Deric Lau, X-Trailblazers (June 2022)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/3090259
“The sum of the parts in greater than the whole”
Have you wondered into a new neighborhood burger shop expecting to get a regular tasting cheeseburger for the price you paid, but instead was greeted by the premium taste of an Angus beef cheeseburger instead? That right about how I would describe my experience with the Skechers Performance GORun Horizon Vanish 3. A pretty premium ride for a budget price… Sweet!
Growing up in the 90s as a teenager, there were the street shoes from Vans, Converse and Reebok. Skechers was a chunky midsole shoe which didn’t really get all that popular in Singapore. Fast forward to today, it is very much known as a “comfy” shoe for walking and hiking but little is known about the performance series. It started gaining some recognition when Meb Keflezighi, an Eritrean-borned American, won the 2014 Boston Marathon in a pair of Skechers. Now personally, I have heard a lot of good things about the Skechers Performance range series from global YouTube reviewers, especially with the focus on comfort, lightweight and a super-critical carbob-dioxide infused foam, called the Hyper Burst. However, there was no personal experience in them.
About a couple of months ago, when Skechers Singapore reached out to have a collaboration with X-Trailblazers, I volunteered to do a detailed review, which I hope would help you decide if the Horizon Vanish 3 is a right shoe for you. The shoe is currently available at Skechers Performance concept stores in Singapore. X-Trailblazer members get a 30% discount off retail price by flashing an EDM (check our IG and FB pages for it).
TLDR: Positioned as a racing flat, the Skechers Performance GORun Vanish Horizon 3 comes in at an extreme featherweight of about 150g for US Men 8. While one would typically be skeptical of the cushioning for such a lightweight shoe, the ample stack of 25mm to 29mm (forefoot to heel) of UltraFlight EVA mid-sole foam provides a plush underfoot feel, along with some impressive rebound (though not to the level of the super shoes out there). This allows for training or races up to half-marathon distances, though more optimally in the 10km and below range. This shoe would also do well for track-interval and running drills sessions, where quick leg turnover is desired.
Key Technologies of the Shoe
- UltraFlight Foam: a lightweight yet cushioned and responsive EVA-based foam.
- Hyper Arc: a curved rocker bottom which promotes a smooth heel to toe transition to improve running efficiency.
- Goodyear Performance Outsole: long-lasting durability and improved traction over a variety of surfaces and weather conditions.
- ArchFit insoles: anatomically contoured insole foam which provides support to the medial arch of the foot for those neutral to high-arch runners.
- An engineered, translucent mono-weave upper helps to lighten the weight of the shoe while still providing adequate lockdown of the foot.
Methodology of Testing out a Shoe and Scoring
For a racing flat and training shoe that is positioned for tempos, threshold and track-intervals, I brought the shoes out for a each of these running activities. In order to test out its traction under wet conditions, one of the test run was to do a quick tempo run (4:30 pace for 3 km) under wet conditions.
Fit and Support / Comfort (Upper)
To keep to being featherweight, a mono weave upper was used. You could tell it was designed to be thin as you could see through to your socks easily. This gives its some breathability though the material also looks to be fairly water resistant. The tongue is non-gussetted and on the thin side but just adequate such that you don’t feel the laces with its felt-like material. The heel counter is very flexible but still provides sufficient heel support though cushioning around the ankle is on the light side. A semi-rigid toe guard completes the structural support for the shoe.
As of this writing, I have ran over 80km in them through various park connectors, pesdestrian pavements and a couple of stadium tracks. I am glad to report that there were no hot spots creating blisters and discomfort on my feet. Padding although on the thin side was overall very effective given it was placed at very strategical areas of the foot.
As mentioned, the weave material is somewhat water resistant. However, when soaked through due to rain, it was also fairly quick to dry (at least faster than my socks did. Running in wet weather during an evening, I left them to dry overnight and by the next morning, it was completely dry; insoles took longer to dry though.
Weight-wise for Men size 8 comes in at an amnesiac weight of 150g per shoe. I found the shoe to be slightly on the longish side for me. While I typically wore US size 8.5, going down half a size fitted me better as 8.5 would have left me with a lot of toe room which was not ideal when doing quick-paced runs. While the shoe has a narrow silhouette, I didn’t feel that my feet was being compressed inside. That said, I have team mates who had to go half a size up as they felt the shoe to be on the slightly narrower size. I would highly suggest going down to the shop to try to get the best fit.
Overall, the lock down was fairly good despite the laces not being long enough for a runner’s knot. Overall, I would give the fit/support and comfort factor a score of 7.5. It is fair due to the light-weight construction, good breathability, fair overall foot support and no hot spots felt with perhaps the heel support to be slightly improved upon.
Cushioning and Energy Return (Midsole material and stack height)
The UltraFlight EVA foam cushioning was the surprise package for me. Like I said in my cheeseburger analogy, I was expecting a very normal feeling and some what firm ground feel given it isn’t the higher end Hyper Burst foam. Instead, every footstrike felt really nice and nippy and particularly for track sessions, it truly shines as I was able to get a very consistent leg turnover and maintain a high cadence.
The stack height specs though suggest there is quite a bit of foam for a racing flat at 25mm in the forefoot and 29mm in the heel. This tells me UltraFlight foam is very light weight and probably less dense compared to its EVA-foam peers. It is not a ZoomX, Lightstrike Pro or FlyteFoam Turbo kind of rebound but you could feel some. I could see this shoe providing adequate foot protection for up to 10km comfortably while being able to stretch to a half-marathon distance, if your legs are well conditioned.
Further helping to provide additional cushioning and rebound is the 4mm ArchFit insole which has a pronounced contour for the medial arch. This is fairly rare as most insoles have some arch to no arch support. I can see myself re-using this insole for other shoes when the shoe is done.
