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hello everybody today we're going to
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take a look at three uh state-of-the-art
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superc critical foam powered trainers
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that all have similar stats in terms of
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stack height first the Craft uh Nord
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Light uh Tempo $160 and then also the
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Aeroglide 3 from Solomon at $ 160 as
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well and finally we're going to take a
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look at the deluxe made in Italy
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Atomosar from Diodora uh which comes in
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$240 hi everybody Sam from Road Trail
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Run it's a beautiful spring day in New
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Hampshire finally so I'm back on the
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porch without a coat on to do a video so
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today we're going to take a look at
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state-of-the-art daily trainers uh that
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all share a lot of characteristics but
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are very different in ride and feel so
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um we'll the three we're going to look
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at are the Diodora Ato Star uh which is
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the Craft Nord Light Tempo
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Aeroglide 3 which is also
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$160 so what else do they share well
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they all they share a 40 mm heel all
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three of them um they share a super
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critical foam midsole all quite
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different we'll get into the details of
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that in terms of drop uh the uh uh
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Aeroglide is 8 mm the others are all uh
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both 6 mm so uh a lot of similarities um
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and as we look at uh 2025 uh uh running
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shoes and trainers we're finding uh that
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really really and I'm finding that the
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old EVA midsoles or EVA blends just do
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not measure up to these super critical
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foams so what what what are the midsoles
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here we have an ETPU supercritical foam
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it's an expanded beads kind of um
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approach uh it's the softest and
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bounciest and also least stable of the
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craft has a uh a blend super critical
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blend with 15% pee um and uh to me it is
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kind of the most reactive and responsive
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if a bit firmer than the other two it's
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called the tempo for good reason even
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though its stats are very similar you
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can see already and we'll get into the
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uppers that its upper is much more kind
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of streamlined almost racelike and also
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in terms of fit narrower the Atomos Star
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uh is the deluxe version of all three
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here uh its foam is uh the soft well not
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the softest but it it I think the most
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uh pleasant of the three um it is uh a
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little bit firmer than the Solomons but
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more pulled together i find beaded foams
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often kind of sneak out the side not as
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stable and you can see the platform with
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the carveout here we have a really
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really pleasant Italian sports car this
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shoe is entirely made in Italy um
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explaining somewhat its price but also
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um its upper is really plush and
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luxurious and that adds a bit to weight
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so let's talk about weight um the um the
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Atomos Star in my US 8.5 sample is uh
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9.35 O 265 gram US8.5
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um the uh Nord Light is uh 8 8.71 ounces
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uh so not quite an ounce lighter uh in
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my 8.5 247 gram and the um Aeroglide is
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the lightest even though you know the it
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it does have a 2 mm um na uh lower 4
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foot which may explain it but it it's it
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comes in at 8.5 o uh I'm sorry 8.5 oz
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242 g US 8.5 all three of them and I
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don't think I can hold all three up at
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once but I'll try have almost identical
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uh platforms on the ground as well so
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they all share a platform that's about
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um uh 90 they all have 90 mm at the heel
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uh the um the Aeroglide is 75 at midfoot
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so uh a little bit narrower and then up
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front uh Aeroglides 105 and the others
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are all uh 110s very very similar so
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these are very very similar uh shoes now
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we'll talk about the upper and then I'll
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get into the ride uh characteristics so
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uh and I'll arrange them sort of like
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uh this the AGlide has a unique kind of
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construction see this little wing out
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here there are absolutely no seams on
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the inside this is a very soft upper uh
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we do have let me uh no gusset here no
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gusset and it could use one um this is
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the least supportive of the uppers i
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would say the most comfortable uh and
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along with the midsole I think this is a
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shoe that favors lighter runners with
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good form there's plenty of room for a
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wider uh foot in here because you can
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see how pliable it is the tongue uh is
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quite thin um this they've really tried
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to keep the weight down uh with the
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upper very comfortable upper now our
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Deluxe you can see the tongue you can
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see the super plush padding now that you
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know may add a bit to the weight cuz it
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is kind of the heaviest 9.35 oz but
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still very light because we they really
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as with all three of them take advantage
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of the super critical foam uh midsoles
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here unique uh kind of construction
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can't really show you but the gusset
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tongue starts right near lace up and the
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material goes all the way to the front
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of the shoe so it's completely lined
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i've run this barefoot i haven't run a
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bear a shoe barefoot in quite a while
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but here I did not uh hesitate and it
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and it so you could reduce the weight
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the 8 to 18 grams of a sock if you want
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i suspect it's going to be the warmest
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of the uppers in summer but we haven't
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gotten there yet um it um and then uh
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you can see it has a a a kind of more
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podular uh um outsole uh and this leads
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it to being really quite flexible for
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that 34 uh mm uh front stack the Solomon
