On Cloudmonster Hyper
The Shakeout
Men: 9.6 oz
Women: 7.4 oz
Drop: 6mm
MSRP: $220
Mileage at Time of Review: 30 Miles
When it comes to making great running shoes, On has had a long and bumpy road. They always made incredible looking shoes, and the materials and craftsmanship were top notch, but up until about 2 years ago, they just weren’t comfortable when you compared them to shoes from other major brands. The shift began with the Cloudmonster and Cloudgo for me. The Cloudsurfer was the first shoe that they made that I felt was a true game changer though. The Cloudmonster Hyper is another shoe that I consider a game changer or pivot point for the brand.
The Breakdown
Outsole
When you compare the Cloudmonster Hyper to other super trainers in the same price point, the elephant in the room is going to be the weight. The Superblast comes in over an ounce lighter, and I think that a fair amount of the weight in the Hyper is coming from outsole. It has far more actual rubber on the outsole than a lot of the other super trainers. That rubber adds weight but can, in my opinion, be forgiven because it will add a lot of durability and versatility to the shoe. This rubber covers about seventy percent of the outsole, and while there is some exposed EVA that has shown some abrasion I would estimate this only accounts for ten percent of the outsole. If you’re moving on and off city trails, you should have a decent grip moving from street or sidewalk to trail. This wouldn’t be my choice for an actual technical trail, but if you like tackling manicured trails, gravel or dirt roads, this shoe will give you a bit of extra traction so you can hit your workouts harder and still have plenty of grip underfoot.
The Midsole
The Cloudmonster Hyper midsole uses On’s iconic Cloudtec design made from Helion superfoam. This foam and design combination is featured in many On’s, but what sets this shoe apart is the stack of peba foam in the forefoot they are calling their bounceboard. This replaces the speed board found in the Cloudmonster 1 and 2. The peba foam gives more cushion to the forefoot as well as a really nice pop as you move through the midfoot to the forefoot and toe off of your stride.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from customers in store, is that when they take a shoe out for a test run, the heel feels nicely cushioned but the forefoot bottoms out. The bounce board feature in the Hyper counters this issue. The heel maintains a firmer feel relative to the forefoot, which in my stride adds stability to the shoe when I’m on a walk break, while the forefoot has extra cushion and that pop that I’m looking for when I’m wanting to go the distance or pick up the pace a bit.
The Upper
The first and best word I can think of to describe the upper of this shoe is “premium”. The upper features an engineered woven mesh upper that is incredibly breathable and comfortable on the foot. The heel counter has plenty of cushion that keeps the wearer comfortable and keeps the foot locked in place when combined with the tongue of the shoe, which is less plush than the heel counter, but prevents the laces from biting in.
While the laces are normally something I don’t talk about, they may be one of my favorite features of this upper. It has a silicone strip running down the center that really locks the knot in place. I tend to double knot my shoes out of habit, but I did stop myself from doing so on a few runs and didn’t have any issues with the laces coming undone. It’s a small feature, but really drives home the attention to detail that was put into the construction of this shoe.
Running and Walking
I have really enjoyed wearing this shoe for a number of runs and walks in different tempos from easy up to threshold. The Firmer foam in the heel adds so much stability to the shoe for walking and the bounceboard provides extra cushion and pop off the front of the stride.
I initially wasn’t sure where this shoe would slot in for me from the first few runs, but I think the bigger issue in those initial workouts was that I was running on pretty tired legs. Since my first run, I’ve done quite a few different workouts from my easy pace up to threshold and I’ve really enjoyed the shoe. I don’t think the bounceboard gives quite the same amount of springiness that some of the carbon or poly plated shoes have, but I think that the tradeoff is that I recovered from my workouts with a little less tension in my legs than I do in some of the fully plated shoes. I tend to take a full walk break between intervals in my threshold sessions and this shoe feels incredibly stable walking which also reduces the cognitive strain in the recovery allowing my heart rate to drop more in that short period of time when I’m not having to worry about keeping my foot stable on the break. That same stability feels just as nice on my easy runs where I tend to be more heart rate focused, and therefore spend more time walking as well.
The rubber on the outsole adds a whole lot of versatility to this shoe and I think would make this a pretty fast racing shoe for some of the more manicured, less technical trails.
In short I think that this shoe definitely falls into that super trainer category. I feel really comfortable running at nearly every pace and I think this could be a potentially excellent racing option for runners who usually use a stability shoe.
The shoe does have a bit more volume in the upper and in my opinion runs about a quarter size long. I would still purchase true to size though. I find it to be preferable to be a quarter size long than a quarter size short.
The Gym
While I usually lean away from the super trainers for the gym, I don’t have an issue using this shoe in the gym. The price point of this shoe makes me not want to take it to the gym because I wanna save the wear on it for running, but the fact that the peba material is encased in the Helion foam makes this shoe nicely stable for normal gym use. I found that moving straight from the treadmill into my lifting was a very comfortable experience. I don’t do any big olympic style lifting so for me it was a very adequate gym shoe.
Work/Daily Wear
While the price point is a bit high for a daily wear shoe, as the general pricing of shoes in general has gone up, I don’t think that $220 is prohibitively expensive anymore for a comfortable shoe that looks absolutely stunning. The current downside is that it is only available in two colors, but I would expect a darker color to drop as the season progresses for both men and women.
Purchase the On Cloudmonster Hyper at Wild Pear Running.
Use code “Spirit” at checkout for 10% off your purchase!