A lot of people are giving you pushback, but I'd have to say that the last two pairs of Hokas I bought have been a major disappointment. Both the Bondi and Clifton were nice shoes in different ways. The last Bondis I bought were just terrible, heavy and slow, they lost that bounce that made up for all the cushioning and now just feel dead. The Cliftons went from being a well cushioned but reasonably light and fast shoe to being overly cushioned and significantly slower.

I thought I needed all that cushioning but last year switched to Kinvaras, they are faster and more fun to run in, and the reduced cushioning doesn't seem to cause injury any more than the slow Hokas. Not sure I'll ever buy another pair.

Shoe models have always evolved. The idea is to never just maintain sales numbers - it's to grow them. So you tinker with things.

It used to be that certain brands would save major revisions to every other year updates, with the odd-model year being more of a tweak. Mizuno used to be the classic example with the Rider - with even-numbered ones being the "major" update, and the odd-numbered ones being a tweak to the upper fit. They then butchered this with the infamous Rider 14...but that's dating myself.

It's also in part to help rotate inventory through, as the materials do degrade over time. It'd require us to start stamping the "build" date of a shoe on the box, rather than just on the lasting (or on the tongue).

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Hokas look so freaking ridiculous - i have nothing productive to add.

Yeah, you definitely don't want to look ridiculous in your skintight adult onesie.

I'm on pair #16. Love them all. Dan definitely gets a pass here.

Maybe the older stuff but the new stuff coming out is a pretty cool but if that worries you then miss out on an amazing running experience...

Hokas look so freaking ridiculous - i have nothing productive to add. //

Man, if I find a pair of shoes that work for me, I could give two shits about what they look like. Someone told me that had the Vaporfly, I though they were talking about some bad urine smell coming from their open zipper, now that could be a problem...

this is the part that puzzles me.. the other brands have done a sort of cargo-cult imitation of the outward features of Hoka without ever thinking about why the shoes work..

and as monty says, all us old broken-down runners who were saved by Hokas, are disturbed puzzled and saddened by the apparent failure of new Hoka management to understand and absorb the engineering and design lessons of HOKA..

Thanks so much, Monty. I just spewed coke on my screen! ;-))

I have really enjoyed my Tracers. The Tracer IIs look even better, but I was scouring the internet and found the older model for 66 bucks. They are more for racing, but worked for me in training as well. Light as hell, good cushion, and I swear made me faster :)

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He owes me a keyboard.

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Tried Hoka after some issues, and cranked out some faster times and felt better in them at race pace. They are not a pretty shoe though, but speed is speed.

I have yet to try them, but they are appealing to me. I do land on the outside of my foot, so I'm very interested in Dan's thoughts on landing torque, or whatever that term is. I know I'm a lot more comfy in my old, blown out Adidas (my forefoot is wider than the sole) than trying to run in my Asics cross-trainers which have a bit of a flare to the outsole, so the sole is quite wide. I can feel the stress in my ankles after I run in those, so I don't anymore.

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look at it this way. let's say an airliner was coming in for a landing. but, one wing was closer to the ground, the other higher in the air. when that plane hits the tarmac it's going to hit on one side. the left side wheels will hit first. this means the right side wheels will come down with a bang. right? the downward force of the plane meets the immovable force of the ground, but at an angle, creating a fulcrum at the point the wheels touch down, and the "lever" is equal to the distance those wheels are away from the plane's centerline.

now, let's say that plane was correcting. that, while it was in the air, the pilot has that plane ready to land squarely on the ground. but if those wheels are sufficiently big, tall, and if they're far enough away from the centerline, they're doing to touch down before the pilot has the chance to execute his correction.

for this reason, if you look at the rear of your shoes you'll probably see that there's a curve upward, to get rid of that point where the shoe is going to touch down, heel first, well before the runner has had a chance to make any correction in plantar angle prior to the footfall.

if the shoe is sufficiently wide, at the outsole - at the point of contact with the ground - then it's like that airliner's wheel. except that shoe is coming in for a landing 90 or so times a minute.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I get that, and although I had never thought in those terms before, once you mentioned it it completely makes sense to me.

I'm really curious if there is any resource out there that can help someone shortlist shoes that might reduce that landing torque. Or is it just a function of reading what you write, because I've never seen it mentioned in any shoe reviews before.

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i do think it's personal. if you look at the pic, in the elevon review, of ben kanute, there's a guy who's either a supinator or he just lands at that angle. but other folks don't land at that angle. so i just think it depends on what your foot looks like as it's approaching and hitting the ground.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

The most recent review that I saw for a Roka product was in February, of last year. How does no reviews in 14 months prove your point?

There’s many many threads over that same period.

i'll be writing a review of the new maverick within the next month. which i think speaks to his point.

but then i'll be writing about another half dozen wetsuits within the month, and not covering ROKA would seem an omission, as it is the most popular wetsuit among slowtwitchers.

so, i don't know what to tell you.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

It seems to be common knowledge that these shoes cause blisters in a sizable portion of the population, but everyone gives them a free pass over this. For $150 MSRP, I shouldn't have to swap out insoles or take a pair of scissors to a shoe. Have to agree they are overpriced garbage.

Shoes cause blisters...as the blister king...genetic bitch feet, I disagree. I get blisters from every brand. The only way to reduce this is to tape and increase volume.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

And as I said shoes are very personal and sounds like you haven't even run in them. Everyone gives them a free pass because they are such great shoes.

20 years of running and 3 miles in Hokas is the only time I've consistently gotten blisters in such a short run. There are tons of threads here about this problem and I don't understand how "deal with it" is an acceptable response for a product that charges a 50% premium. Given the purchasing habits of most triathletes, this doesn't surprise me though.

Choice of running shoes is very personal. Comfort is king and what will be comfortable for one person's foot shape/running style won't be for another's. If a company could make a pair of running shoes that everyone found perfectly comfortable and run in with no issues then we'd of probably of heard about it. In another thread some people are raving about barefoot shoes. Simply does not work for me but I don't think any particular model of barefoot shoe or the concept is flawed just because of my experience. They are just not for me. I don't doubt the people who love them do so for a reason.

I'm 47 and have a history of running injuries. The models of Hoka that I have tried have allowed me to run consistently for the first time in a long time. If you haven't been able to do something you really enjoy and then something allows you to do it again then that is going to foster a positive feeling for that something. In the UK we call it a 'Marmite product'. Marmite is a savoury spread made from yeast. You are either going to love it or hate it. I was set against Hoka because they look daft and it doesn't really fit my model of what would help with my problems. But I was desperate and they were on sale and now I'm running.

I'm sorry you got blisters but maybe you got the wrong size? You are going to say 'no'. So then you've got a pair of shoes you were interested in initially and you are going to throw then away? Why not but a reasonable pair of insoles and see if they help? You shouldn't have to, I get it. What proportion of people change a bikes saddle? Personally I think gear customisation is where the marginal gains are.

Thanks for the recommendation. Would agree it’s the closest in feel to the Original Clifton