tldr; Carbon-plated trail racing shoe. Stiff forefoot, aggressive rocker. Built for speed on technical terrain. Not for rocky ultras.
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Best praise vs top criticism for Hoka Tecton X
βIt's the new tecton x. I've held a prototype of this shoe in hand. The midsole was completly made from peba. I'm exited when it comes out.β
βExcellent detailed review. I got the orange colorway and have over 100 miles on it now and then added a second pair in the frost/cerise colorway since I'm a sucker for white. This colorway with the blue accents looks really nice too. I kind of drifted away from Hoka after using the Clifton 8 and Mach 5 a few years ago (along with some of their trail shoes like Speedgoat 5, Tecton X, and the Mafate Speed 4). They tended to fit narrow in the forefoot and toe-box and weren't very durable. I still have the Clifton 8 that I use as a casual shoe and it's great for that. Then I started reading/seeing good things about the Cielo X1 and decided to give it a try and was blown away. It's probably the first shoe since the Prime X Strung v1 that made me say "Wow!" as I took my first steps and then started laughing out loud as I kept running. The rocker took me a little while to get used to and I found I had to adjust my foot strikes a bit to get the most out of it in terms of propulsion and gait cycle. I'm light (5-7 or 167cm, 125lbs or 57kg) and also a light stepper and my biomechanics just seem to work really well with this shoe. I mainly use it for faster-paced long runs like I have with the PXS v1/v2. It's more stable than both PXS versions and better at slower paces. I can use the Cielo X1 for easy paces (for me, around 9:00/mile or 5:37/km) and it feels fine although it's really best at 8:00/mile (4:58/km) to my 5K pace of around 6:45/mile (4:12/km). It makes me want to go fast but it's been great for 15+ mile cruising long runs at around 8:30/mile (5:15/km) pace. I'm 59yo and have been running for nearly 3 years now, so still learning and developing but I'm mainly a recreational runner who can afford and enjoy all these fine running shoes. I consider myself a running shoe connoisseur. Haha. Still, much more affordable and healthier than my previous vices of collecting high-end electric guitars and audiophile headphones! Anyway, the Cielo X1 is a true beaut (and beast!) of a running shoe and one of my few faves of this year.β
74 Reddit opinions analyzed β’ Last updated 4/5/2026