Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

[BillVol]

How can magazines impartially rank running shoes when on the same pages of the magazine there are advertisments from those shoe companies?

A lot of people run in Nike shoes, but are they really that good? For me, they are not. I can't believe they still use the "air" concept in their soles. I thought that would be a fad that would last maybe a year. I think having 100% "rubber" (or whatever soles are made of) material under one's foot is better than having a wobbly air pocket (that is far from soft). I find Nike's shoes to be very uncomfortable. The Adidas Supernova is the best running shoe I've ever used. I know this is just my opinion...

BUT, show me one shoe review that doesn't have a Nike shoe model at the top. There's not one, probably IMO because Nike likely has bought the back of the magazine for ad space.

Whenever I see these shoe rankings in Runner's World or the one I have now from Running Network, I immediately put it in the trash. IMO they are useless and likely corrupted by ad dollars.

[BillVol]

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

I thank Nike for its support of track and field, though. I just wish they'd drop the air thing. Enough!

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

What is this word "shoes" you keep using?

[Natasha]

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

I agree. How can you rank running shoes anyways? What's good for me might be painful for someone else.

[michael lewis]

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

The day they invent smart shoes with something like a built-in smart orthotic gel I will be very happy. And probably dead.

[BillVol]

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

Natasha, are you a runner? Your name sounds Russian. It's great to have all the different nationalities represented here.

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

Any Elbonians here?

[Natasha]

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

I'm a cross country skier first but I still run quite a bit for my training. I live in Canada.

[jhc68]

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?
NO.

[pickle47]

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

Answer: No. And also, I agree with whoever said that you really can't "rank" a shoe. You're going to print in a magazine which shoe is going to feel good and perform well on my and thousands of other feet? I can't even get it right half the time when I go in and try them on myself!

By the way, my best performing and best fitting shoes of all time were a pair of green w/yellow stripes adidas '76s (circa 1976) and a pair of white w/purple stripes adidas torsion somethingorothers (circa 1990). I always found Nike shoes to narrow for my wide feet. Of course, adidas stopped making these shoes six months after they came on the market. Gotta improve 'em, ya know.

Here's fodder for a new thread. Off the top of my head, my first pair of running shoes, aside from the school issue stuff, was a pair of Nike Oborinylons in 1972. My first pair of spikes were adidas Saturns. Man, I loved those shoes.

Re: Is it possible for mags to rank shoes impartially?

The first running shoes I owned were Brooks. Got them in '79 or so. Those felt and worked better than these new high tech shoes. Nike was better before it went to the air sole.