Type: Cushioned
Weight: 266g (M), 227g (W)
Heel-to-toe drop: 5mm
What everyone's reading
The shoe
Like a super-charged Mach 5, the ‘stick a carbon plate in it’ trend continues with the Hoka Mach X – and it’s one of the shoes that I’m quite thankful they did it to. Mach 5 fans, however, may not be so chuffed.
How does the Hoka Mach X fit?
The Mach X is a bigger shoe all round, with a 5mm heel-to-toe drop, 39mm stack in the heel and 34mm stack in the forefoot for men ,and 37mm in the heel and 32mm in the heel for women – so we’re talking maximal cushioning territory.
There are no real grand departures from the Hoka norm with the upper of this shoe; the cushioning at the heel is soft enough to feel snug, the heel counter and laces provide a secure fit, and the shoe fits true to size.
The big change comes in the midsole where there is a PEBA and EVA foam sandwich with a PEBAX plate as the filling. Combined with the reasonably pronounced early stage rocker (or transition from mid-foot to toe off), the shoe certainly wants to move you onto your toes and when you’re there, that PEBAX plate does a good job of helping you on your way.
What’s it like to run in the Hoka Mach X?
Out of the box, this shoe feels very comfy and capable. It's balanced on the move, the foam and plate combo seems to be tuned just right, and on a few of my runs I found a natural inclination to move that bit quicker, reassured by the comfort and ride feel.
The longer, easier efforts are when this shoe comes into its own, delivering that comfort as the miles ticks by – but it’s not quite the Swiss army knife that Hoka wants it to be.
Touted as a daily training shoe, it’ll really be down to what your daily running looks like as to whether this shoe meets that criteria. If you’re happy cruising about doing steady miles, the occasional progression run, long runs etc., this will be a great daily shoe for you as it does those bits really well.
However, if you wanted to put all your running eggs into this basket, I think you’d be left wanting when it comes to the faster stuff. It’s still a big shoe and the rocker profile aside, it’s not snappy or fast feeling. It’s also reasonably heavy and when trying to run flat-out in them, they switched from being comfortable and progressive, to feeling cumbersome and disconnected. This wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the plate and the price tag; both those thing put this shoe into a section of the market where a need for some high-end performance attributes are crucial, otherwise it’s just a cushioned daily shoe that’s a bit more expensive.
RW Verdict
If the lack of out-and-out performance doesn’t concern you, then the Hoka Mach X is a very comfortable, encouraging and capable running shoe that will easily guide you from parkrun to half-marathon and beyond – if you so wish. Just be careful with the sprint finish.
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