Sonicblast 2 called near-super-shoe, Xiaonian falls flat at $130

One r/RunningShoeGeeks poster took the Asics Sonicblast 2 through a seven mile tempo progression from marathon pace to half marathon pace and came away sold. They credit the extra FF Turbo 2 foam in the forefoot and call it the best version yet of Asics' trampoline pod, with 46mm of cushion that still feels light. Their verdict is that the shoe could handle a marathon for anyone who wants more stability and protection than a standard carbon racer.

The Xiaonian does not live up to the hype

Another poster bought the Dynafish Xiaonian, sold in the US as the Dynafish Dyna Super, for $130 through the official US webstore, and came away confused. Shoe YouTubers have praised it for months as stable across the pace range. This tester found the opposite at both ends. At recovery pace it felt wobbly and squishy with no pop, and near threshold the midsole went softer rather than firming up, leaving their shins sore after the first threshold run. The sweet spot was moderate pace, where the squish turned into a squish and pop and the shoe seemed to disappear on foot. They also called the stock laces garbage and swapped them immediately.

Mizuno's tall one scores 7.3

A third poster put 100 miles on the Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 3, whose midsole rises to over 60mm in the back half of the midfoot, and scored it 7.3 out of 10. The geometry changed their footstrike, pushing them off the forefoot and toward the back middle of the shoe, and they say long runs ended with their legs feeling better than at the start. The catch is a scratchy heel cup that cut them up, though they note they have unusually narrow heels. It was on sale for about $115 at the time of writing, with no visible wear after 100 miles.

Teva's trail debut gets a C

Believe in the Run reviewed the Teva Trailpeak, 8.3 oz with a 30.5mm heel and 24.5mm forefoot at $160, and gave it a C for performance with B grades for design and value. The praise is for weight and ground feel. The knock is protection. There is no traditional insole, putting the foot straight onto the supercritical ATPU midsole, and tester Alex says what starts out feeling light and connected ends up feeling exposed.

Each of these is one tester, not a consensus. The pattern worth noticing is that super trainers keep closing the gap on race shoes for pop, and the arguments now happen at the very slow and very fast ends of the range rather than in the middle.