I’m curious as to which ones you purchased And how they worked out. your post sounds like I was writing it And obviously it popped up because I was researching the same thing. I have orthotics for the same reason & many more reasons. I own the Olympus-3, hoka Stinson & just purchased the cascadia’s-wide. Im thinking of also purchasing the speedgoat Wide-Hoka and the Olympus 4-Altras. i Love my current Altra Olympus- this is my 2nd pair & it’s time for a 3rd. My only complaint is the fit at the ankle is poor-too loose and my feet get very sore in a different way then with the hokas or brooks because of the zero drop- so my podiatrist wants me to wear a very small heel lift In the Altria’s which I did for the first time today. I haven’t tried the cascadia’s yet but was told to get wide so my toes have room to move like with the Altra’s which I did and to do the same with the Hoka’s. What I didn’t like about the hoka’s was I would get a large blister on the arch of my foot which I heard was common but that maybe fixed with the speedgoat.
Sorry for only just picking this up! Have you chosen shoes yet?
I'm going to post a new thread (edit: it’s
here) because I've had a terrible half year with an injury, which isn't related to the shoes I chose, although for a while, I thought it was. As such, I'm not sure what to say in terms of which shoes I would or wouldn't now choose! But to plunge in…
I took both the Altra Lone Peak 4.5 and the Brooks Cascadia 14 on my Cairngorms walking holiday, and then wore only the Lone Peaks because I absolutely loved them. They took a huge amount of punishing! I felt sure-footed in them, and was happy with the amount of cushioning for the type of walking I was doing (trails, mud, heather, very little road). I'm used to zero drop shoes so had no problem, and the toe space was fantastic.
When I came home, I started using the Cascadias as well. I found them supportive and generally comfortable, but preferred the Lone Peaks. I noticed the different drop (the Cascadias are an 8mm heel to toe drop) and felt, perhaps perversely, that it put more pressure on my heel. They felt less cushioned but perhaps more springy.
I have, however, since become a Hoka convert as well. this is largely a result of my injury. The Stinson ATR 6 were, for a while, the only shoe I could walk in (I had many more pairs sent via online order, mid lockdown, and not even the Bondi 7 wide was, at that point, as good for me as the Stinson). I find the supportive cushioning of the Stinson, combined with the rocker shape, which is more pronounced than on the Bondi, absolutely excellent for transferring pressure away from painful points on the foot. I've since also got a pair of Hoka Speedgoat wide, into which, believe it or not, I've put extra foam.
My experience is an extreme one—I couldn't walk or stand for a few months, and thought it was a foot injury; I'll explain more about that, and what I'm doing now, in the separate new post—but it has enabled me to experience lots of shoes in various ways! Obviously the below thoughts are only my own, but in case they help…
Re Brooks, I think the wide will be a good option if you don't usually find your foot to be slim. The fit of them is very good, though, for me at least. I find Hoka's sizing a bit all over the place. I've sized up two full sizes in the Speedgoat, and also got the wide version (the non-wide must be incredibly slim!), but I have added 6mm of poron foam, which takes up space. Without this foam, I'd only size up by probably one and a half sizes, but still get the wide. The Stinsons are more true to my usual hiking shoe size, although I'd opt for a half size larger rather than smaller if you're unsure. I also find that, for me, the Hokas are the only shoes in which I don't need arch support at all. I've had insoles for my arches for many years now, so not needing them was a revelation! I do adapt my lacing technique for each shoe, though. I've had some that were loose on the ankle, and I almost always use the runners' loop lacing technique,; this method has fixed the issue in most if not all of the shoes.
I'm about to try the Altra Timp 3, Lone Peak 5 and Paradigm 5, this weekend, along with perhaps some others, in my first trip out to a shoe shop in more than a year! I'm now thinking of shoes to actually… maybe… finally walk the Camino in! (rather than my rather beaten up Lone Peaks, or the ones I've used for my injury recovery), which is why I'm yet again looking for new ones. Perhaps I'll report back on those shoes here… and retitle this thread 'The Shoe Shop'