Transcript
Speaker: Hey, Tommy from the Run Testers and welcome back to the Run Testers podcast. In this episode, we are talking about the Adidas Adizero Evo SL and the shoes that have appeared over the past year and a half that are competitors for it. So we're going to be talking through each of those shoes and deciding whether we think it's an Adidas Evo SL. killer.
Speaker: Right, let's dive in. and do the podcast.
Speaker: Afternoon boys, how are we doing? Good. Good, yeah. How are you? Alright. Alright. Um, Busy times for some of us at the moment. Kieran, you've been all over the place. Well, one place.
Speaker: yeah yeah You're somewhere else now. Yeah, I've kind of i've been jumping around. I've got been out to Chamonix for a couple of days, which... um just a couple of days before most of the UTMB races kicked off and it was all starting to build out there.
Speaker: Um... And the trails were mad busy, but... It's... I mean, there's so much going on there now. Like, I mean, I bumped into, I'm going to give him a name check because halfway up ah a random trail late into the evening.
Speaker: Just... Only other one other person on the trail. this guy coming up, puffing hard he was, by the way, was Lee Proctor from Innovate, just, you know, of all the people and said that the whole kind of the running crowd are out there and it's um yeah it's quite a good uh It's quite a good atmosphere.
Speaker: Happy I'm not running them those races, though. to be honest. Alright. Was it a stormy? We had yeah first well first night when I arrived it was boiling, boiling hot.
Speaker: On the way down from that little run we did, Got absolutely soaked. I was just doing that changeable thing. I'm not sure what the weather's pegged for. coming up whenever they're starting tomorrow, aren't they? It won't be tomorrow when this podcast goes out, I doubt.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, that's your point. Hmm. Well, that was to get the Phoenix, of course, which I've just got now. and I'm trying to actually... mess around with it right now but yeah yeah big it's Big launch.
Speaker: Yeah, and um just just the 21... slightly different models i think of the of the phoenix now with the phoenix 9 pro and the 9 some Some pretty yeah but interesting changes.
Speaker: And they've also gone straight to Nine and pro. Normally the pro is the in -between year, so... What will it be next year is the question now. they've overhauled them all all gone to titanium so no more stainless steel Bye.
Speaker: kept mixing the kind of AMOLEDs with, um, couple of kind of um MIP displays for longer battery life. ah Faster mapping and smoother mapping is one of the kind of big headlines. i First day I went out. for our video that's up on the channel. Didn't really notice it so much, but I think there was quite a lot of... um As we were testing, they were still kind of rolling things out. Second day I went up, actually, I think the maps are much smoother against the eight from what I've tested.
Speaker: um the 51 mil that i've got it's like a it's a big old watch the same That's the largest. It is a huge 1 .5 -inch screen. ah which he has It's a test for my frail wrists, but... ah It's not going to suit everyone for sure.
Speaker: No, but it's, ah I mean, it's nice to have a big screen. But yeah, and i obviously see the big battery on the... um is always handy isn't it yeah Yeah, and then a couple of new, and I mean, the interesting...
Speaker: a couple of interesting features with updates to kind of stamina, which I only got a kind of again sort of a brief look at because they were rolling out the features but I think the idea is at some point you might actually be able to kind of guide your runs based on Stamina um So it gives you an interesting kind of firm breakdown of your... pace ranges based on some stamina zones. So, and they were actually pretty accurate to how i'd have assessed them myself so you could go out and say actually i'm gonna This is how long I can last in my... middle stamina zone.
Speaker: It'll be like three or four hours depending on your fitness or whatever. And I think that could be, It might be another interesting way of pacing runs, particularly thinking about maybe ultras and stuff. it's interesting they went back to stamina because it was a launch with one of the phoenixes or the epics even maybe in the past. feature that didn't take off too much but they obviously added quite a lot to it Yeah. Yeah, and then And the last one, the other one, the one jumped out really when they spoke about it was
Speaker: this idea called an epic which sounds quite nebulous but it's basically lets you gather together a series of activities. into one kind of group so you say if you would you could put a training block into it, say,
Speaker: you know your frankfurt training block tom or you could do and a multi -day adventure. running whatever it can do multi -sports and then it starts to aggregate stats over all of that so you'd see a total distance run you can see your trends for things like sleep and stuff over time in that as well add photos and So it could be it's not.
Speaker: It's not quite there, I don't... think and I when we spoke to the product guys they we were It's a bit like we're going to put it out and see how people use it. All right. we take it to more like a social kind of storytelling versus a a ah kind of training comparison kind of tool so you could say how am I doing in this training block versus the last one.
Speaker: A marathon block state would be good. Danny would be good. You can go back and do it, I think, with all this stuff. And that's actually one of the things I think is really interesting about this launch is Garmin are rolling back. pretty much everything. to Phoenix 8 and 8 Pro, which has not always been the case. And the 970 gets everything as well. aside from things like design changes and the faster mapping. So I think... I mean, right now...
Speaker: yeah you're going to see a lot of good value in the 8 and the 8 Pro if you don't need. some of the new stuff but I think that's a really positive move that The new software platform that they're all on now means they can roll back these features much more easily. But yeah, I think I think.
Speaker: it's nice like yeah grouping together frank for marathon but you can you can go back and group your danube kieran and i'm sure you'll get some good cumulative stats off that it'd be quite yeah i did i did that on the following day and it's okay Yeah, and and even for that, you know whilst I was doing that, trying to piece together...
Speaker: the maps to so show my progress but also just Totalling up the mileage was a real pain. Whenever I was sort of doing stories about it afterwards and now you can see all of that cumulative. Oh, right. Yeah. great Yeah. But, um,
Speaker: It's not quite got the kind of shiny, shiny of... adding pictures in and making it nice to share yet, but you could see where that might go. and Each one of these things could become like a mini sort of Strava year in sport for you, you know, that kind of... feel so um which would be quite cool you know if you finish your marathon training block and you hit your pb and then it's like well this is what happened to me during this was my sleep consistency or whatever you could choose which stats to go into it it might be quite cool for yeah if you could spit out a real
Speaker: yeah for Instagram or something like that. Yeah, very pretty cool. wouldn and One last little thing, which I... noted out there they've The um GPS...
