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ASICS Novablast 4 Review with A/B Comparison Run to Novablast 3
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May 23, 2024
We review the ASICS Novablast 4: 00:00 Details, Pros & Cons, Conclusions, 09:43 from the Run Impressions Novablast 4 and 11:08 Novablast 4 to Novablast 3 fs. Still $145 with a new partially bio based foam, new geometry front and back (same stack height) and woven material upper. The Novablast 4 releases in limited quantities at ASICS NYC Marathon booth and more generally December 1, 2023. Multi Tester Written Review with 8 Comparisons: https://www.roadtrailrun.com/2023/10/asics-novablast-4-mulit-tester-review-8.html Samples were provided at no charge for testing purposes. The opinions herein are entirely the author's 100's of Run Shoes and Gear Multi Tester written reviews at www.roadtrailrun.com SHOP Running Warehouse at the links below for the widest selection of run shoes and gear anywhere and help support our channel! USA https://tinyurl.com/RWRTRUS EUROPE https://tinyurl.com/RWRTREU EU Only: Use RTR code RTR5ALL for 5% off all products, even sale products AUSTRALIA: https://www.runningwarehouse.com.au/?from=rtr EUROPE SHOP Top4Running https://tinyurl.com/bh9t3hpm Use Code RTRTOP4 for 5% off
View Video Transcript
0:00
Today we're taking a look at the Nova Blast 4. I'm going to change it up a
0:04
bit. I'm going to review the shoe in its entirety and then I'm going to take you
0:10
out on a run with the Nova Blast 3 and compare it closely as well as
0:18
my impressions from the run in the 4. Hello everybody, Sam from Road Trail Run
0:22
Today we're going to talk about the Nova Blast 4. $140 releasing
0:28
December 1st, 2023. So the Nova Blast 1, 2, and 3 all were kind of special shoes
0:36
A bit of a surprise for Asics that they did so well but here at Road Trail Run
0:41
we thought that their lightweight kind of arrow-like ride would be very popular
0:47
with runners and they were. So here we are at version 4 which sees some
0:54
pretty significant changes. We think all for the positive. So first we'll focus
1:01
underfoot here a little bit. We get a wider heel by 5 millimeters and we get a
1:08
wider forefoot by 5 millimeters. And to go with this wider platform we have a
1:16
new geometry with an outrigger kind of shape, a less stiff heel counter, and
1:23
we're going to compare closely to the number 3 on the run later in the video
1:28
And we get a new foam. We get a new flavor of Flight Foam Blast Plus called
1:35
Eco and it has 20% bio-based material. And I'm finding it a bit softer, a bit more
1:43
energetic than regular Flight Foam Blast Plus. We also, while we're on
1:49
sustainability because that's important and important to Asics, we have 75% of
1:55
the content of the upper recycled materials. And for the first time at Asics
2:00
and I'm not sure others have done this yet, we have the carbon footprint of the
2:06
entire shoe called out and marked on the sock liner. So in terms of the upper here
2:14
instead of an engineered mesh as we had here, we have a woven material and I like
2:22
woven uppers. They tend to have a bit of stretch but not so much that they're
2:28
sloppy like a knit. We also have a pretty significant change to the tongue, a
2:35
little hard to see. We'll bring the other one up next to it with a kind of
2:41
neoprene-y material with little pads, ventilation holes down lower, a little harder to see but we have ventilation holes. Whereas here we had just a very
2:50
thin perforated tongue. As we put them up on the deck here on the railing and
2:56
you'll see from my run comparison, we have a slightly wider roomier toe box. We
3:02
also see, and let me get the right shoe here lined up, we also get a different
3:14
implementation of the Achilles collar. You can see it's higher, the heel
3:19
counter is not as stiff, it's a more comfortable hold. In terms of your fit
3:26
true to size, I think wides will be available and somewhat roomier I think
3:32
than version 3. But there's more. Let's talk a bit more about weight and
3:38
geometry here. So in terms of weight, because we have that wider platform
3:43
we're about 17 grams heavier at 9.1 ounces, 258 grams in a US 9. It's
3:52
still very light for what is a really big stack height unchanged, 41.5 at
3:58
the heel, 33.5 at the front. So this is in max cushion territory at 9
4:07
ounces and only $140. So what Asics also calls out is the toe spring, which is
4:16
this angle to which the shoe is kind of brought up, which with that big 33.5
4:23
millimeter forefoot, you need something to get you forward. When I think of say
4:28
the Nimbus 25, I find its toe off more awkward. Even the the Fantastic Super
4:33
Blast, higher stacked, lighter, and $60 more. It's hard when you have this
4:40
kind of stack height to get a nice roll. Now if we look at the flex, and this is
4:45
after about four shorter runs, we do start to get some flex. It's
4:52
further back. And what I found was because we're five millimeters broader
4:58
at the front here at 115, we're not quite as kind of agile feeling as in our
5:07
number three up on the front. And I'll show you the flex there. You can see it
5:12
has more flex further forward. So but that that's a bit of a minus, but the big
5:19
plus is, and you'll see in the in the AB video, we have I think softer, more
5:26
forgiving forefoot cushion. Maybe a bit, maybe not what you would call soft soft
5:33
but this new foam is very energetic. It's not a super critical foam, and we're at
5:40
$140. So we really get kind of a super critical ride on a budget here. A few
5:49
other notes. Let's look a bit at the outsole as well. It is, as you can see
5:54
