Today the review of the Hoka Bondi 7. I want to dig slightly and briefly tell my story of interaction with this brand. About six years ago, I fell in love with the Clifton 3, and it was my most comfortable running shoe at the time. Then I got the next generation Clifton 4, and I still adored them. We all know that the main problem of the Hokas is the quality of the upper mesh. Running shoes now are supposed to last about 1000 kilometers and maybe more, but usually, upper Hokas last less than 500 kilometers. When my favorite Clifton 4s were done, I bought a second pair of the same model. From that moment, everything went wrong.
I couldn’t run in the second pair even though it was the same model. The fit was completely different from the first one. And most importantly, I started to have a very weird pain in one foot during my runs. So, I stopped running in them. A while after this experience, I bought Clifton 6, and the pain was back. By the way each time when I changed the shoes, the pain was gone immodestly. In the end, I gave up on running in Hoka. Now I have a limited Clifton 4 and use it for hiking, but I can’t walk for a long time as the pain in my foot is coming back. It starts small at the beginning like you know my foot just tired from walk, but from some time it becomes unbearable pain and continues until I take off my shoes. At the same time, this is not injury type of pain but more like an incorrect load on foot muscles. I can also say that perhaps the pain is because more unusual muscles work. But then, on the other side, the first time it happened I had been running to Hoka for a long time without pain, so my feet were already used to run in Hokas. Someone tells me that this can be from pouring foam in the sole. Since Hoka’s sole is a full EVA foam, it is possible that the balance/weight/mass of the foam is not distributed correctly during the manufacture, and voids remain.
Why did I decide to test Hoka Bondi 7? I recently got injured, and these shoes are considered the softest shoes on the market, so I decided to give these shoes a try.
I bought this model in REI and took my usual size in Hoka and other shoes, 7.5 US. After a week of running, I realized that they were gigantic, not just a little bigger than running shoes are supposed to be, but huge, and I couldn’t run correctly. Not only the size was completely incorrect, but I also got the first blister in many years. I returned them and ordered same Bondi 7 in size 7 US, but I decided to try the wide ones, as I already got a blister on the side of my big toe.
As a result, in size 7 US wide, I also could not run. They were very bulky and huge as well. Then I changed them to the same size, but not wide. And what do you think? They turned out to be narrow and I got my blister again, while their fit is also weird. They do not fit properly, I couldn’t feel in them when I landed on the ground. It seems like my running technique changes in them compared with the Nike Pegasus. In them, instability appears, as if there is no feeling where you put your foot when landing. Plus, they seem very wide from out, but at the same time, they are very narrow inside. I could compare it to how it feels when after a regular car, you try to drive a truck, but at the same time, there is less space inside it than in a regular car, and you cannot understand its dimensions and how to drive it. It rarely happens that I can’t run in one or other shoes or that the shoes are so uncomfortable in a fit that I want to take them off immediately, but this is exactly the feeling that Bondi 7 had.
I’ve been writing about running shoes for over ten years, and this is the first time I’ve had such a weird experience with running shoes such as I’ve tried the same model in 3 different sizes, and none of them fit me. That it’s simply impossible to run in them, I would also like to add that yes, the model is quite massive, but I would not say that they are soft and plush; rather, on the contrary, they are quite hard and uncontrollable. I felt that the foot runs and works separately inside the shoes, and the shoes run separately.
Let’s also look at the technical specifications.
Feels like I should to say something nice, so the model is light and the upper mesh is very breathable; they are not hot at all.
The Bondi 7 has:
Hoka’s meta-rocker technology;
A heel stack height of 37mm and a forefoot stack height of 33mm, 4 mm Heel-Toe Offset;
Weight Men’s: 10.5 oz (size 9) | Women’s: 9.7 oz (size 8);
Full-length EVA foam.
Version 7 has been updated with a new upper, the biggest addition being a comfortable memory foam collar.
In conclusion, I can say that many people are noticing that Bondi 7 is missing the signature Hoka “running on clouds” experience. At the same time I noticed that people love this model for running and maybe even more for walking. Unfortunately, I had to return all three pairs, thanks to the stores for these opportunities, but I could not run in them. Now my injury is almost gone and all this time I have been running in the Pegasus 38. Perhaps I need more body mass for this model to experience all its advantages.
To be honest, I would like to run in Hoka, but since my Clifton 4 fell apart in 2017, I have not found a single pair that suits me.
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