Speaker: auto select so the it's automatically finding the best satellites for accuracy and kind of power. That's now across all the settings. So it does it automatically now.
Speaker: on all of them. You don't have to choose it as a single setting. It's just. All of them now automatically use auto -select technology to make it. So whether you're using like the high power, the max power, or the max accuracy, it's going to do all that satellite magic in the background for you without you choosing it as a different mode, which is I think is quite cool. think they im not Can you still force multiband?
Speaker: Or is it like a case of just... Just let them they know what they're doing. and you can choose skills choose You can still choose. Okay. So you can still yeah you can still choose, but I think in the background, then it's still going to...
Speaker: Nice. and do some clever stuff. Nice. that is I'm guessing they're going to be quite pricey. Did they talk about prices? They're not cheap. Yeah. than thousands I think they've added what you I think in your video it was like you've added like 100 compared to the pro 8 pro was it or something roughly so yeah something like that Yeah. So it's gone up a little bit within... with the old inflation and such. But there's no micro LEDs. There's no two grand one this time.
Speaker: Just... was Speaking of straw, have you got your... ah athlete um verification on Strava yet guys I'm verified I'm verified on Strava it's the ah blue tick I never got on Twitter Yeah, got it.
Speaker: Yeah, enjoyed it. Loving life. If I'm honest, the main reason that I said yes straight away to it was there's one of my mates who gets very annoyed by my striver activity because like I get a lot of...
Speaker: kudos and people comment on it and he goes oh look at them commenting and I was going I cannot wait for him to see this in my feed and um annoyingly, he hasn't clocked it or he's clocked it and he's saving it up when we meet up, his diatribe. But at some point, I think I'm just going to have to say, oh, what's this? I need him to see it because it will annoy him and that's what I'm excited about most. Any idea what this blue tick means? Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's weird. I've changed shape. It just says big deal here. That's weird. It's not blue though, is it? It's orange, obviously.
Speaker: Yeah, and all the ticks are actually white because the same with the Twitter one. The tick itself is white, right? I'm just waiting for all the brand deals to come in. Yeah, yeah we' got i mean I'm pretty sure with this... We're now heading to the moon. I mean, the big news in the social media world is that we're back on Instagram after fighting the good fight for quite a while. See if anyone noticed. Yeah, I was going to put a story up saying we're back, but I thought there's only two people who knew we were off and they're both in this room. I did have people say to me, Who I don't know that well.
Speaker: who sort of know the run test as of what's up to your Instagram?
Speaker: Like, oh. Yeah. Did you spot that? Or maybe we just we're just annoying them and they're like, oh, we've had a lovely time off from their post. The sporadic occasional post. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's a... We still don't know what we did. Rome. Which is what we did what worries me now. I'm just in a constant state of anxiety about it. One day dad's just going to leave. You've done something again, Kieran, now. So I'm very, I saw you went very heavy on the European dance music for the real, for the Phoenix. Maybe that's, maybe that's what's. Yeah, they could be that. It's too European, this dance music. Yeah.
Speaker: ah right let's just do a quick ah what's coming up next any races or anything that worth flagging Kieran You've got something big, surely. I'm doing the Berlin.
Speaker: yeah in know yeah four weeks yeah not long was not long and i'm not i don't think i'm ready but We'll go and give it a good go. I'm not... I was going to try and... run a silly time I'm Yeah, I'm going to have to have a good couple of weeks, I think, if that's going to happen. but Create an epic of the next month that should help you get there, I think. Yeah, give that try looking forward looking forward to that.
Speaker: Good. Nick? I've got cross -country relays, um which will be very dry and probably might even be super shoes, which is not something you often have with British cross -country, although it did rain today. Um, I, uh, plushy half, the big one, the biggest race in the calendar of a year, the Essex half marathon champs and the Frankfurt.
Speaker: I'm doing the Sockany Shoreditch half. Did you guys do that last year? I don't know. not i didn't know what Was it a half marathon last year? I think so. um I remember years back doing the ADAS 10k in Shoreditch and that was fitting to about a square mile. Shoreditch is not that big an area for those who aren't here. Me and Kieran did that. and That was... We were just running around housing estates, weren't you? and How are they fitting a half marathon into Shoreditch? I don't know.
Speaker: This will be interesting. Maybe it's a spiral. I'll have to look at the clip. Anyway, it's good. for first Sockany one isn't it it's the first time oh is it okay I thought it was last year right okay so this is so that's the day after the cross country I was I'm planning just to use that as like a hard long run rather than ah a fast one because I can't imagine Shortage is going to produce the speediest results. I can't wait to see what that... this sp but They must have the route, mustn't they, already on the website? Well, it it either leans a lot into Hackney...
Speaker: Right. But... But Hackney Half is twisty enough and they've got quite a big area to run around. Shoreditch is a small area. yeah Anyway, i mean I'm looking forward to it because ah yeah it'll be a good way to get a testing long run in, not by myself.
Speaker: Nice. Okay. All right, you, Tom? Just Frankfurt and... Trying to get faster. I'm down to 18 .30 again now. So hopefully she'll be back under 18 soon. what Was that for a mile or? 5K is down to 1830 now. Fastest this year. So he's back.
Speaker: Yeah, hopefully we'll get that down. I think what I'm going to do is base this year on getting back to a point where um I feel pretty good and then next year really push it hard. My mate who was doing Frankfurt with us, who you've met, it just he just... He did his first good session and literally as he hit split on the final rep, really pleased with his pace, he fell over.
