tldr; Budget carbon alternative. PEBAX foam + carbon plate, 4mm drop, 195g. Indie brand super shoe.
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Best praise vs top criticism for Atreyu Race Model
“**Brooks Glycerin 20** 203.5 mi: slow trainer **New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer** 44.1 mi: old race shoe **Nike Alphafly 2** 38.3 mi: race shoe **ASICS NovaBlast 3** 35.7 mi: faster trainer Recently added to my rotation the NovaBlast 3 in this colorway which is allegedly White/Black according to ASICS (what about the red??) I got these shoes for only around $40. Last year's model discounts + sign up for Dick's Sporting Goods text messages discount + a $50 gift card I got from winning a 5k last year. After seeing the rave reviews and the myriad YouTube videos calling it 'shoe of the year' of ‘22 I was excited to pick this shoe up especially at the price. I saw some less than stellar reviews for the Novablast 4 so going for the older one made sense. The difference between this shoe and my other daily trainer the Glycerin 20 is noticeable. A ton of bounce and roll to the Novablast that was completely absent in the Brooks. So much that I don’t enjoy the Novablast as a walking shoe. The Novablast feels like a tightly wound spring, wanting to uncoil. It wants you to run in it, not walk or stand. I like the Glycerin as a comfort/standing shoe. Wearing the Novablasts for a day at work felt uncomfortable. So far I’m loving these new shoes and would recommend buying these on clearance if you can pick them up!”
“RunRepeat consistently tests ON shoes as the ones with the worst energy returns on the market. Even the Cloudmonster Hyper, which costs almost as much as a race shoe, has the energy return of a daily trainer. Ironically, they start becoming respectable shoes when they take away the "clouds" as we see in the Cloudboom Strike/echo. Also I have never seen a single person run with On trail shoes in my life lol”
1,044 Reddit opinions analyzed • Last updated 2/24/2026