Altra Escalante 5 Review | Better Cushioning, But Is It Still an Escalante? — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hey everybody, it's your old pal Steve
2. 0:01Moore here, owner of Run Moore, this
3. 0:03fabulous brick-and-mortar running shop
4. 0:04located in Westminster, Maryland. Today
5. 0:06we got a lot to talk about about the new
6. 0:08Altra Escalante 5. There is so much to
7. 0:11dig into, but before I get too far
8. 0:13along, if you haven't already, like and
9. 0:15subscribe to our channel. It's a great
10. 0:17way to stay up-to-date on all running
11. 0:18retail from an industry expert.
12. 0:24>> [music]
13. 0:28>> The Altra Escalante 5. Okay, so first
14. 0:31off, the Escalante was such a cool shoe
15. 0:34when it first came out. Like I would
16. 0:35say, of all of the Altra shoes that we
17. 0:37carried that had the biggest increase of
18. 0:40new customers coming in, it was the
19. 0:41Escalante. And like, going back to when
20. 0:43it first came out, we had seen this
21. 0:45minimalist movement, and then we saw the
22. 0:47big Hoka coming into the market where
23. 0:49everybody started to go big, and then
24. 0:51Altra went super minimal with the
25. 0:53Escalante. And obviously, as they have
26. 0:55changed their lineup over the years,
27. 0:57some of the things that made Altra Altra
28. 0:59has changed. Things like zero drop and
29. 1:02how the widths were done, but there's
30. 1:04something that's been tried and true
31. 1:05with the Escalante all these years. It's
32. 1:07like, we are a minimal, zero drop, nice
33. 1:11rounded foot shape. That's where the
34. 1:12Escalante has stood in their lineup. And
35. 1:14technically, there's been stuff that's a
36. 1:16little bit lower to the ground. The
37. 1:17Solstice is just a pinch lower. The
38. 1:20Escalante Racer was just a pinch lower,
39. 1:22but for like all intents and purposes,
40. 1:24for a minimal road shoe from Altra, this
41. 1:26was the bee's knees. So, when people
42. 1:28would come in here and say, "I wish I
43. 1:30could just be barefoot all the time."
44. 1:31This is the shoe that we pull. And so,
45. 1:33it's been exciting to see how this shoe
46. 1:35has kind of pivoted over the years while
47. 1:36still trying to keep itself true. And
48. 1:38there's a lot of changes from four to
49. 1:40five that almost to me kind of
50. 1:42classifies this shoe differently than
51. 1:44how it used to be. So, the first big
52. 1:46update we're going to talk about is the
53. 1:47midsole update. As I mentioned, the
54. 1:49first Escalante was the first one that
55. 1:50introduced like a really lively Ego
56. 1:52midsole. That was the first time we saw
57. 1:54that charged rubber bouncy shoe. So, it
58. 1:56was always confusing some people. Not
59. 1:59confusing in a bad way, but like this
60. 2:01shoe shouldn't feel as bouncy and lively
61. 2:03and fun and even cushioned as it is for
62. 2:06a shoe that is only 44 or 24 mm tall.
63. 2:09But, that like was a super revolutionary
64. 2:12bouncy mid-sole that they used. So, now
65. 2:14we have a new CMEVA.
66. 2:17So, it's a compression molded EVA
67. 2:19version of the Ego. So, it's different
68. 2:21than what we had in version 4. It
69. 2:23actually underfoot it feels more
70. 2:25cushioned. I was doing a lot of back and
71. 2:27forth, checking specs, running around,
72. 2:28doing all the stuff to compare my old
73. 2:30Escalantes and new Escalantes and
74. 2:32they're both 24 mm. They're both a lot
75. 2:35of ways they look so similar, but they
76. 2:37actually feel quite different underfoot.
77. 2:39When I popped these two guys, I was
78. 2:40running around, I did not feel like I
79. 2:43was wearing an Escalante in the version
80. 2:445. It felt closer, quite frankly, to
81. 2:47like a baby Torrent, which is a max
82. 2:49cushion zero drop shoe from Altra. So,
83. 2:51like I felt so much more cushion
84. 2:53underfoot from the Escalante. So, some
85. 2:55people that are like, "I don't want to
86. 2:57feel the ground anymore."
87. 2:59You're going to feel a little bit
88. 3:00different in way this cushion feels
89. 3:01underfoot. I actually really felt it
90. 3:03through the midfoot and forefoot of this
91. 3:05shoe. Like, in fact, I was like, "Is
92. 3:06this even still feel zero drop?" Because
93. 3:08it just felt like it filled in so much
94. 3:10more space that I was accustomed to in
95. 3:12old Escalantes. Especially if you go
96. 3:14back to the OG Escalante where it really
97. 3:16felt like there was nothing underfoot.
