Reviewers back Slowcush and Atmosfar, argue with prices

Three reviews landed this week and two of them end the same way. The shoe is good, the price is the problem.

ASICS Slowcush, $200

kofuzi calls the Slowcush a max cushion recovery shoe with a 48mm heel stack height (how much foam is under the foot), 40mm in the forefoot, and new FF Lux Plus foam with Pure Gel Plus in the heel. It weighs 10.2 oz in a US men's 9, and he says the weight and the sinky feel keep it to recovery runs under an hour. He liked the ride, calling it comfortable, soft and really enjoyable with a pleasant sink in sensation. He still would not put it at $200.

"180 is exactly kind of where I think that this should be," he says, noting a $190 price would also be fair. For context he lines it up against the Super Blast 3 at $210, the Nimbus 28 at $170, the Saucony Paramount Max at $200 and the Nike Vomero Premium at $230 and up.

Craft Atmosfar, $190

Believe in the Run graded the Craft Atmosfar an A for design, an A for value and an A for performance, which is about as clean a sweep as that site hands out. It is 8.4 oz with a 51mm heel and 46mm forefoot, a 5mm drop, and Craft's new Px Foam midsole. The review notes it was designed in partnership with Tommy Rivs, who ran both the Boston and New York City Marathons last year in a prototype. The knocks are minor, mostly quirks with the upper.

Suunto Race 3S, $599 US

The Run Testers reviewed the Suunto Race 3S, a 46mm, 56g watch with a titanium bezel, sapphire crystal, 64GB of storage for offline maps and music, 100 sport modes and 38 hours of dual band GPS battery. They rate GPS and heart rate accuracy on par with the Coros Pace 4 Pro, the Garmin 4970 and the Fenix 9 Pro. They also flag bugs and lag in the interface, a map transfer they call convoluted, and no contactless payments or SOS messaging. Their verdict is that price is the biggest sticking point and they would buy the Suunto Run 2 or the Coros Pace 4 Pro instead, since the Coros gives you a bigger screen, longer battery and a lower price. They also note the AI coaching and race planner tools were not available during testing.