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hello this Mike P from Road trail run
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and today I'll be trying on the Brooks
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Catamount 4 for the first time and
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giving you my first impressions as you
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can see I've got version two and version
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three right beside me here I'll also put
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on version 3 while I try on version 4 so
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I can give you a side by side fit and
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feel comparison version 2 to version 3
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they simply updated the upper they
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dropped a few grams in weight I actually
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raised version 2 in a fast 50k in Winter
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conditions actually I'm registered for
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the same race coming in next month so
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we'll see if I choose the Catamount 4
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for that race I also ran a 24-hour event
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where I covered 120 m in this shoe right
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here version three I haven't been able
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to race in 2024 was just a huge year for
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Super Shoes and I really liked version 3
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when it came out it feels great I've
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been running in it for for training kind
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of longdistance Miles easy runs but I
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just haven't found the occasion to race
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in it as opposed to some of the really
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great super shoes that came out last
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season maybe that will change in V4 so
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let's go ahead and try this one on and
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see how it feels let's first put on
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version three here for
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comparison I've got all three version 2
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through four in a size us10 for the fit
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I love the Catamount roomy toe I could
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probably get away with a US 9.5 in these
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with thin socks but like I said I ran
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version two in a 24hour event I ran them
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in a fast 50k I've got a full thumbs
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width in version three and version two
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and I feel like with the comfortable toe
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box that really works for me I've been
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burned in the past with some Brook shoes
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where I try to go with a 9 and 1/2
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and then I get some rubbing especially
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on the big toe side and a little bit of
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tightness over here so going with the 10
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has been no problem for me at all in
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Brooks now version four I weigh these
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this comes in at 9.9 Oz 282 G so it
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gains a little bit of weight these are
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9.5 268 G so version 4 gains a t of
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weight but it also gains a little bit of
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Stack so these are specked at
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3428 maintaining the 6 mm drop these I
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had measured at 3125 they weren't too
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clear with Brooks specs you do get a 2
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to 3 mm stack increase in version 4 a
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little bit of extra weight but I think
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that stack increase will be welcomed in
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order to compete with some of the super
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shoes that are out on the market right
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now so let's see okay I definitely
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that 2 to 3 mm it even feels like it
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could possibly be more you're anywhere
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in the range of I would say three of
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course I've been running in these so
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they these may be a little broken in but
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the higher stack is noticeable
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especially under the 4 foot so these
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feel really good okay one thing to talk
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about here is they did change the plate
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and they did change the midsole so in
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version 4 they've got DNA flash version
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version two in versions 2 and three you
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have DNA flash I guess that's you would
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say version one also they changed the
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plate something that they talked about
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the running event with us is they kind
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Down Under the for foot a little bit
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more here you kind of had a mesh Sky
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Vault plate a little bit more flexible
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something that I really liked about
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version two and version three when I
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raced version 2 in that 50k I thought it
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really climbed well it really flexed
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well so me take a look at this it's
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really this is a really flexible shoe
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and version two is pretty much the same
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I felt it gave a little bit of
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impulse and it was really flexible
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that's why I liked it as a very
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versatile shoe across the board now I
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have flexed version 4 in hand so I know
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how this is going to be it's definitely
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stiffer this shoe is definitely stiffer
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than version two and version 4 and
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that's something that they told us they
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wanted to make this shoe a little bit
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faster a little bit more competitive in
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terms of racing against other super
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shoes that are on the market so taking a
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look at this upper here they did make a
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few changes it's a single layer TP mesh
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here there's no underlays under here as
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you have in version two and version
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three I'll get into this in more detail
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when I do a full video review on this
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shoe this is a shoe I've love version
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two and version 3 so I'm definitely
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going to do a full video review on this
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one I'll get into all the details the
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tongue is very nice it's a
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neoprene single layer it's all
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interconnected gusseted of course um but
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the material seems to be uniform from
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the gusset through the tongue and well
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padded here again I'll dig into this in
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detail and the full review but I like
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the feel of this standing in both shoes
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side by side on foot the stack height
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was of course noticeable of course those
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are broken in of course these are fresh
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out of the box zero miles in them as of
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now I think that's going to make this a
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more competitive shoe I just didn't race
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the Catamount 3 last season I had I had
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them all of last year I just couldn't
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find the reason to choose them over some
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of the other really good Super Shoes on
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the market with that little bit of Stack
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height increase here and also the way
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that they oriented that plate more for
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Speed than the versatile Flex of this I
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think you're going to lose a little bit
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of Versatility that you had with version
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two and version three I think that's
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going to hit the mark if that's the
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intention for Brooks going forward
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Brooks maybe coming to the market with a
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very competitive Trail racer