Speaker: And ah he fractured a finger. And he thought, oh, well, that's not too bad. And every single time the doctors are going, well, as long as it's not this, and that's happened about four times and he had surgery today and he's got a sling for six weeks and can't run. It's just like one finger. Yeah, it's pretty brutal. Okay.
Speaker: Wow. hopefully that he that may he's now He's planning to do Frankfurt as a beer marathon now because he thinks there's quite a lot of places you could stop. Oh, nice. That's not a bad idea, actually, yeah yeah. All right, well, shall we do a... yeah Should we do my long -awaited Evo SL video?
Speaker: Let's do it.
Speaker: So the... Evo SL killers video that I've been talking about for quite some time. Is this the intro to the actual video? That seems very low -key entrance to... Well, I'm already going to do my own intro for you. Oh, okay, fine. Now we're just diving into the chat now. No, no, I like it. A little double up on the intro. Casual. um So, the EVOS L. We've been talking about this for a while. It comes up quite a lot in videos where we talk about EVOS L.
Speaker: shoot the shoes that are coming out and competing with the usl usl came out at the end of 2024 and It was a big shock. to the industry. um and we still talk about now we're still using it now it's pretty old now um but this video is about all these other shoes that have come out over the past ah year or so that Trying to do the same thing as the EVSL. But to start off with, you guys... Why? Is the Adidas Evo SL such an important shoe?
Speaker: Wow. I think. For me, it's like just one of the first shoes to sort of take one of the more premium foams and stick it into a shoe that was... you know more affordable which And actually do it and and deliver on versatility and... um and be a good genuinely a good shoe that could do quite a lot so it's um Yeah.
Speaker: It just... popped up with a really good price tag and good performance and made everyone go, oh, do I really need those?
Speaker: Pricier shoes was the main thing for me. i It took me quite a long time to get into it, though, to be fair. Oh, yeah, cool. So it's a pretty new shoe for you. Yeah, yeah. pretty yeah yeah fashion when six scared I had it a long time. I just refused to wear it. It basically, I think, led to charging killing off. almost the plated Super Trainer, which could still come back because I think the new Rebel is so good. And Kieran, you like the Sonic Blast as well. But like I do think it's like, oh, we can now get incredible performance for £130, $150. There's actually a proper race day foam in it they'd not like. watered it down. It feels like a proper race day foam. sharp. simple design but like you know a decent outsole
Speaker: decent upper. I know some people don't like the upper. great mid cell foam just showed what you could do with those like very simple ingredients. And... yeah and it's it's just it basically i think the evo cell created the question every time we reviewed a shoe for 180 200 pounds go why would i buy this head of the evo cell and often the time we didn't have an answer so the evo cell It was like de facto choice every time. You can see how good it was at Adidas.
Speaker: didn't make any effort to update it for a long time like we've had a lot of different uppers and things like that but actually what they've mostly done is like try to make trail versions of it and that like that i think the evo cell 2 is not far away based on rumors online and stuff like that but Yeah, and the other big thing about the USO is it had...
Speaker: Massive. I think it's a massive crossover. up here as well. like It's being worn a lot by people who aren't necessarily running and actually beginner runners are into it. Very experienced runners are into it. it. it kind of appeals to everyone despite the fact it's you know pretty what in the past might have been seen as quite an aggressive speedy shoe.
Speaker: Yeah, and for such a high -performance... Brilliant shoe. Yep. came down in price very quickly. So not only was it a... pretty good well amazing value at rrp you could pick it up People are picking it up for close to £100.
Speaker: Pretty. pretty soon after it was released. so It was just, yeah. every time I spoke to my friends who are sort of more general group of runners, I had to take in a link in a group and say, guys,
Speaker: Get this shoe. But this price, because you you're always asking me what shoes used to get. This is the one I i would suggest if you... You know, you're doing faster training and stuff. I think if you look at what was before in that that kind of price bracket, it was your pretty run -of -the -mill standard dailies, you know, your Pegasus, Ghost, Ride.
Speaker: And this was a lot more exciting. Yeah. Alright, so... With all that in mind, how... Did the release of the EvoSL affect the market over the last year and a half.
Speaker: I mean, this is a lot more kind of shoes that are trying to deliver that kind of versatile performance at this price point. and a lot more a lot more non -plated daily trainers as well that have come in to try and deliver the performance that you're going to get with a plated trainer. at that price point as well. And I guess that's it.
Speaker: That's a big shift as they all kind of gathered around this space. Yeah, it's like a realization that people do want. this kind of lightweight. fun shoe that actually not everyone wants. a big cushioned cruiser all the time and actually you know having it available at this price show that you know it's not the most stable necessarily but it is really fun it's fast it's exciting to run in and that had mass appeal probably more appeal than i think anyone thought ah So it's led to...
Speaker: Other brands going, yeah, well, we've got ah we've got to do that a bit as well. We've got to put some better foams down the line. Brands were very slowly trickling their foams down from... race day shoes and stuff to like super trainers but like Kieran said this brought it right down another level in price. and it just meant everyone had to kind of follow suit. He did something pretty clever with it as well, I think, which was like from an aesthetic point of view, it looks like a pro, the Adios Pro. It's very closely matched if you saw him from a a distance.
Speaker: And I think there was quite a lot of... you know for some people who wanted to run an issue that maybe was a bit more step. a little bit more accessible than ah a pro but have that feeling like I've got a fast chew. yeah I think there was also an appeal from that point of view. It kind of made you look like you were a fast runner in a way. Billion color -wise as well, which helps. Yes. And also you've got the thing where...
Speaker: At the time and when the USR came out, it it seemed like brands were just trying to Just increase the cost. And. produced better performance levels in the in the trainers, which wasn't always the case. They were just basically upping their costs and sometimes they weren't as good as the previous shoe. But... Look. The EvoCell thing opened up.
