Running Shoe Review: Hoka Huaka

Hoka has come out with several new road running shoes since our last shoe review.  At the time, I was trying out the Stinson Tarmac.  They have updated that shoe with a new upper, and it is now called the Stinson Lite.  The Hoka Conquest introduced a new look and a lower shoe platform.  Most recently, Hoka has come out with the Huaka and the Clifton.  The Clifton has been advertised most, since it is the lightest of Hoka's shoes, but the subject of this post is the Hoka Huaka.

A lot of shoe companies seem to be playing with denser foam materials to use in sole construction, marketed as well-cushioned, responsive shoes, or cushioned, light-weight shoes.  The Huakas are marketed as a responsive, light, cushioned shoe.  Sounds ideal!  But what are they like, really?

The change from running in the Stinson Tarmac was big.  The Huakas have 2mm of heel-to-toe drop, instead of the Stinson's 6mm or the 4mm of the Saucony Kinvara (my short-distance running shoe). A 2-4mm is noticeable.  The last for the Huaka is a little narrower than the last for the Stinson; the sole itself is much narrower, very likely because the sole is thinner.  With a thinner sole, you don't have to buttress the sides as much to keep the shoe stable.  The heel, consequently, looks much lower than the heels of the Bondi or Stinson.  

The spongy feeling that I know from the Stinson is missing in the Huaka.  I have an immediate sense of when and where I've touched the ground, and my foot squishes into the shoe less.  As promised, it's a more responsive shoe.  The Huaka may have less cushion than other Hokas, but it has more cushion than any non-Hoka shoe I've used.

For comparison:
The men's Huakas have a 27mm/25mm (heel/toe) thick sole;  the Stinson, 32mm/26mm;  the Bondi 3, 33mm/29mm; and the Clifton, 29mm/24mm.  The Saucony Kinvaras that I run in are 22mm/18mm.
 
If you look at the soles of most light running shoes, you'll see they don't have the old-style, tough-rubber-all-over kind of sole.  Modern light road soles have small touches of tough rubber, but mostly just textured foam.  Having denser foam, such as the RMAT used in the Hoka Huaka and Conquest, or the ZVA used in Zoot's Solana, means the sole resists abrasion better and lasts longer, but the shoe stays on the lighter side.  Denser foam also gives a stronger tactile sense of the road, as I mentioned, perhaps at the expense of a little bit of cushion.  For my purposes, the Huaka still has plenty of cushion.  I'll be using it for most of my middle-to-long runs.  For anyone taking their first steps into the world of highly-cushioned shoes, Huakas will probably feel more familiar than Hoka's other models, as long as you're used to a low-drop shoe.

I did not use the speed laces that are pre-installed on the Huakas (and most other Hoka models).  I have used the speed laces before, and they work fine, but in the shoe size I wear (US 13.0), they don't let the shoes open very wide.  If you haven't seen the speed laces, they are a thin, non-stretch cord with a flat lace lock.  Since the speed laces are sewn together at the end, you do have to cut them off if you don't want to use them.  Hokas come with a set of regular laces in the box, so I used those.

The upper does feel quite secure across my arches and into my heel, which has always been my main concern.  My toes feel a little cramped - the Huakas probably fit a narrow-to-medium foot best.  There's a little bit of pocketing above the toe that happens when I run, but the material of the upper is more supple than the material from the Stinson Tarmac.  I have even run comfortably barefoot in the Huaka, which is not something I often do on training runs, in any shoe.

Main points on the Huaka:

• Lower to the ground than other Hokas
• Thicker sole than most standard shoes
• Narrow-to-medium fit
• 2mm heel-to-toe drop
• Good feel for the ground, and good grip