What You Want To Know
- Weighs 9.6 oz. (272 g.) for a US M9/US W10.5
- A light-weight-ish road-to-trail hybrid that’s simple on the eyes (and pockets)
- Proof that low-stack footwear can nonetheless be enjoyable
- Alright, it’s like 80% highway, 20% path, however nonetheless a hybrid
- Out there now for $120
SAM: 1000’s of issues have a quiet potential to have an effect on your each day run. Truthfully, even each day miles can really feel like a dance with the butterfly impact — the slightest change in gasoline, hydration, relaxation, or climate could make it or break it. As runners, we exit not solely despite this however due to this. Variability is spice, whether or not you get caught in a sudden hail storm or simply need to cross the road due to building. We like our runs with that spice as a result of even the most effective routes get outdated while you’ve run them for 3 weeks straight.
Within the quest to beat the rut, we’d even loop brief regional trails into our runs, particularly these of us who dwell in cities the place small path networks are commonplace inside working distance. However, this creates a shoe drawback: highway footwear usually don’t fairly reduce it on trails, and path footwear are normally fairly depressing to place lengthy highway miles on.
To discover a joyful in-between, shoe corporations have given us hybrid footwear which can be constructed to transition between roads and trails seamlessly. Exemplary footwear on this vary embody the Nike Pegasus Path 4, Hoka Tecton X, and Altra Outroad. To this finish, the Division of Outside Amusement at Reebok has supplied the Floatride Power 4 Journey (we all know as a result of they’ve emblazoned the identify in three completely different locations on the shoe), which is a path modification of their price range highway shoe, the Floatride Power 4.
I’m an enormous fan of constructing to function, and I’ve to confess that I used to be combined on the thought of a hybrid shoe, so the Reebok Floatride Power 4 Journey needed to be fairly nice to dwell as much as what I wished. The latest iteration of the highway model (Floatride Power 4) is considered one of our favourite price range trainers, so let’s see if Reebok can unfold that goodwill into the grime and vert.
MATT: Have we superior up to now previously few years that if a shoe doesn’t boast a carbon plate, a mile-high stack of tremendous foam, a high-end BOA lacing system, or another funky function, we toss it to the wayside? Is there nonetheless a spot for a flexible working shoe that matches, appears to be like, and seems like a conventional shoe? What if the worth of that shoe didn’t qualify for installment funds — then would you have an interest?
Reebok produced a shoe for the roads that checked these containers above within the Floatride Power 4. The Floatride Power 4 Journey appears to be like to construct off that sturdy base and supply a extra rugged and versatile model that may deal with the roads much less traveled.
Combined-use, hybrid, road-to-trail fashions match a particular want within the working market, because the enchantment of getting the flexibleness to map out routes that mix roads and trails has soared in the previous couple of years. We will’t neglect the comfort of working just a few pavement miles from the entrance door to the closest trailhead (for these like myself which can be lucky sufficient to have that proximity).
The Good
SAM: That is merely a handsome shoe. The discharge colorway is a pointy gray/teal/orange that’s reserved however with simply sufficient aptitude to catch the attention. I like it. Others appeared to as properly — I had a number of compliments whereas heading out on runs. My spouse even spoke up about it unprompted. She responds to most of my trainers with an expression that deftly balances a shrug and a grimace, so this needs to be thought-about excessive reward.
The Reebok Floatride Power 4 Journey is billed as a metropolis shoe, so I headed out on the streets round my home in Baltimore with it to get my first miles in. Early August in Baltimore is a brutally scorching time to run, however the recycled ripstop uppers on the shoe had been surprisingly breathable. It match properly, and after even longer efforts, I had no pinch factors or extra rubbing.
On roads, the Power 4 Journey laced down securely, and I didn’t have the crank on the laces or use lacing methods to maintain my heels set. The tongue could be very skinny — it recollects ultra-lightweight tongues you discover on racers just like the Asics Metaspeed Edge+ — nevertheless it’s comfy and doesn’t slide round.
Operating within the shoe is nice enjoyable. It’s mild and responsive and feels nimble in your toes. There isn’t something particularly quick right here, however I discovered the shoe comfy at velocity, with sufficient midsole flex that you just get a really feel for the highway or path beneath your toes. I actually loved my miles general.
I used to be fairly hesitant in regards to the Floatride midsole with its fundamental TPU building. At a mere 17.5mm within the forefoot, I fearful it will drop my foam-coddled toes too near the laborious, imply concrete. Even the heel is available in at solely 26mm, which is one measly millimeter thicker than the midsole within the Altra Lone Peak, which I gave up on as a result of it was too skinny for me. I used to be pleasantly shocked to be incorrect. I actually loved the Floatride’s trip (sorry). It’s on the agency facet however has loads of shock absorption for each day runs. I even wore the shoe on a 19-mile run (with a 20-minute break each 4 miles — a selected race-type format that gave my toes a break), and my toes felt fairly good by the tip. The Floatride foam is comfy however springy, light-weight, and surprisingly sturdy. I’ve seen hardly any breakdown after 60+ miles.
The outsole is of comparable sturdiness. Often, path outsoles take an absolute beating from highway miles — the pavement simply loves simply digestible lug rubber — however I’ve much less put on on it than I’ve had on some pure highway footwear at related mileage. It additionally bites properly on grime and free gravel, however you don’t get that running-on-claws feeling most path footwear give on the pavement.
MATT: As Sam stated, the Reebok Floatride Power 4 Journey has a very clear design to it. It isn’t overly flashy, and with a comparatively low stack in comparison with immediately’s tendencies, can appear a bit unassuming. I’d say it feels a bit like a throwback from the late 90s or early 2000s, full with the Miami Dolphins colorway.
