Here’s my shoe review of the Hoka Bondi X — notably compared against the Brooks racing flat, Nike Vaporfly, and Nike Alphafly racing shoes.

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Transcript:

 Hello, today, I want to give you some thoughts on the Hoka Bondi Bondi X running shoe. And my review after using it for about 150 miles now, to give you some perspective, the reason I purchased this shoe is what I was looking for was a racing shoe and alternative racing shoe to my current collection, which I'll show you in a second. And also and or shoe that can also use in my, my hard key quality sessions during during a training cycle. And so that was the purpose of buying this shoe. And just for comparison, the options that I currently have is, you know, my main shoe is I have a racing flat, and this is the Hyperion by Brooks racing flat. And so this has been my go to for a bunch of races, you know, up to the marathon distance, this is just a basic racing flat, it's light weights, to kind of help to turn over reduces the weight. That's that's the key issue. Now, a few years ago, I hopped into the carbon plate technology, this the Nike paper flood. And so this was an option as well that I've run some races in. And then last year, I went ahead splurged and purchased the Nike Alpha fly with this funky Springboard down here. And so those are the three options that that I have in terms of racing shoes and shoes that I will use when I'm trying to hit key quality sessions. And so what I was trying to figure out is, you know, is the only option for manufacturers Nike or their other manufacturers that are producing high quality shoes that can be used for racing and quality sessions, that incorporating some of the more innovative technology versus just, you know, the old school racing flat. So that was the purpose of this. And so I started first with the Hoka shoe, and that's because I've used the homeless for a long time. I love the hook of Cliftons as a key training shoe. I like the cushion like the fit. And so I started here, so some initial thoughts on this guy. First of all, it has all the features that you would expect in a hookah shoe. It is cushioned, and so you can feel that cushion when when you run. It has the same amazing fit with the breathable mesh. It just feels really good. You feel like your foot can breathe, it doesn't get too sweaty has all those features that you would expect in a hookah. It feels very balanced, it doesn't feel too lopsided. Some of the the Nike shoes, especially this guy with the with the springboard, it always kind of has this weird tilting feeling to me. I didn't get that with the Vaughn dx, I felt like it was a very balanced shoe. But let's talk about some of the differences. And the first one we're starting to talk about is just the weight. So if you start here with just the road racing flat, this guy right here, this weighs six ounces. Okay. Now the vapor Fly Fly net is 6.35 ounces, so a little bit heavier. But it now incorporates the early stage carbon plate technology from Nike. Then you get to the alpha fly with the funky springboard and this guy Believe it or not only weighs seven ounces, so slightly more than a vapor fly. But it has a lot more technology in the shoe with the springboard and you know in this the destruction of the plate itself. And how they do that is that when you look at the mesh part of the shoe up here, it is very thin, it's almost transparent paper thin. And that my sense is saves a lot of weight is a lot of material and so they can invest almost exclusively in the bottom of the shoe which is the part that propels it, but it creates this feeling of being you know, I almost feel like I'm going to tear me every time I've put along because it's so so thin. And it just makes it feel like things aren't that durable. And it's really something that I've only used twice for one workout in one run because I'm afraid that it is going to tear and it's just safer for wearing really matters. Now the difference is the Hoka Bondi x it weighs drumroll 11 ounces, so it is almost twice as much as the racing flat and the vapor fly shoe. And you can feel that when you wear you can feel that it feels heavier like a typical trainer. And that's because it's designed that way it's designed to have the cushion. It's designed to be a more sturdy shoe. With the weight you also do get this feeling of durability whereas with the Alpha fly I feel like I could tear it any second. This guy has a very sturdy durable shoe like if you're not going to tear it it's meant to be very sturdy. But it is heavy. So in the grand scheme of it, when I kind of wrap it up of running this thing for a good amount of time, my conclusion is, for me, I don't think I would rely upon this as my racing shoe for something like a road marathon, or even something shorter, like a half marathon or a 10k. Because I do think it's too heavy compared to other options that I have. However, what I do like about it is that I do like that it does have some of the more innovative features to help me hit quality sessions with a little bit of technology, and recovery for my feet, after I run in my legs. And so I'm not always beat down the next day. I like that A has that I like that has an element of cushion. And I like that it's very durable. And so to me, this actually feels like a shoe that will be perfect for quality sessions in a training block as opposed to races. And maybe the alternative is and I want to investigate this next probably is that Hoca has a another shoe with the similar technology. And that is just their basic carbon extra now the carbon x two, and that shoe has the same propulsion technology, same same cushion. But it is actually only weighs a little over eight ounces, so much closer to the weight of the Alpha fly. And my sense is it does that because it has less cushion. And so maybe the solution is if I want to continue to explore and this was I think a will is that this shoe is a great shoe for you know, quality session, some more durability, and maybe the carbon x is the road racing shoe. And honestly, maybe that's how I hope to design it right. Like maybe this shoe is made made mainly for, you know, I wouldn't say trail running, but maybe like more longer running Ultra running 50 mile races when they don't do where you want to have a lot more cushion and the speeds less important than the cushion. So maybe that was what she was designed for. And you know, I'm stumbling into that conclusion now. But that's probably the best way to think about it. So if you're looking at to the Bondi X, I think it is a great shoe. No, the drawbacks in terms of its comparison to your other options on the market. Those drawbacks may actually be positives for you. If you're looking for a shoe that doesn't necessarily maximize speed by reducing weight, but actually maximizes speed by improving your comfort and your durability. That's another way to get speed to depending upon where you run and how you do it. As always, best wishes chasing your running goals.


Transcribed by https://otter.ai