Two-minute overview
The UA HOVR Mega 2 Clone marks the primary time Under Armour has dropped its Clone higher onto a operating shoe, aiming to supply a more supportive, adaptive match for all sorts of runners. Besides it didn’t really feel like the right match on this impartial shoe choice.
Whereas that higher wraps nearer to your toes than most, we discovered it fairly tight in locations, making it a lower than snug operating expertise on all of our runs.
On the plus aspect, you do have Under Armour’s HOVR cushioning tech planted within the midsole, which is properly responsive, however the general weight of the shoe makes it onerous work if you wish to run shortly or use it for lengthy distance runs.
What the Mega 2 Clone has in abundance is safety, with beneficiant padding and a TPU heel wrap that gives help in the fitting locations. There’s a strong rubber outsole here too that gives nice traction, and it looks like a shoe that’s constructed to chew up numerous operating time.
UA contains its Document sensor, which suggests you’re getting the flexibility to trace operating metrics and use its MapMyRun app to investigate operating type and get teaching ideas. The main focus is on bettering cadence with further metrics on provide if you wish to dig deeper into features of your operating type.
Total although, the Mega 2 Clone isn’t a groundbreaking operating shoe with a revolutionary higher, and there are actually footwear on the market to placed on as a substitute that may higher deal with these simple effort runs and massive lengthy coaching runs, and provide a more dependable match.
Worth and launch date
The UA HOVR Mega 2 Clone was launched on August 18 2021 priced at $140 / £130 (about AU$190, although no official Australian pricing was out there on the time of writing).
Design
In line with the UA footwear which have packed its HOVR cushioning tech up to now, there’s actually nothing discreet in regards to the look of the Mega 2 Clone. It’s an enormous, daring shoe, with our explicit colorway providing splashes of UA pink, and the brand new grey Clone higher with an arrowhead impact sample that provides it critical carpet vibes.
That Clone higher is the headline draw here, as Under Armour adopts an higher method it’s already utilized to its soccer boots and boxing boots. It makes use of an auxetic materials with that arrowhead design that conforms to completely different zones of the foot, and is designed to adapt to each runner’s foot {shape} and the way they transfer. Finally, it ought to create a greater match for all.
If you slip on this shoe and expertise that higher for the primary time, the auxetic materials has a noticeably stretchy really feel, which extends to areas across the tongue. As soon as your foot is in, it does actually hug round it.
It typically felt superb across the sides and the again of the foot, however up entrance within the toe field in our normal UK dimension 8, it was a particularly tight match and felt uncomfortably comfortable on runs. We tried carrying pairs of barely thinner socks, however that discomfort upfront remained, so it'd require leaping up a dimension for some.
When it comes to these key shoe specs, you’re a shoe with a excessive 8mm heel-to-toe drop sitting at 31mm on the heel and 23mm on the forefoot. So that is one to cater for midfoot strikers. At 309g for a males’s UK dimension 8.5 and 257g for a ladies’s UK dimension 5, it’s not the lightest of footwear, and it reveals when you get shifting in them.
Becoming a member of that distinctive higher is a set of spongy laces (although not fairly as spongy as those on the Saucony Trip 14). The tongue is sweet and padded, and it’s an identical story on the heel collar to supply that snugness in the fitting locations. A TPU heel wrap is in place to maintain issues locked down and provide some added safety. There’s additionally reflective parts across the again to offer you a small visibility enhance for early morning and night time time runs.
On the outsole, you’re getting a beneficiant quantity of rubber with carbon rubber additional again to bolster sturdiness on the heel, and blown rubber up entrance within the forefoot, which is designed to supply some spring whenever you attempt to choose up the tempo.
Sandwiched between that Clone higher and rubber outsole is an EVA molded sockliner with UA’s HOVR cushioning foam and Charged foam to ship a clean, secure journey and to ensure it delivers sturdy vitality return too.
Lastly, these footwear have been planted with UA’s Document sensor although it’s not a sensor you may visibly see. Its presence means you may observe operating metrics and you are able to do it with or with out UA’s MapMyRun app. Take your telephone out with you and you will get real-time suggestions on operating metrics like cadence. Put up-run, you’ll get an evaluation of your run together with features of your operating type to hone in and work on.
Efficiency
The general feeling of operating within the HOVR Mega 2 Clone is that we discovered it a little bit of a clunky shoe, even at sluggish to reasonable paces. UA’s HOVR cushioning felt responsive in a really constant approach, and clearly makes it an excellent match for lengthy, simple runs. That midsole isn’t too smooth or agency, but it surely was onerous going choosing up the tempo in and we’d put that all the way down to the burden. There simply wasn’t any satisfying snap to them.
Our grievances with the tightness within the toe field apart, that bulkiness is generally current in the back of the shoe the place there’s just a little more happening so far as housing that heel wrap and simply being a little bit of a bit again there. We had no problems with slippage although, and it’s clear UA has bolstered the fitting areas to offer it construction, help and make this a shoe that you just’ll wish to use and put numerous miles in on daily basis.
The place you may’t actually fault the Mega 2 Clone is the rubber outsole, which feels constructed to final and grips nicely on dry pavements and holds up nicely on more gravel-like surfaces. We will’t say we actually skilled that spring within the toe-off from the carbon rubber positioned up entrance, however the raised outsole seems to be feels it’s constructed to resist numerous operating time and has proven no worrying indicators of damage in our testing.
One other plus is the UA’s linked smarts, with the monitoring sensor planted into the fitting shoe and may precisely serve up knowledge like distance, tempo. It's also possible to map routes whenever you pair them up with Under Armour’s MapMyRun telephone app. With numerous operating tech on the market exterior of watches promising to enhance your type,
UA’s method of specializing in cadence and offering recommendation and tips about the best way to make enhancements works fairly nicely. It’s not delivered in an amazing approach and even skilled runners and newbie runners can profit from the insights.
This can be a shoe that will get numerous issues proper from a consolation and cushioning perspective that ought to make it a every day coach choice for straightforward to reasonable effort brief and lengthy runs. That Clone higher did not completely work for us and whenever you have a look at the choices out there round this value and for much less, you may discover a lighter shoe that gives a much more thrilling cushioning tech and is nicer to run quite a lot of paces and classes in.
Purchase it if
You’re not fussed about racing
Consider the Mega 2 Clone as a shoe to show to for straightforward to reasonable paced runs and could possibly be an excellent choice for mixing in some operating together with your fitness center time.
You desire a sturdy, protecting shoe
This shoe gives a supportive, secure journey making it one for anybody that’s in search of one shoe to eat up numerous operating miles in.
Do not buy it if
You want a light-weight, breathable shoe
The Mega 2 Clone is certainly on the heavy aspect and whereas that Clone higher hugs comfortable to the foot, it’s thick and never an important choice for warm climate runs.
You desire a shoe to run fast in
This can be a every day coach shoe that undoubtedly veers more in the direction of one thing to run simple miles in and doesn’t provide a lot snap to make you wish to run sooner in them.
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