ASICS Men's GEL Venture 5 Running Shoe

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First: These are absolutely trail shoes above all else. If you do a lot of street running, look elsewhere. Second: Fantastic shoe. I could not believe the quality for the money I paid for them. Top notch. I run a 10k on the road every day, and after reading numerous reviews on this site and others surrounding these shoes and numerous people who use them for road running, I decided to bite. I am on a budget, and this is a hard time of year to find street shoes for less than a hundred bucks. After coming from a light weight street running shoe, I absolutely cannot recommend these for street running. I know they are a trail running or "multi surface running shoe", but after seeing the sheer volume of users who take to the black top with them I decided to bite. So, why dont I like them for street running, you may ask? Primarily, weight. These are bulky, at least twice the weight of my previous shoe, and the break in period was quite painful for the first week. I took my dogs to some very steep local trails recently (I live near the very hilly finger lakes region of New York) and these shoes are PHENOMENAL trail shoes. I was running top speed through a very narrow, tree, rock, and root ridden trail that curved this way and that with almost every step and felt unstoppable. The grip felt like I had cleats on. Despite the speed, I could turn on a dime, using trees to propel my momentum through the curves, and not feeling a thing beneath my feet despite the various terrain types I was covering (from rocky to slipper needle covered loose dirt). I knocked a star for personal reasons, and really, its a reason that the shoe wasnt exactly designed for, so Im not really sure if its even fair for me to do so. I only did this as many other reported a great road running experience, and I feel they came up short in that regard. As far as trail running goes: are their better shoes out there? Yes. Are you going to find them for anywhere near this price? Absolutely not. If youre on a budget, and run trails, these are your shoe. And lastly, as I forgot to mention above, the fit was perfect.

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Falling apart after only a couple weeks use. The soles have orange lugs for aggressive traction. The lugs are separating on these after only a couple weeks of light use. Now that I looked at them to take some photos of the damage I see the entire sole is falling apart. The last pair of Asics that I bought were outstanding and lasted about four years through some pretty rough treatment. I havent even had the chance to get rough with these yet and they are already causing me to trip because the sole is catching on everything as I walk or run. Fit is good, comfort is good. Quality of make/materials is horrible.

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The toe portion of the shoe is already coming off. Not just on one, but both. I expected better from Asics.

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So far the only shoes Ive found that are comfortable on my large and wide feet (with narrow ankles). I wear them for working out, walking, and everyday usage. They are good in summer and winter too. Normally I have to go with extra-wide, but with these shoes the normal widths (D) are comfortable – youve just got to wear them a day or two to break them in and then they are GREAT. Thats my experience, but I guess everybodys feet are different. Not everybody has wide, hard-to-please feet like mine.

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I use these as my go to gym shoes now, and I love them. For years I had been wearing nothing but Nike cross trainers at 3x the price because nothing else felt comparable. Not only do these fit like the Nikes, they also offer enough support for my plantar fasciitis that I can walk most of the day without too much pain. Edit: a few months later these shoes do not fit as well, and have several holes inside. The toe box is stretched, so my foot shifts inside the shoe when i change direction quickly, even with them tied so tight my feet start to go numb. Not terrible shoes, but not great either.

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