Speaker: running or a better or faster running, better training. to a lot more people. Because... You you know when people say, what what what speed shoe should I buy? Two years ago, it was like, well, this is the best one. You're thinking, I'm not going to pay for that. I'm i'm a fairly new runner. Yeah. Whereas Evo itself basically opens up performance to anyone.
Speaker: at a really good price. it's very It's quite hard to find performance shoes that were cheap back in back back before the USL. Yeah, I think so. And certainly it's just a different kind of performance you like. I was using a plated trainer a lot. when the EVSO came out. And now if I think about my speed shoes, unless I'm using like a full carbon shoe, I'm probably using... something like the evil or so.
Speaker: or these killers we're going to come on to. it Yeah. All right, so the killers. Sorry, carry on. I have one little question before we go into that, is which is... And then just go off what next there is.
Speaker: When you boys are using Diva SL, are you primarily using it for... speed sessions and fast or are you thinking of it as something that can do a bit more than that.
Speaker: and particularly when I'm thinking about some of the other shoes we've got on this list we're going to go into this is where maybe there's a slight point of difference but I think there is I think it is very well when I initially tested it I did everything in it and I was happy doing everything in it but I'm happiest I think running slightly fast is one of the best easy to steady kind of daily training progression run shoes I think on the market which does start easy but does move through the gears and I do use it for sessions so I think it does lean fast Alright.
Speaker: Yeah, so that's how we positioned it in the end in our best running shoes vid, right? Yeah. that that that that those runs do I think can it can do pretty much anything. Well. but there's a certain sweet spot for it. I always say that whenever, I remember the first time I went out and I'm running it.
Speaker: I just started running faster than... I wasn't doing a fast run, but I just started running faster than I was planning to. And it's almost impossible to go out and do... a slow roll of it because is quite bouncy and it's, There's a lot of energy in it. So I think... We'll get into this in a bit, but...
Speaker: If I... didn't have loads of shoes. And I only bought like one or two pairs of shoes. I think I would class it as a shoe that I'd use for everything. and do my fastest stuff for stuff in. I think there are shoes I've got now that are better for interval training and stuff like that, but...
Speaker: That's us because we've got loads of different shoes. So yeah, it's definitely a shoe that I would say I'd go out and mainly use if I was going out to do something. semi -serious. I'd say there's a key point for me when we're looking at EvoCell killers, and we are going to very soon, is I think they have to have performance at speed because I think the EvoCell has that and then some of them come out and they're actually...
Speaker: Just nice daily trainers, which is fine, but... I'm not going down and ripping up, you know, track sessions of them and stuff, which you can do in Evo. So I think it's got. incredible range for that. Okay, and then just before we jump onto the list, um so... for For classification purposes, you sort of covered it there.
Speaker: What sort of shoes are we looking at? Because we're going to wayre go through these. One of the questions we're going to be asking is, is it an Evo SL killer? We're definitely going to get to this list, by the way. It might just be relatively quick when we actually get to the list. So what are the sort of main couple of things we're looking for within the USL? killer.
Speaker: around the price point so we yeah we were talking about has to be i mean i think you said um under 140 tom but around that mark That's in the UK, pounds. but yeah So it matches it on affordability and that kind of value.
Speaker: Yep. And versatility. Yeah, it's got to be. Got to be good at lots of things. I think that's really important. with either a sale uh especially like i say and i think it's going to have that you know that that edge for faster training.
Speaker: Yeah. All right. Just. Let's go for the throw in simplicity as well there, Tom, actually, as well. I think the simplicity is part of its appeal. So a really good phone, basically, as well, is one of the other things. Yeah, if they ever put a plate in the...
Speaker: evo sl has got it has got a nylon shank which is of course the great dirty little secret of the evo so but it's only a shank we're fine with that right All right, so I've got a list of shoes here that... Probably...
Speaker: Well we'll go through each one of them. Some of them you would definitely look at and say that is a shoe that's meant to be comparable. Some of them you might say aren't, and but we're going to go through and work out ah if we would classify it as an Evo SL colour. But these are all shoes that fit into the sort of same category and the brands in most cases say the same sort of thing about the shoes. uh, leave yourself.
Speaker: So ah first one we've got is a big competitor. It's a Pumat DV8 Nitro Pure. What's this shoe? uh the puma deviate pure nitroton that's it if you could respect i always put it around that way and is a shoe that was very much touted as an evo sell killer when it came out you know very very similar in lots of ways same kind of price simple at same price exactly simple design good outsole
Speaker: nitro foam in the midsole. In this case, it's a Supercritical Piva with this version of of this shoe. Sometimes nitro foam is adiabatic TPU, but it's PIVA here. Simple upper. light Very lightweight. I think even... the same or even slightly lighter than the EVO SL. positioned as an evo cell killer by all of us when when we came to it i actually think for me it comes across actually as a daily trainer and like it's not got quite the same performance of speed as the ego itself for me but i think he's better at easy end of things and i kind of love the pure for like pootling around in.
Speaker: Yeah, okay i would I would tend to agree with that. you know Sometimes I sort of think about the shoes that... If it's, you know, on a hundred. 1 to 100 sort of scales ah of speed that the DV8 will go up to kind of 75, maybe not beyond that. Whereas the, and it's that kind of bottom end of it. bond 75%.
Speaker: And then the Evo SL I think has got better top range. I much prefer... Yes. sort of steady pace running in the in the Deviate Pure, I think, but i would I wouldn't choose it to do the fastest stuff and I think neither will sell.
Speaker: does better when you start to really kind of push like if I was down doing intervals on the track or pushing kind of faster and mile mile kind of intervals. I actually took them both. uh actually took them both to a track session we first got the pure to do direct and did the first couple reps in the pure and then switched to the ego cell and it yeah it's just much more aggressive, I think, in the way it rocks you. All right, well.