more pattern. Maybe might expect a bit more grip. I haven't, it's wet out today
6:01
I haven't been out, but it's been warm and and dry. But you can see the the
6:07
deeper decoupling grooves at the front, more patterning of the outsole, and Asics
6:13
calls this A-H-A-R or Asics high abrasion rubber low, L-O. For low weight, you can
6:21
see it is thicker than the firmer rubber that was on the number, the number three
6:31
What I really noticed, and the rubber may play a role, is side by side, this is
6:38
definitely more cushioned in the forefoot, more forgiving, and as often people say, the threes, twos have been kind of slappy. So what what do I see the
6:51
shoe for? Some of the pros and cons here. Well, we have an excellent X in weight to
6:57
max cushion stack height of near super foam, no question. The more pronounced toe
7:02
spring gets me forward. I'd like to see it even a bit more flexible when the
7:07
flex points start further forward. The the foam is more energetic and softer, to
7:16
me anyway, than the original Flight Foam Blast Plus. More important, more
7:22
important, as important now, whereas our versions one through three, although they
7:28
increasingly got more stable, now we have a more stable platform. This is a neutral
7:32
shoe. Asics has plenty of other stable neutral shoes, the Nimbus 25, the Cumulus
7:39
25, almost to a fault they're stable. So it's more stable. We sit well down in. We
7:45
have the wider platform, so it becomes a much more of an option in their lineup
7:50
as a daily trainer, as opposed to maybe a more up-tempo daily trainer as the
7:58
earlier versions were. So I think more runners should try this as their daily
8:03
trainer, especially if you're an Asics fan and you find the Cumulus and the
8:10
Cumulus and the latest Nimbus a bit too much, because those are considerably
8:14
broader at the heel, very kind of blocky, especially the Nimbus. So this is a much
8:19
more agile shoe. The other big pro for me is the sustainability here. The CO2
8:27
footprint and the recycled content and the midsole being 20% bio-based. In terms
8:35
of cons, I think the 5 millimeter additional width could be trimmed down
8:41
In fact, the Cumulus, which has a wider, much wider heel and midfoot has a
8:45
narrower platform forefoot, I think that would give it a bit more agility. It's a
8:51
little broad feeling up front. And of course I mentioned a bit more
8:56
flexibility further forward to go with this really cool toe spring. Let me show
9:01
you that toe spring compared to the number three here. You can see it, much
9:08
more pronounced, steeper angle. And then, so those are the pros and cons
9:16
Now, I've taken them out for several runs, including an A-B run here in New
9:21
Hampshire. So I'm going to share that with you now with some scenery and a
9:27
bit of history. Stay tuned. I'll even give you a short history of a battle of our
9:33
War of 1812 where, and pardon to our English-British friends, where the
9:38
British were repulsed as they were trying to get supplies at the harbor
9:43
So I got them on our brand new rail trail here. Goes for about 10-12 miles, basically from
9:50
Maine to Massachusetts. All brand new, just built. So, our Noble Glass 4 on this surface, perfectly fine
10:01
Noble Glass 1 was kind of unstable. Here we're plenty stable enough. It's not, you know, a
10:08
trail shoe. I wouldn't call the grip kind of wet trail worthy, but there's a lot of
10:16
nice bounce and energy on this surface. Even more, maybe, than the road
10:25
Gonna keep going. So I'm going around 9-10 mile here, home stretch. I'm getting, the
10:37
rocker is really good, getting a little warm in the front of the toes. I think
10:42
maybe relatively soft foam and a rigid platform. May take a bit more breaking in
10:50
Uphills, downhills, very steady, very smooth. Definitely more refined than E3, which I'll describe for you
11:00
Get some nice leaves, not too many, coming to the end of the leaf season
11:07
So I said the 4 is not quite as aero-like as the 3. However, it's new, more pronounced
11:15
toe spring and rocker, give it a considerably smoother toe off and a softer one
11:23
The heel feels a teeny bit softer, but the forefoot definitely feels more forgiving without
11:30
it being bushy in any way. So there's a lot of kind of return from this new
11:38
Flight Foam Blast plus Eco Foam. Much more return than in the 3. Although
11:46
they are still kind of wider in platform in the front. So I'm going to keep going here
11:53
I'm usually warm day here in Rye. Beach was packed. So in terms of the comparative fit, you can see clearly the
12:05
number 4 is a little wider, broader involving foot than number 3. And the tip is a little more
12:13
rounded, but they're both true to size. I think very narrow feet may still be happy with the 3
12:22
Wider feet with the 4, there is some kind of hold, stretch, give
12:28
The other thing I note is the higher collar of our 4 is both more comfortable and more secure
12:36
without as much of a rigid heel counter as the 3 had. And we've got our big outrigger
12:42
that helps with stability. I am noticing, and I'll talk a bit more, that the 4 is a little
12:48
less arrow-like. I always called the 3 and earlier ones arrow-like, but we now have that
12:53
wider platform. So the heel feels about the same, but the forefoot feels a little bit more
13:02
awkward. Not much, because it's still a fast shoe. Thank you very much for watching. Please
13:07
check out our full multi-tester review over at www.roadtrailrun.com. And also, please consider
13:12
picking up one of our matching colors custom Fractal Road Trail Run buckets or caps
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