Hoka - Rocket X Trail

Thank you for the review! I bought these for Kodiak after my speedgoats needed to be replaced. I've seen mixed reviews but the rockets seem like they, at least, wont be a mitigating factor.

Look at the width of the base of the shoe. That thing is going to be perfectly stable for anyone that has an ounce of skill. Looks like a pretty damn good 50/100mile shoe for everything except hella muddy terrain.

It's not for technical trails at all, but pops at fast paces on packed dirt and gravel. Lugs are small so they can't handle mud that well. A solid shoe for a non technical half marathon or shorter race.

You also need to be on the lighter side. I'm 180 and bottomed out the plate at faster paces. I need a stiffer plate for this to work for me. Side note I test shoes for Hoka..so I had a fair amount of miles on them.

I also have the Rocket X Trail on my usual size and it is ok. I can see some people preferring to go up a half size, but for me they are TTS.

Can't speak to the width 'cause I have narrow feet and have to heel lock these, but wanted to chime in that the Rocket X trails rip, a road race shoe with lugs. 3 runs so far (5,10,10) at 9:15 to 8:08 averages. They feel ok at 7:30 on the road too. You can comfortably go fast in a straight line. The lace holes allow you to dial in tension, as opposed to the goofy loop things on lots of trail shoes. Faster than the Tecton X3 within its limitations. Purchased for road-to-gravel marathon training long runs with some singletrack lite, only dislike is that the tongue is too short. Thought the ultrafly was a harsh shoe with a really wide toebox but average sloppy midfoot width, didn't keep them, can't imagine a long blister-free run.

I got a sneak peak pair and they are incredibly fun to run in. Feel fast and responsive and very comfortable. My trails are not technical. I highly recommend and might buy a pair as well so I can rotate my pairs into the future. There are also cool aesthetic details on the shoes and the lugs.

My Agravic speed Ultra's (ASU) started to need replacement and I got tempted by the Rocket X trail. There seems to be general interest in the rocket X so decided on a little write up comparing both. My first thought when I put these on was: yeah these will be more comfortable for a larger audience than the ASU. They feel less preformed than the ASU, think flat surface reminding me of the tecton X and X2. Second thing I noticed is they feel firmer than the ASU's and tecton X3 with the latter being the softest. They laced and snugged up easliy with the thicker heel counter. The laces are the ribbed type albeit a bigger rib an lock in knots. ASU's definitely needed some getting used to / breaking in here. Took them out first for a very easy paved flat 10k group run 'cause I just wanted to run in them for a first. Not much I could tell here dynamics wise. The foam was giving hints of bounciness but the slow pace didn't didn't put enough energy into the shoe. What I did notice was a feel of more foam being underneath my toes compared to the ASU and the rocker/ drop felt less aggressive producing a midfoot feeling strike. They the slow pace nice for a plated shoe. Important note though after this first run, a wearmark had already produced on a few of the lugs. Going off of this it seems like the lugs will wear fast-ish. Maybe a bit too fast for lugs this shallow. Time will have to tell. Second run was 13mi race with 1300ft of climbing. Nothing technical only well groomed paths and hard packed country roads. Taking them up to race pace they came alive but you have to put energy into them for them to produce nice turnover. This is where the ASU's are in a class of they're simply faster. The rocket is more stable though. They inspired more confidence when descending. For now my conlusion is the ASU is still the weapon of choice looking for maximal performance. The rocket feels like a safer choice for longer distance. Will have to see if the exposed foam and lugs hold up.

Not gonna lie. Tried this shoe on and I absolutely love it. Will be buying this week

I’ve switched almost entirely to trail runners including on a lot,of rugged terrain. I did find that when I was using Hokas that I had an increased tendency to roll my ankle after about ten miles. I like the padding, but have found lower drop shoes to be better for this. Altras are good, but I destroy them in about 300 miles. Trying Topos right now. Not as padded, but low drop with a wide toe box and they seem to be holding up better.

Trail runner will be fine. I was talking to a guy recently that said the AT requires real boots. But even by his argument, trail runners will be fine. The thing with trail runners is when you are tired, it is easier to roll your ankle. I have only found this to be a concern when I was using Hoka. Altras and Topos have less to zero drop and they don’t have this occur for me. Though Altras kind of suck for durability (expect 300 miles unless they fixed things). And Topos have less padding and are not as comfortable.