Speaker: The million dollar question. Is it an Evo SL killer? Oh. Tom, you go first then. What do you think? ah No. I think it's a good shoe.
Speaker: But in our context of what we're trying to get through to this with that. Classification, I don't think it's an universal killer. ah I don't know. I had a minute. I have two of the best shoes in a bit in different categories. I think actually for a lot of people picking up the USL,
Speaker: like who are using it as a kind of general daily and maybe just, you know, see it because it's such a hype shoe and maybe it's picking it up. Maybe people might be a better choice, but I think the EvoCell, it doesn't kill the EOS. The EvoCell lives for me. So it continues to live from this one. So what we're saying is it's better, it's more of ah ah ah a daily shoe, less... speed -focused there than the EvoCell.
Speaker: Yeah, it can it can do some of the faster stuff at a push, but it's not its natural habitat, I don't think. But it's in a damn fine shape. Yeah, yeah you can decon you can run fast. it but Like Kieran says, natural habitat is is the word.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: The New Balance Rebel V5 Hoo hoo. What we got here. Wow. It's ah the early version of the Rebel were kind of ESL, but this one, Kieran, you ran Comrades in the Rebel. You do that in the ESL?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, i've that's the thing I've done, yeah, I did... did What 90 K's in the in the rebel and did 40 I think it was like the middle section of the 100 -miler in Berlin, isn't it? and Yeah, there's no way I would... Evo herself for that it's just too like you said it's too aggressive there's Yeah, it's not for me, it's not actually cushioned enough. I think the Rebel comes in sort of much softer. And if anything, the kind of criticisms probably about the Rebel are that it's probably a little bit too soft and doesn't have that. Same kind of. performance end as the reversal.
Speaker: And yeah, I guess in some ways the EvoCell basically come in and replace the The Rebel has that performance shoe. Hi. And yeah, I would say the rebel... It's much more kind of comfort driven for me. I know some people find the stack not quite enough, but I find it...
Speaker: like a really easy sort of clip along. So it comes with shield. I wouldn't get the same miles out of the Evo. ah Sorry, yeah I think he's exactly saying it's really wide as well, the Rebel. like It is cushy and stable. I think Rebel 1, 2, 3 were very EVO SL -like, actually. They were...
Speaker: fast training shoes, not that much cushioning. I think the EvoCell was better than those and then the rebel now i think is much more much more easy stuff for me. Yeah. I mean, it's got interesting competition. yeah we I'm going to mention it. It's out of the price bracket and it's not.
Speaker: I've grabbed it as a killer but I think the new Um, rebel the sc which is is going to be is much more at that kind of fast end. That is a great fast -training shoe, but it's plated. yeah so but It can't kill the Evo SL, but it might be what I would use instead. Yeah, looking forward to trying that one. Okay, i would I would agree. I think you said in a part of which video you said it, in Nick, where it's...
Speaker: Yeah, you class it more as a daily shoe now than ah the sort of pattern. end of the spectrum might I agree I'd I do like it. I don't use it very much to be honest. I don't really have any reasons for taking the New Balance Rebel V5 out, but i would I would say that it is not an EVO SL killer.
Speaker: Yeah, no Agreed. Okay, so it's it's li li continues to live it continues to live.
Speaker: Okay, so another legacy one, which we've talked about quite a lot in the past, and I think you've just put into another video, the Hoka Max 7. I love the Hoka Mac 7. I thought you were going to say that. I mean, that was that was around a long time before the Evo 7, to be fair. Mm hmm. So what's what's our view on... Mac 7.
Speaker: Um... Or your view. ah Yeah, I love the Max 7. I don't think it's quite as fast and aggressive as the Evo Cell. We've lost Kieran. He's back. Oh, I'm back, yeah yeah. Sorry. I think the Mac 7 is...
Speaker: like really good. I don't think it's got quite as good a foam as Evosell on the midsole. I don't think it's quite as aggressively quick. Again, I love ticking over in it at all kinds of paces. I think it's a little bit more stable than Evosell, but I think like our first two options.
Speaker: I think it's a lightweight, simple shoe, ticks a lot of boxes, but probably doesn't have quite the same speed as the Evo SL. It's a bit more built, isn't it, for me? And it come to comes in heavier than the Evo SL as well a bit.
Speaker: Yeah, close, but yeah, a little bit, I think. Yeah. yeah Yeah, I quite like the back seven, but... I don't find it i don't find a fun shoe to run in fast. I think it's solid and does the job but i don't look forward to running it like i do in the evo sl um I do look forward to running in it. That is to show you that. If we didn't have all these shoes, that's the kind of shoe I would pick up as a daily, like the Pure, just to be using yeah day in, day out. But I would also have a fast -trading shoe as well as it, which I wouldn't have either, so I think. Okay, sounds like it's going to be an easy one then. Is it an ESL killer?
Speaker: killer It lives. It lives. It lives. It lives. It still lives. vessel I can see where this is going. in but I want to propose a new title for this video.
Speaker: Okay, this... It's a slightly different one. The ASICS Nova Blast 6. I appreciate it. It's a great tube. I would say very different. you know, much much softer, much more... plush much more sort of cushioned and a bit yeah a bit more luxe underfoot.
Speaker: Um... a bit more kind of a bouncy sort of energy to it for me as well. And... Where, you know, I think one of the big distinctions actually is sort of that comfort area where the Nova Blaster find a much more comfortable shoe than the Evo SL. And I'm one of the people who didn't quite get along with... the way that the EvoCell felt on the foot. It wasn't quite natural for me.
