Altra's Best Road Shoe? // Altra FWD VIA 2 Review — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:09[music]
2. 0:18[music]
3. 0:28Well, good morning There is a beautiful
4. 0:31morning. It's a wonderful morning with
5. 0:33the sun coming up. I've seen some deer,
6. 0:36the mountains, this beautiful trail that
7. 0:39literally runs around and through my
8. 0:42town. 20 m on the docket today. Actually
9. 0:45closer to 21 miles in the Ultra Forward
10. 0:49Via 2. This is a shoe that is plush.
11. 0:54It's comfortable. More on that in a
12. 0:56minute. On this review video, I'm going
13. 0:58to be talking about the overall build
14. 0:59quality and comfort, the performance,
15. 1:01and the value of the shoe. We'll compare
16. 1:04it to a few other plush shoes that are
17. 1:07out on the market as [music] well. But
18. 1:09if you're new here, please consider
19. 1:10subscribing. Click the thumbs up, drop a
20. 1:13comment down below. I really want to
21. 1:14hear what your thoughts [music] are on
22. 1:16Altra's forward experience lineup,
23. 1:19particularly the Via. If you've ran in
24. 1:20the Via in the past, I think you'll find
25. 1:23yourself at home in some familiar
26. 1:25territory in the Via, too. I should also
27. 1:28thank Ultra for sending me this pair of
28. 1:29shoes, but know that all thoughts and
29. 1:31opinions are strictly my own. With all
30. 1:34that out of the way, moving on with the
31. 1:35review and the purpose of this video,
32. 1:37really. Voiceover Chad, why don't you
33. 1:39talk about some of the specs and
34. 1:41features of the Ford Via 2. Ultra
35. 1:45states, max cushion, max comfort. Take
36. 1:48on road miles or epic training runs with
37. 1:50our new Ultra Ego P35 foam designed for
38. 1:53a light and efficient ride. Lace up a
39. 1:56shoe designed to deliver comfort and
40. 1:58performance for the long run. As for
41. 2:00those specs and features, you get
42. 2:01Ultra's original or signature footshaped
43. 2:03fit, an engineered mesh upper, a
44. 2:06gusseted tongue, Ultra Eagle P35 foam
45. 2:09midsole, which is 19% softer and 15%
46. 2:12more responsive than the original
47. 2:13Forward Via midsole, 37 mm of heel
48. 2:16stack, and 33 mm of toe stack for that
49. 2:194mm drop, weighing in at 300 g or 10.6 6
50. 2:22oz in a men's US size 10 and a US MSRP
51. 2:25of $165, which is $5 more than the
52. 2:29previous version. Chad, back over to
53. 2:31you.
54. 2:34What do you think? Should I pick it up?
55. 2:36Should I eat it? [laughter] I'm tempted.
56. 2:38I'll leave it. I've got some gels. I got
57. 2:40some tailwind. We're good. All righty.
58. 2:43Moving on with the review. And thank
59. 2:45you, Voiceover Chad, for going over
60. 2:46those specs and features. Let's talk
61. 2:49about the build quality and the comfort.
62. 2:52Now, I've ran um at this point, I just
63. 2:54hit close to 15 miles, and that means
64. 2:58I've ran 50 mi in the shoe. This has
65. 3:00been my go-to shoe as of late, and I've
66. 3:03really enjoyed my experience in the Ford
67. 3:07Via 2. So, starting with that upper, you
68. 3:10get [music] a nice and plush tongue.
69. 3:13Although I do wish the tongue was less
70. 3:16plush in its soft foam and rather that
71. 3:19it had more of a a dense foam, but it is
72. 3:22adequate. You don't feel the laces
73. 3:24across the top of your foot at all, no
74. 3:26matter how tight you tie them. That
75. 3:29tongue is gusseted so it's not moving
76. 3:31around on you. Thank you, Ultra, for
77. 3:33doing that. And I am now entering a
78. 3:35tunnel.
79. 3:40There's some gentle padding around the
80. 3:42ankle and the heel, but I will say that
81. 3:44even though the upper is very
82. 3:47comfortable overall, it seems to me that
83. 3:50if you did not get a good heel lock down
84. 3:53in the original VIA, that you're going
85. 3:56to get the same experience in the VIA 2.
