"/>

HOKA’s second-gen carbon-plated trail shoe comes with new uppers and minor updates. It’s designed for tackling longer off-road efforts and ultras so Run Tester Kieran took it to the Maverick Adidas Terrex X Series Exmoor to race test it against the lumps, bumps, mud and mayhem on the wet North Devon coast. Here’s how he got on. Hit play for our HOKA Tecton X2 marathon test.

JUMP STRAiGHT IN:
0:00 – Intro
032 – The race
1:26 – Impressions after 11 miles
2:47 – Post-race reacion
5:34 – What’s New & Design Details
6:56 – Race Test Verdict


Welcome to the ancestors it's Kieran Here I am down at the Adidas Terex Maverick Exmore Ultra it is a classic Devon day It's kind of gray it's a bit wet It's going to be muddy and in this video I'm going to be testing the Hoka tecton X they're fresh out of the box this Morning I've got about 34 miles I think Some proper steep climbs about the 3 000 Meters of Ups and downs and we will see how they Get on In these sort of slightly sloppy muddy Conditions Let's go and have a look [Music] [Applause] [Music] Thank you Foreign [Music] And a half miles in it's taken about two Hours and a half And how can take the next two on what is Pretty tricky terrain there's lots of Slippy mud lots of really wet Stones Roots quite steep descents it's really Rocky we went over some crazy ex-more Kind of Rocky Cliffs From a pretty sketchy narrow pods so It's been a brilliant test so far for These shoes they're holding up pretty Well actually

Grip in the slippier mud obviously Isn't going to do the job And uh but when I put some wet Stones Around the bits it's been just about Enough So I am feeling a little bit edgy Um I think that's all I'm gonna be able to Say for now Because I am Hacking up one of the big Hills And it's uh quite hard to talk and Breathe [Music] Thank you Foreign [Music] Just finished the Adidas Terex Maverick Exmore Ultra no I didn't I finished the Marathon because I took the other turn I've just finished the marathon distance 26 miles five and a half hours a bit More on really quick testing terrain out There it's a really good test for the Hokitekton X to threw everything at them Mud slippy Stones pretty steep descents Big climbs Fields stretches of tarmac Tree roots loose Stones all sorts it's Basically like a perfect test for the Shoes really uh in quite difficult Conditions at times and they performed Really well I'm really you know really Happy to fresh out the box the comfort Is good there's plenty of cushioning

That really soaked up a lot of the lumps And bumps and I feel like they performed Really well on most of that Terrain Some people may feel they want a little Bit more ground contact there's a big Stack of cushioning is quite soft Sometimes you know one thing it will Kind of soak up some pumps sometimes Maybe you don't feel quite as connected To the ground as you would like if you'd Like a kind of firmer more direct shoe And these are probably going to come up A little bit softer than that connection Isn't quite there all right carbon plate And all of that this foam works together I think it comes into its own when you Go on the stretches of tarmac you really Notice that it ran as well as some Road Shoes that I've tested and that was Great because there was some quite long Sections of that Did well on the UPS pretty well on the Downs uh Some of the more slippy conditions it Wasn't so good you know but then again I Saw loads of people out there today Wearing lots of different shoes slipping All over the place so there were Conditions where I don't think any issue Is going to help me really But one thing I will say is on some of The there were sections where you know I Feel like other shoes Give you a bit more confidence I didn't

Feel 100 confident in these it wasn't Quite the traction wasn't quite there And I had to kind of slow down a little Bit and pick my way a bit more than I Would have liked so maybe the grip isn't 100 I also in terms of the fit I've got a Little bit of pension crust off my foot I think I'm Gonna Leave the lacing down A little bit too much and I'll test that In subsequent some tests it's all there A little bit tight across the top the Mid foot toe box wise probably just About enough room but if you like a Really roomy toe box this has got that Kind of Hoka fit which is sort of Slightly narrower But overall I think these have run Really well today and some really quite Testing conditions and definitely gave Me a little bit extra towards the end of This when we reached sort of the final Sections where it was a little bit more Runnable so yeah largely happy if I Think of anything else comes to mind Whilst I'm driving back from the race I'll do it wrap up in the office but Otherwise this has been the race test of The hook attack the next two the Adidas Terex Maverick Exmore Ultra which has Also been a really fantastic race I'm Off to uh try and get myself back Together [Music]