Speaker: Neverblast is like easy super comfort. But again, i you know I can run fast in the Nova Blast, but I just don't think it's quite got that kind of immediate kind of impetus that you get and that kind of high rockering and aggression that you'll get from the Evo SL so yeah It's got a very different kind of energy to me.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't think ASICS has an EVO or so. In its range, actually, really, I think. you know it's gone very big on the super trainers with mega blast and super blast They're much more expensive. They do, Mega Blast has a similar role in a different way, much higher stack. I think that's another thing about the Evo, so I suppose is it's it's not that high stack a shoe and the Nova Blast is. so i yeah i don't think attics has a shoe here i don't think the no blast is is the same kind of shoe for me.
Speaker: It lives. Well, I've not said my view yet. I'm saying it lives, Tom. I think i think but if we were to say they're no plus five... That is a completely different... Paquette Le Fish, but I do think Nova 6 is... Getting.
Speaker: better at being more like the VSL, being a bit faster with that. Thank you. Turbo squared in the four foot. But yeah, I... ah yeah I don't think it's ah it' it's not going to kill off the... Diva Salya.
Speaker: Okay. ah This one's going to be a tricky one for you, Nick. Not you, King, because you haven't tried this. The Dynafish Jaunion. All right, okay. I think we are in we are in killer territory now. yeah um So what ah what for the listeners who don't know what this is, ah what is the Zhanyan?
Speaker: So the Shownian, or Shownian, I'm still not sure exactly on that one, um is... A shoe from the Chinese brand Dynafish Shoes. I think it's their first shoe, maybe only shoe so far. it got rave reviews, it was a big word of mouth sensation, is now, you could buy it through marketplace sites like AliExpress, and there's one called Tabow, I think, is now available directly in the US through some small retailers, including Subwell, Uwana, shout out Uwana. And...
Speaker: So it's now when you get there from a direct from the retailers, I think it's pretty much matches the EVO sell directly in price. But it's also been traditionally a bit cheaper if you go through the marketplace sites. I got mine for £97, I think. And it is. a bigger stack.
Speaker: Evosol. It's definitely got more stack height than Evosol, but it's a very rocket shoe with a supercritical midsole that gives you loads of bounce. Very fast ride. Unbelievably light. It's actually lighter than the Evo, so a fair bit lighter despite having the higher stack. And it's got a bit more pre -stability than the EvoCell, I would say. ah like I do think it's an incredible speech and especially... for those tackling...
Speaker: longer events, marathon training, that kind of thing. I think it's probably lots of people who watch the channel who love the Dynafish. It's for this kind of thing. It does long workouts in particular so well, and I do think it does them a little bit better than the Evo. Hmm. But you, Tom, you've tested it though.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's a really good shoe. I think... This... I'd use it for the same things that I'd use the Evo SL for. I think that... There's a different ride to them both. I think i think the... The Dynafish does feel to me to be a little bit more subtle. It feels light and fast but I i don't really notice it as much on my feet. Um, but I do think they're very comparable. I think it really comes down to... how much you're paying for it. I mean, if this was a
Speaker: a shoe that was available in the UK readily and it had a price tag against it, we could probably make it. easier call against it but i mean you you got it for nine £95 or something. About the same price you'll get the Evo, so I guess maybe it gives up. But I have heard people getting it considerably cheaper. Yeah.
Speaker: um like when it when it first came out people were buying it for like 55 pounds or whatever 50 pounds which is remarkable price for that shoe. yeah um I think if you were to classify them as the same price...
Speaker: I think it is an universal killer. Um, I think this is, you know, if you love the Evo SL, you're probably going to love the Dynafish. I think it's very slight. nuances towards the ride that might make you like one more than the other. I get a lot of stick in the comments because I like the EVSL more than the Dynafish. But I still think they're both really good shoes.
Speaker: I think, ah if for me, it's just going to be a little bit. Obviously, price is obviously a factor. It's hard to say, like you say. I think when I went and did flat -out reps in the Dynafish, it felt good. I think the Evo, so if I was going for a flat... 10 times 400, you know, close to flat out pace. I think I slightly prefer the EvoCell. I do prefer the Dynafish if I'm doing longer workouts, though. Again, both of these can do all of these workouts. It's just, yeah, the feeling, like you say. I do think a big knock on the EvoCell for lots of people is it's not the most stable. And with the Dynafish, you don't have a medial side cutout. So I do think that will give it a bit more stability. It's got a slightly wider platform. So if you're like if that was a concern for the EvoCell for you, and that was the reason you weren't going for it, the Dynafish would be an EvoCell killer. And I do think it's... probably a slightly better option for fast workouts during marathon training.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think it's it's definitely an EVO cell. We're in killer territory here, that's for sure. Yeah, so's yeah so we've got our first killer. It doesn't necessarily mean the EVO cell has been completely killed, but ah there is... Otherwise we'd have to stop the video. we'd have to stop video here We've got like 10, 30 more shoes right, Tom, I believe. Yeah, you went to get into the Essex Jockey, aren't I?
Speaker: kind of killed it years ago right so the next one is another tough one Kip Run Kip Storm Tempo oh Mmm. And it's a very good value shoe. Yeah. I really like this shoe. I really like this shoe. And I might use it for the same kind of workouts and faster efforts.
Speaker: as I would Devo SL. It's obviously got a much Bigger stack. Amen. Probably a bit more. cushion but i think it's got some really neat touches like i really like the upper setup and the comfort has got that kind of knitted. upper with a sort of integrated tongue that I really enjoyed that. It worked really well. I felt super comfortable on the foot. It's quite a wide upper, isn't it? It's quite wide. forgiving like what I need. It's got quite a high rocker on it as well, hasn't it? And it's...
Speaker: Yeah, i I enjoyed all of my kind of runs in that shoe actually. Hmm.