86. 3:59Now, for me, average to narrow foot, the
87. 4:02lock down fit and feel is adequate. It's
88. 4:06comfortable, but if you have a really
89. 4:08narrow heel, you may find that there
90. 4:11isn't quite enough um I don't know,
91. 4:14structure or padding back there to
92. 4:16really hold your heel in place. Now,
93. 4:19it's never been a problem for me. I
94. 4:22notice a little bit of I don't know,
95. 4:24freedom in the heel to move, but again,
96. 4:27it's never been an actual problem.
97. 4:30There's no rubbing or hot spots anywhere
98. 4:32in the shoe. Nice and roomy toe box. In
99. 4:35fact, you get Ultra's original foot
100. 4:38shape. So, nice and wide in that midfoot
101. 4:41and the toe box, which is a really nice,
102. 4:44I don't know, change. While I generally
103. 4:46prefer a more slim fitting shoe, it is
104. 4:51really nice to get into a shoe that
105. 4:54allows your toes to spllay out. Just
106. 4:56gives you that extra room. I really
107. 4:59like, and that's one of the things that
108. 5:00I've come to really enjoy about the Via
109. 5:03lineup. So, the upper is very
110. 5:06comfortable. I like it a lot. Good
111. 5:08materials, nice plush tongue, some
112. 5:12padding in the heel. I mean, the whole
113. 5:14package really came together well, but
114. 5:16Ultra kept things simple. There's
115. 5:18nothing special about any one of its
116. 5:20individual components. The sum of those
117. 5:22parts did come together to create a
118. 5:24whole greater than the sum of its parts.
119. 5:27Okay, moving down the shoe into that
120. 5:29midsole. It is soft. It is bouncy. I
121. 5:34like it a lot. I enjoy that P35 midsole
122. 5:38foam more than the original Nitro
123. 5:41infused uh midsole that's in the
124. 5:43original VIA. And then you get Altra's
125. 5:46standard rubber outsole. Nothing special
126. 5:49there, but it does a good job and I
127. 5:51think it'll last the lifetime of the
128. 5:53shoe. So, build quality gets a thumbs up
129. 5:56from me. Comfort definitely gets a
130. 6:00thumbs up from me. But does that make
131. 6:02the shoe a high performing shoe? Is it
132. 6:05one that I take on every single one of
133. 6:07my runs? [panting]
134. 6:09No. So, let's get into the performance
135. 6:12of the Ultra Forward Via 2.
136. 6:21You know, one thing that I really enjoy
137. 6:23on a cool kind of crisp morning like
138. 6:25today, like right now, is the smell of
139. 6:30smoke from like a fireplace or a fire in
140. 6:32the air.
141. 6:34I can smell it right now. Just smells so
142. 6:38nice. I don't know why I like that so
143. 6:39much. Do you like that smell? I love it.
144. 6:42Maybe it reminds me of camping or
145. 6:44something.
146. 6:53had to move out of the way for that car.
147. 6:54Thank you. So, now talking about
148. 6:56performance for a bit, the Ultra Forward
149. 6:59Via 2 has been my go-to daily trainer of
150. 7:05a shoe. It is not, however, a shoe in my
151. 7:08opinion that is good for those faster
152. 7:10tempo paced efforts. I feel like the
153. 7:13shoe just doesn't quite have that, I
154. 7:16don't know, lightweight, agility, that
155. 7:18high performance rebound that I would
156. 7:20want in a faster shoe, but I don't think
157. 7:23that's what this shoe is designed for.
158. 7:24When using it for those everyday miles,
159. 7:27yeah, it does great because it's
160. 7:30comfortable, because it's kind of got
161. 7:32that plushness to it. It's just very
162. 7:34rewarding for those everyday miles. I
163. 7:37mentioned in the comfort that Altra
164. 7:38doesn't give you anything that you don't
165. 7:41really need in this shoe, meaning that
166. 7:43they keep things simple and that helps
167. 7:45to add to the overall performance
168. 7:48experience. I really appreciate that.
169. 7:50The upper is kept simple. There's
170. 7:52nothing there that's overly bulky. You
171. 7:55get lots of midsole stack underfoot, but
172. 7:58it doesn't feel unstable. And a lot of
173. 8:01that is because of that wide uh
174. 8:03platform, wider toe box. your toes are
175. 8:06able to spllay out and just run a little
176. 8:10more naturally. Now, this is a low drop
177. 8:13shoe, 4 mm drop, which I think is going
178. 8:16to be a little more accommodating to
179. 8:19most runners, so you will probably
180. 8:21appreciate its low drop feel. Last thing
181. 8:25I want to mention on performance, coming
182. 8:27back to the weight of the shoe, the
183. 8:29upper feels very lightweight on and
184. 8:32around your foot, but I do feel a little
185. 8:35bit of that weight in the midsole. It's
186. 8:38not a heavy shoe coming in at about 300
187. 8:40g. But I do wish it was just a little
188. 8:44bit lighter. That would make the shoe
189. 8:47feel it give you that experience that is
190. 8:49just even more rewarding. even if it's
191. 8:52still for those daily everyday miles.
