In Maori, the language spoken by natives in New Zealand, the meaning of Hoka One One is "now is the time to simply fly". Hoka One One has an interesting pronunciation too with the natives pronouncing it as "Hoka O-nay O-nay". The main difference between normal shoes and Hoka One One according to people who have done Hoka One One review is that their midsoles are comparatively both softer and thicker. They are broader or wider too, which ensures that the shoes don’t become unstable at any point. One can be deceived though about thickness of the midsole at first look as the midsole foam actually goes up on both sides of the shoe considerably too.
When it comes to lightness, the Hoka One One Conquest wins against Hoka Bondi. However, the cushioning provided by the Conquest is not the same. The trade-off, as described by Hoka, is that the RMAT foam type used in Conquest can last longer. While people who have used the shoe agree that the Conquest can last longer, they complain that the softness and cushioning that these shoes are famous for is missing in the Hoka One One Conquest.
Let’s take a look at a few Hoka One One Conquest reviews so that you can make your mind about the shoe on your own.
Hoka One One Conquest Review
Review from Fox Mulder
I have suffered from pain in the shin, lower leg and knee due to running for a long time. There came a point at one stage where I was about to give up running altogether. I had tried a number of different shoes with different foams like Brooks Adrenaline and Asics Kayana but none brought me any relief. I found some deal of comfort when I purchased the New Balance 1080 but I knew that I was still not totally comfortable. This is when I simply gave the runnersworld website a try and did a search for a shoe that provided soft cushioning for the heel and the forefoot. When I read the Hoka One One reviews, I got the impression that they remain the best for soft cushioning.
So, I bought them and gave them a try and I was very surprised by the literal "spring in my step". The foam acts like a small spring and I was able to run around 5 kilometers (trail) without any shin or knee pain. The time I did was my best ever too. The spongy feeling that you get while walking and running in the shoes is extremely comforting and I honestly find it difficult to take them off. When you run on trail, you actually feel small branches which lie on the track with normal shoes. With these ones, I got the sense that I had stepped on something but the foam absorbed all the pressure from such an impact. In all honesty, I rue the fact that I didn’t find these shoes a few years back as I wouldn’t have had to suffer so much pain if I had them.
Review from Boo
I am a 220lb male and stand tall at 6'4''. I keep a collection of running shoes and use them in rotation. I have eight of the best cushion shoes available in the market manufactured by the best brands you can think of. Any shoe that’s not part of my rotation is because their quality was so poor that I had to return it back to the manufacturer. When I saw that Hoka claimed that their cushion shoes provided 50% extra cushion, I thought of buying them in order to test the claim. They looked great in pictures but when I see them for real, my initial thought was that the claim was way off the mark. However, I will get to cushioning later; let me start with my first impression of the shoes when I first wore them.
When I wore the shoes, I realized right away that the shoe string was very light and could get broken with ease. The shoe string is actually configured to some kind of latching device and while this idea is refreshing, it stops from tying the shoes as tightly as a person might need to. So, I had to cut that clinching device and the string actually had to be cut off too for that purpose. It was great though that there were extra string sets in the box.
After doing all that extra work and still not feeling satisfied with the lacing, I put them on and stood upright. While I was skeptical at first look, my first thoughts after wearing the shoes were that they had a more spongy feeling than any other shoe that I have worn. I had a small issue with the size though as Hoka bills them as "true-to-size". I had ordered them in my exact size and I knew that they were slightly smaller…I could still use them properly but it was irritating tight. I had wanted to order one of greater size but while Hoka states that that size is available, zipsports4 (the place from where I bought them) didn’t have that size.
Let’s now finally move on to the thing that matters the most which is whether the shoes actually provide the cushion they claim. I was pretty surprised to find out that the more I ran in these shoes, the more evident the cushioning became. The reason I was surprised was that this never happened with any other shoe. I have already made them a part of my rotation, though I must state that the cushioning they provide is still not enough for me. I actually want manufacturers to make shoes which give you the feeling of running on a surface like cloud. It doesn’t matter if the shoe would have to weigh a lot in order to give that feeling.
Review from D. Stewart
I have been running with Brooks shoes for some time now and while I felt considerable knee and shin pain, I was of the opinion that Brooks was still my best option. However, Hoka simply outclasses Brooks. I couldn’t focus much on training etc. while running because of the pain, but now I can concentrate on times. I have tried these shoes on different courses where there is dirt, gravel and a lot of other obstacles but I haven’t felt an ounce of pain. I accept that I do still use compression wraps but these shoes have cut down the pain by more than 90% for sure. Hoka one one review from me is 100% satisfactory.
Review from Bryan S.
It was my friend who actually introduced me to these shoes. I had tried around four types of running shoes but suffered from calf crams and heel pain with all four. And just when I was about to give up my dream of running a marathon, I decided to take a punt on these. The best thing about them is that they are not only soft and provide great support but are very light too. I run a 10k course which requires going up and down a hill. With my 200lb body, going downhill was the most difficult, as it put a lot of pressure on my heels. However, when I ran in these shoes, my heels felt absolutely nothing. I was actually able to beat my previous record by three minutes with these shoes. Anyone who is reading this Hoka One One Conquest review, you should not hesitate in buying these shoes. I have been running courses for about 40 years now and I have never found a shoe that comes even close.
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