So I wanted to give you a quick round of What's new from the hokitect and x to The hokitect and X2 and the main Difference here basically is the uppers You've got some new uppers that poker Calls Matrix these are basic hydrophobic Uppers essentially that means they are Faster drying and then give you a little Bit more kind of um protection from Water overall though they're still quite Structured and yeah there's not too much Difference in terms of the way they feel On the foot when it comes to the midsole Unit you're getting much the same kind Of here you've got the same big stack of Pro fly X foam you've got the same Parallel carbon plates they come with The same stack height which is 30 mils In the hill and 25 mils in the forefoot In the women's shoe and 32 mils in the Hill and 27 mils in the forefoot for the Men so the same five mil drop that you Had in the original techniques as well Flip them over then and the outsole is Exactly the same you've got the same Traction pattern you've got the same Vibrant Mega grip sole nothing to see Here in terms of differences now the Other minor difference here is in terms Of weight the new tecton X2 are slightly Heavier than the original they come in At 8.8 ounces or 252 grams to the first Gen's 8.5 ounces or 240 gram the other Thing to note here is they are more

Expensive too they're up from 220 in the US to 225 in the UK they've gone from 175 pounds up to 185 pounds So it's been a few days since I did the Race and my overall verdict on the tech The next two and how they've performed Is I think these are a really good Solitude I like the techton X Originals I think they're Punchy I think they're a Good kind of lively Trail shoe I think They really Excel on Races where it's Going to be kind of firm and compacted And you might be doing stretches through Villages and sort of towns and you've Got a bit of Road a bit of compacted Trail where you can actually get the Benefit of that extra kind of carbon Plate propulsion and the softer foam Doesn't really make too much difference In terms of being sort of Mega technical Terrain that's when I think they really Come into their own and they're a lovely Shooter running I'm running them on the Roads actually I've done about seven Miles just flat on tarmac and they run As well as I think many Road shoes that I've run in recently some Road shoes That I've run in recently they're pretty Comfortable they're a little bit narrow The fit you know you might want to Consider maybe going up half a size if You like a bit more room in the toe box They've got that kind of classic sort of Hoka sort of quite sort of tight kind of

Area across the top of the midfoot now I Do think the way the lacing structure is Changed here these this now the laces Don't go quite so low across the toes And that does give you a little bit more Movement sort of across here across the Top of the toes which I really Appreciated in terms of comfort they're Brilliant you know out the box around 26 Miles had no problems at all with Blistering hot spots too much movement You know I felt they were Loctite and Really good and I think yeah for for Rolling Trail runs and Ultras I think These are a really really good shoe you Know there's a lot of cushion here so You're gonna have to take that into Account if you like a lot of cushion You're going to get that there is a bit Of spring in them and again you know it Depends whether how kind of connected You want to feel to the trail you know If you like a lot of ground contact and Something that's a little bit more Direct you want to feel the basically The trail coming up through a little bit More so you can feel that control then Maybe these shoes aren't for you they do Put a bit between you and what's going On underfoot but for me overall having Done that race test I think there's a Lot of Trail runs that I might encounter Here in the UK where I think this could Be a great shoe I think thinking about

Things that you might know the Centurion Kind of Thames path 100 when you're Running along the River Thames I think Anything on the South Downs or North Downs way here I also think things like The threshold series you basically Anything off-road where you know it's Not really really kind of steep and Mountainous and too rooted and Stony and Crazy I think these shoes are going to Cope and overall I found this to be a Really good shoe to run in I enjoyed it A lot and it's one of those that for That kind of race I think I would Happily recommend particularly if you're Pushing over the Marathon distance and Into Ultra so there you have it that has Been my race test of the Hoka tecton X2 I'm going to put in lots more miles in This shoe before we do the full review I Hope you've enjoyed it if you have any Questions that you want to see answered In that review hit me up in the comments Below if you've run in the shoe and You've got some thoughts and feelings About it let us know as well don't Forget to like And subscribe if you're Interested in other trail shoes there Will be a video of our best trail shoes Appearing on the channel about now Otherwise it's been a pleasure to talk To you and I hope to see you again soon On the Run testers over and out