192. 8:55But regardless, performance is going to
193. 8:58get a thumbs up from [music] me. I've
194. 9:01really enjoyed my experience in this
195. 9:04shoe, and it's one that I'm going to
196. 9:06continue to use and enjoy. Did you ever
197. 9:09go on a long run and start craving food?
198. 9:12Like right now, I really am craving like
199. 9:15some eggs, some bacon, maybe a breakfast
200. 9:18burrito or some toast. Sounds so good
201. 9:22[laughter] right now. But I guess that
202. 9:23means that I'm doing good. I'm feeling
203. 9:25good. Cuz if I'm craving food,
204. 9:29just means that your body's doing all
205. 9:30right. I think
206. 9:33also probably means I should have a gel.
207. 9:42So now moving on with the value of the
208. 9:45Ultra Forward Vita 2. US MSRP $165.
209. 9:51I think that is a good or fair price to
210. 9:55pay. How does it compare to a few other
211. 9:57shoes? One of the first ones I thought
212. 9:58of was the Nike Zumx Invincible 3. That
213. 10:03was a shoe that I really wanted to like.
214. 10:06All of the individual components were
215. 10:08topnotch, but when it all came together,
216. 10:10it just didn't create an overall
217. 10:12holistic package that I thought was
218. 10:14worth buying. [music] Another one, the
219. 10:17Sketchers Aerobst. Another high stack,
220. 10:19high plush shoe. $160 for that one.
221. 10:23Another one, the Hoka Clifton 9 and 10.
222. 10:26[music] The 9 having a 5 mm drop, the 10
223. 10:30having a 8 mm drop. I really like the
224. 10:33Hoka Clifton shoes. Uh, they feel
225. 10:36lightweight underfoot. It's a fun
226. 10:39experience, but I think the foam, the
227. 10:41midsole foam in the Via 2 is of higher
228. 10:44quality. just a little bit more
229. 10:47responsive. So, I enjoy the underfoot
230. 10:49experience in the Ultra Forward VIA 2 a
231. 10:52little bit more. And one last shoe that
232. 10:54I thought to compare it to, the original
233. 10:58Forward VIA. I think if you can find the
234. 11:00Ford VIA for, you know, close to 100
235. 11:03bucks, that would be the one worth
236. 11:05buying. But I prefer the VIA 2 just a
237. 11:10little bit more. I think the midsole
238. 11:12feeling is just that much better in the
239. 11:15Via 2 compared to the VIA 1. Otherwise,
240. 11:19it's virtually the same experience, same
241. 11:22upper fit, same plushness. If you're
242. 11:25considering the VIA 2, coming from the
243. 11:27Via 1, the original VIA, I think you
244. 11:30will feel right at home. There's a lot
245. 11:32of familiarity with it in a slightly
246. 11:35updated package. So, of all those shoes,
247. 11:38I prefer the Via 2. I really do. I think
248. 11:42$165 is a fair price and one worth
249. 11:46considering. I do wish shoe prices were
250. 11:49cheaper overall. They're not trending in
251. 11:52the right direction, but it is what it
252. 11:55is. You want a good everyday shoe that
253. 11:58offers a plush but still rewarding
254. 12:01underfoot experience and a shoe that
255. 12:03[music] has a little bit wider toe box
256. 12:05and midfoot feel. The Ultra Forward Via
257. 12:102 is the shoe to look at. All righty, I
258. 12:14think that's all I have for you. I am
259. 12:16really hungry. I need to get home. I
260. 12:18have about 2 and 1/2 miles left, so I'm
261. 12:21getting close. Just enjoying this
262. 12:23beautiful, beautiful morning in a
263. 12:26wonderful shoe. Thanks for joining me
264. 12:28today on this video. I'll see you on the
265. 12:30next one. Remember to be consistent,
266. 12:33express gratitude, and enjoy every mile
267. 12:35as I have today in the Ultra Forward Via
268. 12:392. I'll see you on the next video. Bye
269. 12:43now. [music]
270. 12:53[music]