There is also the Hyper Arc rocker geometry which is supposed to promote a smooth transition from landing to toe off. Honestly, this wasn’t very pronounced compared to some other brands but given the light weight, having high cadence in this shoe is not an issue, particularly at the track.
Overall for the pretty sweet ride and energy return, I would give it a 7.5 for cushioning and energy return. Cushioning and energy return is one of the key factors where I would give a 2x multiplier.
Stability (Midsole material and design)
The Horizon Vanish is a neutral running shoe. Given the purpose of the shoe is to do fast tempo and threshold workouts, stability is key when making some tight turns. In this respect, the Horizon Vanish did fairly well. The stack height isn’t overly high and the foam isn’t overly squishy. Coupled with a wide base that flares out slightly, I felt stable when making some turns around park connectors. Around the bends of stadium track, there weren’t any issues Overall, I would give a 7.0 on stability.
Protection (Foot overlays, heel counter and rock plate)
This is not a key factor for what the shoe is supposed to be used for which is mainly on road and stadium track. Protection is extremely minimal in the Horizon Vanish specifically to keep the weight down. Overall, it is a 6.0 protection which kudos to Skechers, had provided at least a toe bumper and a basic heel counter.
Traction (Outsole – rubber compound and lugs)
The Horizon Vanish 3 benefits from the use of Goodyear performance outsole rubber compound. Skechers didn’t save cost in this department. Shoes in this budget range typically gets generic rubber outsoles which are slippery in wet conditions. I tested the Horizon Vanish on some very slippery tiles and wet cemented pedestrian paves and it came out pretty well.
Overall, grip gets a nice 7.5 because it just works in all sorts of conditions (almost), be it is dry or wet. Throughout running in wet conditions, I felt I was in control and was not in danger of slipping. I wasn’t pushing the speed envelope but neither was I holding it very conservatively.
Durability Prediction (Uppers, midsole and outsole)
So then, how long can do I think the Horizon Vanish can last before wearing out areas of its upper or outsole and before it starts losing that rebound?
For those who run light and don’t drag their feet, have good shoe rotations where the shoes have typically 48 hrs of “rest”, I would say it can go as far as between 400km to 500km thanks in large part to its well constructed upper and the use of Goodyear rubber compound. It is the UltraFlight EVA-foam which I have some doubts whether it could last the distance. Despite a fairly thick stack height, it is very lightweight and less dense than some of its peers – factors which usually suggest it might lose its pop sooner than other EVA foams.
For the heavier runners or those who run “heavy” and have a tendency to drag when they are tired, or for those with little to no rotation of their shoes, I would still expect between 300km to 400km of usage before any parts start to give way. That said, please exercise your own judgement when it comes to replacement of shoe based on mileage. It is a fairly subjective topic and some websites would advocate a new pair after 500km regardless of the condition, with some even at lower mileage. For your foot and leg health, please do not go beyond what you can tolerate in terms of loss of cushioning and replace it once you feel any onset of foot discomfort. For durability of the Horizon Vanish 3, it receives a score of 6.5.
Price / Value for money
At a full retail price of S$129 (Skechers Performance concept stores), it is on the low end of shoe spectrum vs. its comparable peers. At a further 30% discount, it comes in at $90.30. To make it more apples-to-apples for comparison, I would recommend to compare it based on a “cost per likely lifetime mileage” you can get out of the shoe, i.e. what is the cost per km for both light and heavy spectrum of usage? Based on a minimum of 300km to a maximum of 500km, the S$ per km is between S$0.301 and S$0.181, with a median of S$0.241. Overall, I would rate it at 7.5 in terms of price/value for money. This factor also gets my 2x multiplier.
Factor matrix | Stand-alone score | Multiplier / Matrix score |
Fit and Support / Comfort (Upper) | 7.5 | 1x |
Cushioning and Energy Return (Midsole material and stack height) | 7.5 | 2x |
Stability (Midsole material and design) | 7.0 | 1x |
Protection (Foot overlays, heel counter and rock plate) | 6.0 | 1x |
Traction (Outsole – rubber compound and lugs) | 7.5 | 1x |
Durability Prediction (Uppers, midsole and outsole) | 6.5 | 1x |
Price / Value for money | 7.5 | 2x |
Total | 49.5 | 64.5 |
Based on the scoring matrix above, the Skechers Performance GORun Horizon Vanish 3 arrives at a matrix score of 64.5 out of 100 or a standalone score of 49.5 out of 70.
Conclusion
A very good budget, value for money racing flat that can be used for quick paced training as well as short-distance track workouts, the Skechers Performance GORun Vanish Horizon 3 (click on link to bring you to Skechers Singapore official website for full details) really shined for me in the area of being lightweight, while still providing better than adequate cushioning underfoot. The use of some premium material in the form of the Goodyear Performance outsoles, the ArchFit insoles and mono-weave upper are great reasons for buying the shoes.
The shoe is ideal for those who want a all-rounder shoe which can do all the fast paced workouts like tempos and track-intervals and also do a fast race like a 5k park run or a 10k race, instead of having a few specialized shoe. At below $100 for a pair (post discount), it is a fantastic value for money shoe!
Pros:
- Great value for money for the purposes it sets out to do.
- Extremely lightweight to accommodate the fast pace workout and also for running drills where you need quick leg turnovers.
- UltraFlight EVA midsole foam is a pleasant surprise – Light, yet supportive and with some rebound!
Cons:
- Lockdown around the heel is a little on the loose side.
- Durability, is slightly questionable though if used mainly on track, it is likely to last till 400km-500km.