98. 3:18This shoe, in all intents and purposes,
99. 3:20I I actually said this like on version 3
100. 3:22of the Escalante. Like, it now feels
101. 3:24more like a shoe than I was used to. So,
102. 3:27keep that in mind if you are that like,
103. 3:28"I don't want nothing under my foot."
104. 3:30You're going to feel like you have a
105. 3:32shoe on now. And the weight has changed
106. 3:34even though the same stack height. It is
107. 3:36now a half ounce heavier. So, we're on
108. 3:39my size 12, this is almost an 11 oz shoe
109. 3:42now. And so, that's a big difference
110. 3:44from where we used to be. I was this was
111. 3:45a 10 and 1/2 and even this was heavier
112. 3:47than what we had been accustomed to on
113. 3:49Escalantes. So, now this almost feels, I
114. 3:52hate to say more casual, more like a
115. 3:54shoe, but that's where this shoe lies.
116. 3:55And so what do you do if you're that
117. 3:57ride or die Escalante person who's like,
118. 3:58"Well, I don't want that." They've now
119. 4:00changed it and there is no Escalante
120. 4:03racer anymore. So if you were like,
121. 4:04"Okay, well, I'll just get the lighter
122. 4:05down 2 mm less version of the racer."
123. 4:08That is now gone. What they've done and
124. 4:10let me just you can kind of see just
125. 4:12like immediately go, "Ah." This is the
126. 4:14Vanish Pulse. So this now replaces what
127. 4:17the racer was. So if you are somebody
128. 4:19who's like, "I want to run in an
129. 4:21Escalante that feels super low to the
130. 4:23ground that has so little weight to it,
131. 4:25that still feels like an old-school
132. 4:27fasty, you know, Escalante used to be."
133. 4:29That's where this comes into play. So
134. 4:30like I think in their head that's almost
135. 4:32becomes I hate saying a casual shoe, but
136. 4:34I think this almost even some of the
137. 4:36colors that we've seen on this become
138. 4:38something that people can putz around
139. 4:39in. Obviously still running it, but it
140. 4:41is a little bit heavier. It just feels a
141. 4:44pinch different. But if you still want
142. 4:45that Escalante experience, that's where
143. 4:48the Pulse comes in. Now this becomes
144. 4:50your lowest level, lowest cushion, super
145. 4:53fast, super minimal, rounded toe box
146. 4:56shoe from Altra in the Escalante family.
147. 4:58So while it doesn't have Escalante in
148. 5:00the name, for all intents and purposes,
149. 5:02this becomes your Escalante racer and
150. 5:04your checkdown from what now is your
151. 5:06Escalante 5. So if I was kind of making
152. 5:08like a little Escalante sandwich,
153. 5:11this is how I would do it. You have your
154. 5:13higher, heaviest one, your old one, and
155. 5:15now your new guy out here the on the on
156. 5:17the Pulse on the bottom here. I hope
157. 5:19that kind of helps as far as like your
158. 5:20weight and like how bouncy they are and
159. 5:24just how like minimal they kind of are.
160. 5:26Yeah, that's how I would do it.
161. 5:28Came up with that on the fly. Anyway, I
162. 5:30hope that kind of helps answer some
163. 5:31questions because there is some great
164. 5:32things that I like about this shoe. It
165. 5:34is so comfortable. Like I can definitely
166. 5:36see me putzing around town in this shoe.
167. 5:37I think the upgraded cushion to the
168. 5:39forefoot is a real nice benefit. It is
169. 5:4110 bucks more, but still at $140 whether
170. 5:44you're wearing this casual or this is
171. 5:46your everyday runner shoe or that
172. 5:47stylish shoe that's a zero drop. I think
173. 5:50they did a nice job at $140 of giving
174. 5:52you tremendous value in this shoe. I
175. 5:54think they did a good job on the
176. 5:55durability. They're just using more
177. 5:56durable materials in this These shoes
178. 5:58are just lasting a little bit longer.
179. 5:59So, Altra's done a good job of like
180. 6:01making improvements and adding value
181. 6:03without changing everything to it and
182. 6:05making it a like a lower tiered shoe.
183. 6:07So, there you have it, the Escalante 5.
184. 6:09If you have any questions, leave it down
185. 6:10below. And if you wanted to pick up a
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188. 6:17ship it out for free. Thanks as always
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