

heel*^

That’s interesting. Are you a heel striker? I can kind of see what you’re getting at, but I’ve never had that problem as a mid/forefoot striker.. it is sort of a bizarre shoe in many ways, but still fast for me nonetheless… as a supinator, I hate how aggressive the heel bevel is.

Adidas engineers seem to have made their Adios Pro for pronators. Aside from the bevel the medial forefoot is angled as if to prevent the natural roll.

As someone with high rigid arches Adios Pro would be a no. Maybe that's why the Nova Blast is so love/hate. This shoe seems to have a medial bias as the lateral midsole is angled. The VF curved shape seems to encourage pronation.

Another no from Adi would be the solarboost, it was okay then just never flexed in the forefoot (for a daily trainer) causing extra stress on calf. A surprise perhaps Saucony Xodus 10. Ignore the weight, the PEBA is flexible, soft, and resilient. I've only taken for a 5mile but shows potential as an ultra cush recovery and because of outsole is road,trail,and ice worthy.

Interesting...what was not to like about the Tempo Next %'s for you?

I've loved my purchase of the Tempo Next %. I've used them exclusively in workouts...mostly Ks on the road, but also longer tempos on the road and shorter stuff on the track. Feel so comfortable in them and stable on turns. Great in terms of recovery the next day. I prefer them in workouts compared to my Vaporflys and Endorphin Pros and they've lasted for a while.

Maybe it's because I got them cheap ($120, so relatively cheap) and had lower expectations!

Some escalantes. I have wide feet and they were still too wide and sloppy. The knit is garbage. Just a crappy shoe.

tempos? wrote:

Interesting...what was not to like about the Tempo Next %'s for you?

I've loved my purchase of the Tempo Next %. I've used them exclusively in workouts...mostly Ks on the road, but also longer tempos on the road and shorter stuff on the track. Feel so comfortable in them and stable on turns. Great in terms of recovery the next day. I prefer them in workouts compared to my Vaporflys and Endorphin Pros and they've lasted for a while.

Maybe it's because I got them cheap ($120, so relatively cheap) and had lower expectations!

Hmm let me think. I haven’t worn them in a while. The overall weight didn’t bother me, but the shoe is absolutely heel heavy (due to the react foam).

As a midfoot striker, the heel and forefoot felt very disconnected from eachother. The react heel felt big and cumbersome.

The shoe was more flexible than I like for my workout shoes. I’m not even sure why they put a nylon plate in this shoe. I guess they wanted to ride the ‘plate’ wave, but they could have easily made this shoe as stiff without any sort of plate.

I like the air zoom pods, as they felt identical to the alphafly. Outsole grip is great too.

I didn’t like that there wasn’t an extra eyelet for runners knot.

I didn’t really care for the upper bootie construction or the knit upper. I didn’t have massive issues with lockdown, but it wasn’t great for me overall. I didn’t like that the insole was glued in either.

Many people have mentioned that this shoe always made them go faster than they thought they were going. This was true for me as well. It’s an interesting shoe. It’s not particularly comfortable and it feels clunky, but it’s pretty fast. It’s kind of fun because it’s so weird.

I didn’t like the 10mm drop. This feeling was made worse with that really big react foam heel. I think this shoe might be made for heel strikers. I know Edd Bud loves this shoe and he is a giant heel striker.

There was lots of excess glue on the pair that I got. It seemed pretty sloppily made.

This is interesting. The Vaporfly certainly encourages pronation. I wonder if Adidas created the Adios Pro with that in mind, in an attempt to capitalize on the weaknesses of their biggest competitors shoe.

Brooks launch 7. The Launch has been in my rotation since their inception. So when RW had them On sale I bought 2 pairs. These are hard and do not ride at all like their predecessors. I haven’t tossed them but dont use them much. Hope the next version is back to their roots.

Reebok FFE wrote:

TrackFan55 wrote:

...

Best shoe: Reebok forever floatride energy 2. Have found it perfect for anything faster than easy pace. Have even been able to run 200s at mile pace in them. Recently got the 3s and so far disappointed but only 30miles in

How do the FFE 2 and 3 compare to the first version? I've used 6 pairs of the first version and have two left. Best shoe I've ever had for steady & long runs and slower tempos. Was planning on buying v2 or v3 once I finish my v1s, but disappointed to hear that you don't like the 3s.

I think I had the FFE 1 but can’t remember. I can’t recommend the 2 enough. My biggest gripe with the 3 is simply that it’s not the 2

The Saucony Endorphin Shift was the worst shoe that I purchased in 2021. The ride is way to firm for daily use. I bought it at a discount, but wouldn't buy it again even at the lowest price point.

My best shoe purchase was a pair of OluKai's. The Nanea LI model to be exact. Great looking shoes that you can wear as business casual or totally casual. Comfortable to walk in, stand in, etc

My worst shoe purchase. Found this pair of Johnston and Murphy's women's shoes at a Goodwill. Brand new. Tags still on. Bought em for $3.50 Thinking I could flip them for $50. Still sitting in the closet. Women's shoes are a tough sell sometimes. Oh well.

Was also disappointed with the Launch 7. My biggest issue was the (seemingly) downgrade in inner lining materials. I regularly put 600-700 miles on previous versions of the Launch without any major degrading around the lining, however, after only about 175 miles in the 7, they looked like Swiss cheese.

rrrtty wrote:

Hoka One

Too soft - tore my meniscus.

Hm. Seems rather unlikely a soft shoe would cause a torn meniscus. Maybe you happened to be wearing those shoes while you did something else that caused your torn meniscus

PSA: never put your faith completely in single-POV reviews. They can't consider what's right for the full spectrum of runners. Kofuzi, SJD, any of them. They can repeat spec sheets and talk about what works for them and that's where it ends. It's completely unbalanced, and often they do say what they think would make the shoe reps happy, really sort of an infomercial. Sure, check them out and hear what they have to say and then head over to RTR or BITR and get the multi-tester perspective.

CTTC wrote:

I have had like 5-6 pairs of the 890v6 and still love them. I'm actually blown away at how bad they f*cked up the v7's and just from looking at the v8's, they can't be much better.

Running shoe people: This is a plea for help. Anyone have pretty inexpensive recommendations similar to the 890 v6? Low drop, neutral shoe? I heard the vomeros are similar, are they a good shoe?

Also, why do shoe companies stop making versions of shoes?

Saucony Kinvara. 4mm drop, pretty good/soft cushioning. Not cheap, not expensive.

CTTC wrote:

I have had like 5-6 pairs of the 890v6 and still love them. I'm actually blown away at how bad they f*cked up the v7's and just from looking at the v8's, they can't be much better.

Running shoe people: This is a plea for help. Anyone have pretty inexpensive recommendations similar to the 890 v6? Low drop, neutral shoe? I heard the vomeros are similar, are they a good shoe?

Also, why do shoe companies stop making versions of shoes?

NB FC Rebel v2 or NB FC Propel