Spring shoe buyer’s guide: 2025’s best updates

This review appears in the March/April 2025 issue of Canadian Running, on newsstands now.

Asics Novablast 5

Category Neutral cushioning
Men’s 255 g (9.0 oz.)
Women’s 225 g (7.9 oz.)
Offset/Drop 8 mm
Stack Height 41.5 mm/33.5 mm (men’s), 40.5 mm/32.5 mm (women’s)
$180

The Asics Novablast, first introduced in 2019, has become an indispensable trainer for many Canadian runners. It’s both sleeker and lighter than the Gel-Nimbus (which is really a long-run shoe), and now boasts a midsole made entirely of FF Blast Max—a lightweight foam that’s just the right mix of bouncy and responsive. This material provides a more comfortable, more responsive and smoother ride than ever.

There are faster, more responsive shoes, but if you want to pay a reasonable amount for a shoe that you can use for everything, you can’t beat the Novablast. (Miraculously, the shoe is $10 cheaper than it was before.)

With this fifth version, Asics has made the upper more breathable and tweaked the AHAR rubber on the outsole, to give it better traction. Otherwise, it’s mostly unchanged from the Novablast 4.

Hoka Bondi 9

Category Neutral cushioning
Men’s 298 g (10.5 oz.)
Women’s 264 g (9.3 oz.)
Offset/Drop 5 mm
Stack Height 43 mm/38 mm (men’s), 42 mm/37 mm (women’s)
$200

The new Bondi is all about the super-plush, max-cushioned daily training experience; it’s now using a supercritical EVA in the midsole, with two additional millimetres of stack height over the previous model—but it has lost almost a full ounce of weight, which is never a bad thing (though you still wouldn’t call it a light shoe). The engineered mesh upper is softer than before, with a thickly padded tongue and a redesigned heel collar (again with lots of padding). The Bondi has a very wide, stable base and will appeal to newer runners, as well as anyone looking for a softly cushioned daily trainer.

Hoka tends to fit long and narrow; the new Bondi is very snug, and you might need to go up a half size (or at least go for the wide or extra-wide version, which is now available for women as well as men—the only Hoka model that’s available in X-wide).

New Balance
Fresh Foam X 880V15

Category Neutral cushioning
Men’s 300 g (10.6 oz.)
Women’s 235 g (8.3 oz.)
Offset/Drop 6 mm
Stack Height 32 mm/26 mm
$180

The 880 is another very nice daily trainer with a long pedigree; it’s New Balance’s top-selling running shoe. Our tester likened it to a Toyota Corolla—not sexy, perhaps, but highly utilitarian; it’s perfect for those who like a lot of cushioning and comfort, a wide toe box and a feeling of support without the rigidity of a stability shoe. (It also comes in four widths.)

If you’ve been wearing the 14, the 15 is going to feel a little different, for various reasons: first, the midsole is made of the same Fresh Foam X cushioning material as the 14’s, but there is an additional 3 mm under the heel and 5 mm under the forefoot; with the toe raised, the heel/toe offset (which was 8 mm in the 14) has been lowered to 6 mm, allowing for a more efficient stride (but possibly a little more stress on your Achilles tendons). It is also stiffer in the forefoot, promoting a more springy toe-off. These are all enhancements, however it’s also a full ounce heavier than the 14, and right on the cusp of what we consider to be the line between lightness and heaviness. (The stiffness is also due to the thicker outsole, which adds to the shoe’s weight.)

The mesh upper is also well cushioned, with comfy memory foam in the collar and tongue. The fit is true to size.

Brooks Glycerin 22

Category Neutral cushioning
Men’s 289 g (10.2 oz.)
Women’s 258 g (9.1 oz.)
Offset/Drop 10 mm
Stack Height 38 mm/28 mm
$210

The latest version of the Glycerin has a higher midsole made with nitrogen-infused DNA Tuned foam; it’s softer in the heel than the forefoot, to cushion your landings—a boon for newer runners and heel-strikers, though experienced runners also love the Glycerin’s cushioning and reliable fit.

This is a very comfortable and pleasing update; the new engineered double jacquard warp-knit upper moulds to your foot, creating something approaching a customized fit, and you can take it for a spin right out of the box, with no breaking-in required. The Glycerin is built on a wide, stable platform, and it’s reasonably light and responsive for a daily trainer.

We particularly like the knit collar and the stretchy heel loop. We’re not sure the tongue needs to be quite this thick, but we were still able to achieve a good lockdown. Our tester plans to keep it in their rotation—definitely the mark of a good shoe!

Saucony Ride 18

Category Neutral cushioning
Men’s 251 g (9.1 oz.)
Women’s 228 g (8.0 oz.)
Offset/Drop 8 mm
Stack Height 35 mm/27 mm
$180

The Ride is a solidly reliable daily trainer with a long history of success for the brand; its breathable mesh upper with well-padded tongue and collar and plush sockliner give it the type of step-in comfort runners crave. It has a heel-to-toe drop of 8 mm, making it especially attractive for newer runners and heel-strikers. The PWRRUN+ midsole foam (a blend of EVA and TPU) is neither too firm nor too soft—this is very much a “set it and forget it” shoe—you won’t be thinking about how it feels, which may be the mark of a really good shoe. The fit is narrower through the midfoot than other daily trainers, but the platform is wide and stable. (It’s also significantly lighter than several other daily trainers in this review.)

We’re also pleased to see the ventilation holes on the upper have been moved away from the toe, avoiding soakers. The price (a very reasonable $180) is unchanged over the previous model.

Asics Gel-Nimbus 27

Category Neutral cushioning
Men’s 305 g (10.8 oz.)
Women’s 265 g (9.3 oz.)
Offset/Drop 8 mm
Stack Height 43.5 mm (men’s), 42.5 mm (women’s)
$215

The updates to Asics’ much-loved long-run shoe are mainly to be found in the new, highly breathable jacquard mesh upper, with a stretchy tongue that contributes to an excellent fit. If you found the previous couple of versions a bit too snug, you’re in luck, because the Nimbus just got bigger and wider. (Conversely, if you thought it was perfect before, you may now find it a little too roomy.) The new Nimbus has a thick wedge of somewhat firm FF Blast Plus Eco cushioning (the stack creeps ever higher with each iteration) on a wide, stable platform, and while the brand has dispensed with the translucent window revealing the Pure-Gel cushioning in the heel, the cushioning is still there (even though you can’t see it).

Everything about the Nimbus is high-quality and dependable. For faster workouts, you’ll obviously want something lighter and more responsive, but for those long marathon training runs, the Nimbus is a fine shoe.

Altra Torin 8

Category Neutral cushioning
Men’s 288 g (10.2 oz.)
Women’s 238 g (8.4 oz.)
Offset/Drop 0 mm
Stack Height 30 mm
$190

The Torin is classic Altra—lots of toe room, zero drop and moderate cushioning. The eighth iteration boasts updated Altra EGO Max (compression-moulded EVA) in the midsole, which makes the shoe feel much better cushioned than in the past. The jacquard mesh upper has also been redesigned, which has made a big difference to the overall comfort of the shoe, however it fits slightly large, so you may want to try it in a half-size smaller than your usual.

These aren’t radical changes; other than a slight increase in the weight—and this remains a reasonably lightweight shoe for daily training—the specs haven’t changed, but our tester found the 8 significantly improved over the 7. (They even found it responded well to pace pickups.)

The shoe also comes in a Gore-Tex (waterproof) version.

For the “New and Innovative” section of the shoe review, click here.