Speaker: I think it's a great shoe. I think it's got a slightly firmer feel when you first step into it. But actually, as soon as you're running, it feels pretty springy. I think I've never had any issues of comfort at all. I did 50 miles out of the box, loved it. I think it's got a sharp enough rocker at the front. Because I think it can feel a little blocky at the heel at fast paces, but it's got a really sharp rock at the front. And I've done, yeah, I've gone doing the same kind of workouts I do in the Evo, so on that shoe it performs really well. I think, again, a bit like Dynafish, I think you get a slightly more stable platform. potentially a slightly better platform for long workouts than the EVO SL because you've got more cush and it still has that really responsive foam. I think we're in killer territory again, potentially here. But again, I think I would probably have the EVO SL as a better flat out speed option maybe, but I think the Dynafish, not Dynafish, the Kip Run is very fast and does some things better than the kip the the EVO SL for sure.
Speaker: So yeah i I actually used it for, I ran like a solo marathon in it as well. and over that distance. from a from a midsole on the ride performance it was absolutely bang on for that And I probably wouldn't take either or so up to that kind of distance. I did have some.
Speaker: uh problems with the i think it was the ankles kind of cut a bit but uh 95 then the upper is that i think it tapers quite sharply around the little toe but it hasn't hasn't been a big problem but i did actually have a You call those little things in your foot from loads of rubbing of like a corn or something like that. I had that on the outside of my little toe and it did get rubbed by that a little bit.
Speaker: Well, I'm saying these are two of the best shoes you can get and the best value, but I think it is the specificity of what you're using it for. So if I was to pick one of these shoes, like you said, Kieran, if I was going out for a marathon run, and it was a consistent pace run, I'd definitely go for the... Kip Storm. tempo I just think it just rides so smoothly it's not as bouncy or like energetic as Divo Cell but It just feels lovely for those longer distance runs. Whereas if I'm going to do to an extent track. intervals or anything like that.
Speaker: I would pick the Evo SL because I think it's got a little bit more pickup, a bit more bounce. just feels a little bit more lively. and But... I think it depends what you... Did you... you know, what type of running are you... predominantly doing. So I think i think it is an Evo SL killer. If you're the sort of runner that's going to be mainly doing those sort of longer sessions where you want smooth ride, really comfortable. say stable and consistent. Ciao. experience if I could only choose if I you've had to say to me you could have one shoe to trying for in race. A marathon. Do the block.
Speaker: yeah I'd probably go with the with the temple. Yeah I think I would. I think Gibson Tempo would be a killer for me as well. I think it's... Yeah, i''t I'd have it over the Eber. So same same same logic as a Dynafish. I do mostly long stuff and I think it's better at that. Wow.
Speaker: Okay, that was... £99 usually in sales as well. So you're actually getting a great price. Although this is a big caveat. In the US, it's yeah not at all the same price. It's much more expensive. and So I think... In the US, it's not killing the EVO sub because you're paying probably a minimum of $20, probably more like $50, $60 more, aren't you?
Speaker: Yeah. Sorry Americans. Yeah. but decathlon's coming and they'll but they were they'll sort it out kipper almost sort it out i'm sure
Speaker: Okay, we're down to the last three. And these I think these are going to be easier. ah The Skechers Aero Razor. Whoa. but What a fun surprise that actually was this year, I'd say. Good shape.
Speaker: solid daily Good to talk to you. Very light, maybe even lighter than the EvoCell, I think. um I think very similar all round. I think you get a slightly bouncier feeling from the Evo SL.
Speaker: but Yeah, but I think it's... And actually, I did enjoy a long, easy run in the sketch. I think maybe, again, you've got a touch more stability there. yeah Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. I'm not sure I belong in it.
Speaker: so Yeah, I have. I'm not sure I would go long in it. i And I did i found... Yeah, for for the kind of fastest stuff, actually, I really enjoyed going out and doing intervals in it. and shorter, faster.
Speaker: But for longer, there was something about the kind of comfort and I... I found it. and Maybe a bit kind of... firm There was just something not quite. and actually Be yourself.
Speaker: Had a little bit more for me. I don't know there was some I don't know if it was something about the operas or there was... On the feet, it just didn't quite disappear into the background. How I like, I think Niva herself did a bit more of that.
Speaker: So it wasn't quite. but I don't think I'd pick it over the EVO myself, but... for for so For a certain set of my runs, I really enjoyed it. Yeah, for me it's probably quite similar.
Speaker: It's probably one of the more similar sheets actually on this list. and I think I do. I don don't think it's quite the level of... dynamism I get from the Evo. Yeah, I'm not putting it down as an ego cell killer. I can't keep saying it lives. It lives this one.
Speaker: Right. Well, it's paint in this basically... some of these will kill it off the the haggard remnants of evil cells after coming through the kipron dino fish gauntlet it staggers through these sketches area into the rad area now right Into the rat. Yeah, well, that this is where it gets easier. So the sketch is a razor. Fantastic shoe. Sketches do tend in the UK to... to
Speaker: go on sale quite a bit. Oh, they're everywhere on sale. US as well. You can get them by Amazon. So yeah they are you are going to get a great price on that shit. So it's still a solitude. It's not far off. But yeah, I would agree. it' that There's a little bit more life in the EVO -SL. Um, it's all fine.
Speaker: ah Right, the Rad Synth. So I think...
Speaker: if the rad synth had been the exact same shoe with the phone from the rad ufo we might be talking about potential you know evo cell killer here but instead we got i think what for me was just a perfectly fine phone but actually not what the evo cell is it's a it's a daily trainer much more in the mold of now It's much lighter than the shoes, but things like the Pegasus, the Ghost, it's like a solid, dependable shoe, but I don't think it's got the pickup and the the... The quality of foam you get at the Evo itself. Maybe it's on the cards. Maybe that maybe they're looking at... a faster,
Speaker: Um, Do you like the USL? They seem to be releasing a lot of shoes. These days. um Okay, so yeah. Kerry, have you tried the Vans in? We all do this stuff, don't we?
Speaker: Oh yeah, so four of us, yeah. And again, yeah, it was okay. It didn't really do it for me. I don't i didn't. Have you tried the UFO, Kerry? i I haven't no I've actually got it in a box at home That is a fun shoe. I keep forgetting to kind of mention that in best of videos. That is a fun shoe. I need to have a go at it because it's... um Yeah.
