Which manufacturer has the best rated running shoes?
Daniel asks:
Which of the running shoes manufacturers has the best rated running shoes? All the big running shoe companies have million dollar marketing budgets, and they pay really powerful ad agencies to come up with these fantastic claims, so I wonder is their website really the right place to go and learn about their product, because obviously they are going to do everything in their power to say how great their shoes are.
Rich answers:
Absolutely. And my fallback answer to that is, and we hear it all the time at work. Which running shoe is better, how do you know?
Some years ago consumer reports did a study on all the cushioning technologies, the Airs, the gels, the HydroFlows, the Adiprenes, all that stuff. And the conclusion was they all work pretty much as advertised. They all do a nice job. Use the one that feels the best for you.
We will have people come in, that Asics gel, that is the greatest cushioning ever, but the next person will come in and stay the Asics gel didn’t work very well, but I really like what Brooks does. Or some people say Air is the greatest thing and the next person will say they don’t like Air, it doesn’t feel very good.
It’s less about the best rated running shoe and more about the best running shoe for you, and that all boils down to you have to get in, try them on, put a different shoe on each foot when you are buying shoes. Take them for a run down the sidewalk. You’ll really be able to tell right away which one works better for you, which one you like, which one is smoother, bouncier, whatever your criteria are.
So I fall back on the consumer reports, they are a pretty legitimate enterprise that you can rely on, and again, I have not looked at it in many years to see what they have done. This was some years ago that I saw this study they did. I think you can rely on whatever they would say.
Remember that the best rated running shoes have as much to do with your feet as they do with the materials they’re made of.