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flexibility is even more flexible
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somewhat more flexible uh but remember
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it's 32 here um and our uh our uh
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Nordite interestingly is sort of the
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most rigid rocker approach although
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there's no plate none of them have a
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plate and that comes from the its uh
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kind of die-cut outsole these kinds of
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outsoles provide response and structure
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to the shoe so while it isn't a flexible
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shoe it feels like it i had to go back
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and look after two runs and flex them to
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see but uh very smooth running its upper
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is a a thin single layer kind of uh mono
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mesh engineered uh material in terms of
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its fit it is quite narrow unlike prior
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uh prior um craft which were very sloppy
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here we have a lot of support we have a
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gusset tongue the rear is really nicely
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you can see really nicely padded we have
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a bit of a heel counter um and this
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helps uh I think this will be the most
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breathable shoe come summer uh but this
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is a more performanceoriented shoe of
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course they call it tempo and I think
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that's correct even though its stats are
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really similar to all the rest it rides
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more like a tempo shoe than the more
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uh Atomos Star which is kind of your
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allaround kind of plush daily trainer
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from top to bottom beautiful
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construction here you can see the made
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in Italy and the flag on the rear here
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we have a a more rigid heel counter
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quite a bit more reinforcement here this
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this leather reinforced it's actually
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quite firm uh you can see that on the uh
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lateral side it's different than the
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medial side which is more extensive this
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is the most stable of the three shoes
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although our our Nord Light gets pretty
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close um uh so uh in terms of ride this
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guy is just a lot of fun the price is
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there of course but this is just deluxe
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without a weight penalty really because
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you know 9.35 ounces for a 40 34 stack
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and all this wonderful upper is quite
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amazing i will note that its fit is a
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little bit narrow up in front um it
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stretched after a couple runs maybe a
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little short because of its extensive
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toe bumper uh but true to size for me no
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question if you take the socks out or
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you use thin socks you'll get a good fit
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here just a delight this one is more
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your kind of pick up and go at the same
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stackite its foam is a little bit uh
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firmer than our um than our Ato Star but
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uh um with our um uh Solomon the softest
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by far I mean quite a bit softer um the
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the Solomon you can see this upper very
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comfortable but not particularly
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supportive um I also noted uh this
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winter when I was running them some on
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wet kind of little bit of slush that
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this kind of grip here does not really
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have as much grip and you can see the
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coverage is quite minimal um but on wet
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wet just plain wet roads it was fine uh
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if you're really interested in the
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Solomon and it's bouncy super fun ride
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you might also look at the gravel
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version there's a small weight penalty
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of well there's 9.2 oz in the 8.5 so
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little bit lighter than the Atomo and
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the gravel version has a more reinforced
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upper you can see still not the most
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supportive and uh but still quite for a
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road shoe really good for a trail shoe
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so so and more extensive rubber coverage
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not super deep so this one runs really
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nicely on the road and this rubber helps
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stabilize it some and its grip is more
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extensive so I ran these on the snow or
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ran these on the road this is really uh
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a little bit less pace flexible it's
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going to favor uh moving along and
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getting off the heel uh even though we
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have the active chassis your foot sits
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down you can see the foam rising and a
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lot of the Solomons in the in the rear
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that helps stabilize some but this is a
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super fun shoe maybe not quite as
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practical uh either of the Aeroglides
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especially the road as the um the other
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two um sort of in the category of say
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the Nova Blast 5 from um from uh AS6 as
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sort of a a a good comparative uh over
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here good comparative uh the Vomero from
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Nike Vomero 18 this is a much much
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smoother running shoe with a much more I
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find if a softer kind of energetic mid
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uh midsole whereas over here with our uh
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Nord light you could easily compare this
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even though it's heavier to something
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like the Rebel uh V4 or the AS6 NUSA try
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i'm I'm surprised by this one um it
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don't because of the 4034 there's plenty
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plenty of stack height for daily
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training so if you like kind of maybe I
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won't call it an old school ride um uh
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because it is an EVA it definitely has
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more energy return but sort of firmer
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more taut kind of ride you go here if
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you want super plush uh not much weight
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penalty even though a little bit from
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the upper you want super comfort you go
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with the Diodora and if you want kind of
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the fun and bouncy and you're efficient
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well aligned you go with a Solomon we
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have uh we'll have uh a re a written
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review of the Nord Light soon uh we have
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uh written reviews of the Atomos Star
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and the Aeroglide over at Roadt Trail
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Run thank you very much for running and
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for watching have a great uh weekend and
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we'll see you on the roads