Speaker: i so I didn't have that kind of point of comparison I think maybe the synth was sort of weakened a bit because of how how much people would like the the shoe that came before it but I did find it a little bit blocky I don't know I i didn't I went in the opposite way I actually thought because they're considerably cheaper than the synth and they changed the thing completely. i thought I thought I wouldn't like it at all, but I did quite, I thought it was all right.
Speaker: I thought it was alright, yeah. And... It had like a little bit velocity. premium Velocity Nitro vibes for me, just being a really solid, simple, day tra but not as, even then, i't I didn't like it as much. And it's a bit cheaper than all these other shoes. It's 120, I think, in the UK. Yeah, it is just a... Yeah, I'd just love to see that suit for a minute. Okay. So definitely not killer that one.
Speaker: Last one is one where we're probably going to have... Bit of a debate on it. The Socony Azura. Oh. Well, Kieran, yeah, you go on this. Yeah, yes so I've used the Azura for all sorts. I really love the Azura. But, you know, again, it's for me, it's...
Speaker: It's probably... I'm drawn to it more for the range that it offers. I think it can do, it's got enough cushion and protection for me to run everything from kind of slow. Certainly, I think it, works really well you know at my kind of cruising pace.
Speaker: properly. I mean, I i did ah ah ah an out and out kind of, an all out kind of race in it. Ah. yeah i guess around kind of 5k pace doing this kind of relay for So could he. And it did okay on a twisty -turny course being kind of punchy, but...
Speaker: again i just don't think if you're looking for that sort of top edge speed it's probably not quite as as aggressive and out and out i do think it's another one of those that for the 75 up to that top bit it does really really well and i would choose it over the evo sl which probably does the last 20 % or 30 % of the top end better, if that makes sense. and I think it wins on comfort for me and how it feels on the foot and a bit more of a natural ride.
Speaker: But maybe some people will find it... and you know I don't know, maybe a bit... um Not energetic enough, or not as energetic as the Evo or so. Yeah, it probably more leads or not towards the DV8 Pure, things like that for me. you know's
Speaker: It is a good all -round daily trainer. I don't think it's got the same top -end speed. I think the foam... yeah it's a good foam and it can take such a beating that power on pp foam as a show of the year so i think It probably is a shoe that. If you got it, it would mature very well and feel great over time as well. But I don't think it has that kind of immediate.
Speaker: exciting feel that you get from either. Yeah, I just think it's an alright shoe. yeah well yeah fine yeah i just i don't find get much from that midsole foam i think it's responsive and all right, but... Yeah. So easy one for me. Um,
Speaker: All right, before you wrap up, Tom, I think we've got a little guitar performance to come, haven't we, Kieran? Hold on a second, here we go. Let's finish all of the videos with this. Kieran actually, people don't know this about Kieran, but he's one of those creative freestyle rappers. So he's created a song with all the shoes we just had.
Speaker: Vivo So Blues, baby.
Speaker: I'm actually moderately impressed that you could do something on it. it's it's yeah I don't think this has ever been played. it's If you could go out and burst through that golden curtain with it, Kieran.
Speaker: this is going to be the thumbnail im looking at the whole thing nowil he was a computer you distracted me so much i was actually i wasn't looking at the camera when i was playing that so all right okay do it again i'm sorry about that people but i'll look at the camera either then Yeah.
Speaker: Beautiful. Imagine if you came into a podcast and asked Ivo Soulkillers and we just did one shoe and then Kieran did 40 minutes of his favourite songs. Well, if you want that in the comments, please let us know and we'll organise that for the next one. That's Patreon. If we ever launch a Patreon, if we're going to save anything for it, it's Kieran and his guitar. Well, okay. That'll do us nicely, I think. So we have ended up with...
Speaker: Just two. Killers. Not bad, is it, if for ah for a two -and -a -half -year -old? No, a one -and -a -half -year -old shoe? It's a bit little bit over that now, but yeah, not far off. I think Evo 2 is going to be very exciting. I imagine they're going to ruin it in some way, is my feeling. They're going to have to. but it's that There's so much resting on it. They could just fill in the medial cutout, I reckon, and I think a lot of people would be pretty excited by that. But they'll have to do more than that, won't they?
Speaker: Oh, yeah, they're going to have to do it because otherwise... Just... but You're going to be buying... Well, I'm worried that they'll put the price up. That's the thing that's going to be the problem. On the plus side, it is... There's been so many Evo SLs made that there's never going to be a shortage in the second -hand market for, I think, at least like 10 years. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's the Evo SL overview done. Thank you very much, guys.
Speaker: Thank you, Tom. Yeah. Thank you, Kerry. Yeah. Thank you for your talent. Thank you, John Collins, as always. yeah And yeah, thank you, EvoSL. Oh, street vibes, Tom. We didn't do street vibes in all these shoes. Yeah, you can't kill off the Evo Cell with street vibes. I do think it's actually got the best street vibes for all the teams you mentioned. it's got print That's why it one of the reasons why it's so popular. The evo so was street vibes.
Speaker: Yeah, we really we should have covered that a lot earlier in the podcast. A lot of people I know just wear that shoe. Just... On the street? and in the street when they're vibing. Yeah, holy fuck. Uh... All right, well, we'll do the EvoCell Street Vibe. kick Killers next. Yeah, that's going to be tough. That's going to be very tough. Right. Well, it's the on cloud being vote. Best street vibes of any shoe. Anyway, sorry, i I'm going to carry on. Right. Well, we will be back soon. Catch you guys later. Yay.
Speaker: Bye. This episode of the podcast was presented by... tom wheatley nick carrabride and carried ALGA. It was produced... by Tom Wheatley The music. was by Fear of Tigers.