The match is true to dimension and has a very good step-in really feel, balancing consolation and safety. As a hybrid/path shoe, it’s really decently weighted, with my US M10 coming in proper round 10 oz. — not gonna be mistaken for a racing shoe, however received’t really feel like a tank when hitting the pavement both.
The higher materials was attention-grabbing to me. It’s a recycled plastic ripstop that’s virtually see-through. I discovered it similar to what Atreyu adopted on the Base Path.
The Floatride midsole was a pleasing shock to me. I used to be equally as impressed as Sam with the nice clean trip, and regardless of the low stack, I didn’t really feel like I used to be taking a pounding when on the blacktop. I’ve been leaning in the direction of softer foams of late, and I’ve to provide it to Reebok as a result of this Floatride midsole actually gives a pleasant trip.
Whereas the gravel bike-inspired outsole provides some weight, I discovered that the shoe would carry out simply nice as a highway each day coach, as not one of the trail-specific options are overly aggressive or outstanding. I took the shoe on two road-only runs and had zero points with the trip.
The Dangerous
SAM: You will have observed that almost all of my Good part handled highway miles. Whereas the Reebok Floatride Power 4 Journey handles simple, largely flat metropolis trails properly, something extra technical than “this can be a highway with out pavement” places it out of its depth. The midsole isn’t as secure as I’d like, and the higher lacks the construction to maintain your toes from sliding round contained in the footwear like puppies’ paws on a picket ground.
My one run by which I slogged out each step of a reasonably technical route satisfied me to avoid wasting this shoe for my metropolis miles and mild metropolis trails. And whereas the moist pavement is alright, please keep off moist rocks and out of the mud when carrying Reebok’s hybrid possibility. The close-set lugs don’t deal with uneven wetness, and so they seize a lot mud and grime you are feeling such as you’re taking the path together with you.
Whereas the midsole is nice, and I had some alright luck with longer efforts, this can be a 5k-10k shoe. Runs over 10k lay naked the thinness of the froth. You’ll sacrifice consolation and restoration time taking it on lengthy runs.
And the laces — why are the laces so lengthy? Why, on footwear with the smallest lugs within the densest groupings, am I compelled to fret about tripping over my very own laces? I caught a loop and practically ate asphalt on a very simple 3-mile run. I perceive as properly that the laces most likely have to go underneath and thru the tongue loops to maintain the skinny tongue in place, however these loops make it practically inconceivable to regulate lacing down the foot.
MATT: So my basic gripe with the Reebok Floatride Power 4 Journey is that it’s by no means learn the definition of journey. Until your thought of journey is cruising the closest recreation path alongside your child’s bike or hitting the native crushed gravel rail path, you is likely to be a little bit misplaced right here. If what I described above will get your adrenaline pumping and motivates you to go “X-Video games mode,” then perhaps that is the shoe for you.
It’s a hybrid shoe, nevertheless it actually has no enterprise working precise trails. Twisty single monitor and rooty, rocky East Coast trails are method an excessive amount of for the Power 4 Journey to deal with. The low stack building didn’t translate as properly from the roads, in my view, and the outsole rubber was actually missing. The lug form and sample didn’t present good traction, and the shut proximity between every lug brought on mud and grime to cake on the shoe.
I do know laces could be changed, however as Sam talked about above, these will be the longest laces I’ve encountered on any shoe I’ve ever examined. Ever.
Reebok Floatride Power 4 Journey Conclusion
SAM: The Floatride Power 4 Journey is an efficient each day coach with a burly outsole slapped beneath its midsole foam. It appears to be like nice, feels nice, and hits a value level that’s changing into cruelly uncommon within the working shoe neighborhood. In case your each day run takes you by simple grime or gravel trails, this shoe will allow you to loop these in with out sacrificing grip.
Reebok tried to make a multipurpose shoe that may deal with all terrains, and it appears that evidently as an alternative, they made an amazing shoe for a really particular form of runner. It’s good — in your runs and in your pockets — in the event you want one thing for each day efforts lower than 10k that features each roads and simple trails.
That runner simply occurs to be me. I dwell in the course of Baltimore with the Stony Run path, Druid Hill Park, and Lake Roland inside working distance, and it seems like somebody at Reebok’s Division of Outside Amusement identified my neighborhood on a map and stated, “Hey, why don’t we make a shoe for runners proper there?”
Thanks, Reebok, you’ll be able to depend me as amused.
MATT: So the Journey model of the Reebok Floatride Power 4 principally checks all of the containers that gave Reebok a discount price range winner with the highway mannequin, so in that regard, I feel this can be a winner. So long as you run related trails to our man Sam, and aren’t searching for a alternative in your trusty Speedgoat, then I feel you’ll be pleased with the worth on this shoe.
I feel this shoe might have an identical enchantment because the On Cloudvista, the road-to-trail providing that we reviewed again in March. The fashions have related strengths and weaknesses, and as I wrote in regards to the Cloudvista, the Journey could be a superb journey shoe. You possibly can put on it to the airport, out for drinks, and never be restricted by shoe alternative throughout a morning exercise. Now you’ll be able to take into consideration what to do with the added baggage area you simply saved.
You possibly can choose up the Reebok Floatride Power 4 Journey for $120 at Reebok.com.
Sam lives in Baltimore along with his spouse and son and spends his days fixing espresso machines for Ceremony Espresso Roasters. He thinks the most effective days are fabricated from lengthy miles on nasty trails, however {that a} good surf session or a day of board video games are fairly alright too.
