HikeArizona.COM

No, it's not an early April's Fools – Hoka just unveiled its "category-disrupting" technical loafer. Not anything I would buy after retiring, yet I would have considered them when I was working.

https://www.advnture.com/news/no-its-no ... %2Foutdoor

RIght now I am obsessed with the Hoka Hopara 2 for casual use. It has some arch support, depth to support orthotics if needed, and a super wide flexible toe box. A win for me.

For a second I thought that we had another scam/spammer posting in the forum. Like those weird posts about sports gambling that popped up a couple of weeks ago.

Speed Loafer is my new descriptor. These shoes will be the offical footware fashion for the Cybertruck crowd.

I hadn't even heard of Hoka til very recently. My son, hearing foot complaints from me. said "you need to get Hokas". My wife picked up on this and took me out shopping for Hokas.

I didn't really like the ones I tried on and they didn't fit my foot well. And it seemed ridiculous to pay that much for shoes. A couple days later I tried on some ASICs at the outlet store. These had a "Hoka design" (i.e. they looked ridiculous and had very soft thick soles). But they fit better. Unfortunately the ones that seemed best were the newest model and the outlet store didn't discount them. $160, the most I ever paid for shoes.

So far I've worn them once and I felt really silly. Sure they're softer, but overall they didn't seem better for my feet (probably everyone has different foot gripes). And I may be a grandpa but I don't want to wear grandpa shoes if I can avoid it.

These will sit in my closet for a while. Maybe I'll try them again when I'm in a better mood.

@Hansenaz
You strike me as a New Balance tennis shoe, black socks, and madras shorts guy. Just kidding.

@LosDosSloFolks
pretty close! White socks.

When the hokas first came out, they were a god send for me. I was still doing 100+ mile ultras and ran in zero drop shoes. There was absolutely nothing like putting on those shoes at mile 70 and my feet feeling absolutely supported by clouds. They looked (still do I guess) pretty dumb but they worked.

Like many brands, it feels like maybe they've lost the plot with this one a bit....

@xsproutx
That explains it...I always quit before mile 70!

@Hansenaz
You forgot the decimal point again. Try them with tube socks with stripes. I've had a pair of Hokas and Hoka wannabe NB. I loved them other than getting less miles out of them.

The_Eagle wrote: I loved them other than getting less miles out of them.

Biomechanical efficiency comes with a price. I struggled with knee/hip pain until I started using Birkenstock footbed's in my hiking footwear.

@The_Eagle
Yeh I have super dumb wide flat feet. These days, Altras are the best for me but there is no doubting that they get less life span than a lot of competitors do. Just the price I have to pay for comfort although I’m going to give some topos a go when my stash of altras runs out

@xsproutx
I try to buy last year's model on sale. Because I have an unpopular women's shoe size, I can usually get them half price. I recently stuck a new pair of Timps in the back of my closet. My current pair is barely worn. This will probably change after I move from Yuma back to Tucson. (Less biking, more hiking.)