Changes

The Hoka Tracer builds on is the success of lightest shoe in the wonderful [[Hoka Clifton]]range. The Clifton is one of the best selling shoes, and I feel the Tracer is remarkably close in its function and design. Both shoes have stunning cushioning for their weight, with the Tracer coming It weighs in about an ounce at nearly 2 ounces lighter than the outstanding [[Hoka Clifton]], but with slightly it's also rather less cushioningcushioned. Using the [[RMAT]] foam as the outsole material works rather well, and I think the Tracer shows Hoka's growing maturity with this advanced material. Their initial attempts to make a shoe using [[RMAT]] for the midsole produced is a heavy and hard good shoe that seemed remarkably pointless to me. However, they found that [[RMAT]] has great grip on a wide variety of surfaces, and makes an outstanding outsole as while it combines this grip with better cushioning than a traditional rubber and better wear characteristics than an exposed midsole. They've used [[RMAT]] to great effect on s not one of the greats like the [[Hoka Mafate]] and my favorite hiking bootsClifton, or the [[Hoka Tor UltraAsics Gel Hyper Speed]], I recommend it as a worthy contender. When you run The softer cushioning in the Tracer it feels a lot like heel combined with slightly firmer cushioning in the Clifton (both forefoot may well appeal to runners looking for this combination without the first and second versions), though I found the upper to be slightly less comfortableissues of a high-heeled shoe. My The main quibble issue with the Tracer is in that it has the same shape as the rest of the toe boxHoka range, which is not anatomically correct by any means. It appears rather narrower than other Hokas, but this is a problem with virtually every running shoe on the marketan optical illusion. I have some minor concerns with 've rated the way the midsole extends out from the outside edge of the forefoot, Tracer as noted below under "structureRecommended", and I think it has the potential for future versions to be quite outstanding. The Tracer is rather pricy In the meantime, so if I'd recommend that you're after something with similar cushioning, for less money and with less weight then check try out to the incredible [[Asics Gel Hyper SpeedNew Balance RC5000v2]]. Overall first, which provides more cushioning but is only just over half the Tracer is an outstanding shoe, and I've rated it as "The Best weight of the BestTracer." {{H:WhatToLookForInShoes}}

* {{H:cushioning}}. The Tracer does not have the massive cushioning that has made Hoka famous and justifiably popular. The midsole foam is a more conventional thickness of 21/24mm fore/rear, which is closer to the [[Asics Gel Hyper Speed]]'s 22/26mm than the [[Hoka Clifton]]'s 31/36mm or the [[Hoka Bondi]]'s massive 41/45mm. The midsole foam is also rather firmer than a traditional Hoka shoe, which results in a reasonable but uninspiring level of cushioning. However, the Tracer is also fairly light at only 7.4oz (in my size 10), so it's cushioning-to-weight ratio is again reasonable but uninspiring. It's surprisingly close to the [[Saucony Kinvara| Saucony Kinvara 7]] both in terms of weight and cushioning. The Tracer has two different densities of foam; the white foam in the picture above is a little softer than the red foam by about 20%. The idea is to give a softer shoe in the heel, but a firmer more responsive cushioning in the forefoot. This often happens in a running shoe due to the drop, which means the cushioning is thicker in the heel the forefoot. If you want a shoe that is cushioned in the heel and firmer in the forefoot, but want to avoid running in high heels, then this is a nice option. . My quantitive analysis of the cushioning suggests that it's less than 10% difference, and in practice was rarely aware of it. It's only when swapping to a different shoe mid-run, or wearing a different shoe on each foot, that the difference becomes clear. Even then, it's not a huge difference, though I could tell a slight difference compared with the [[Saucony Kinvara| Saucony Kinvara 7]].<br/>[[File:KinvaraTracer.jpg|rightnone|thumb|500px300px| His me testing the Tracer on one foot with the [[Saucony Kinvara| Saucony Kinvara 7]] on the other. I would recommend doing this very often, and it's a recipe for injury. (That's a [[MilestonePod]] you can see on the Kinvara.)]]