I’ve never tried Saucony before, this is my first pair by this brand. However, I did hear good things about their Everun midsole material. Maximum cushioned shoes are my preferred type of running shoe and every brand has it’s own cushioned material. For Saucony, that’s Everun. So I was curious to try it out.
I got my hands on a pair of Freedom ISO 2 in Linear Shade Blue. The Linear Shade collection gives several of Saucony’s shoes a more casual look so you could also wear them as sneakers once in a while (or after you’ve run a lot of miles in them) without you wearing some weirdly coloured running shoes. I do like the look of this shoe. It’s a nice mid-blue color. I like a bit of color in my running shoes that makes them stand out, but that doesn’t have to mean it needs 10 different colours. One nice color can also do the trick.
The Freedom ISO 2 is a mid-cushioned model with Everun along the entire midsole. Everun is made out of thousands of TPU beads which are fused together (which sounds a bit similar to the Adidas Boost material). On hindsight, it was a bit stupid of me to pick the Freedom ISO 2 instead of the Triumph ISO 5, since that’s is Saucony’s more maximalist cushioned running shoe and it would have been easier for me to compare those to some of the other maximalist shoes I own. But not being that familiar with Saucony yet, I didn’t realise this until after I picked the Freedom ISO 2.
The shoe has a 4mm drop and although I’ve ran in other low drop shoes before, I did have to get used to it in the beginning with the Freedom ISO 2. But after a few runs it didn’t really bother me anymore.
As with every running shoe, there are things that I like and there are things that I dislike about this shoe. I was not disappointed by the Everun material, it is nicely cushioned and it is quite springy. Basically everything you’d generally want out of the midsole material of your running shoe. I also like the Crystal Rubber outsole, which had good traction on different surfaces (including snow). Although the outsole of the Freedom ISO 2 does collect quite the bit of sand and mud, so although this shoes has enough traction for easy trail, you might want to take them off before you enter the house.
The Freedom ISO 2 is also a breathable shoe, since it only has one layer of ISOKNIT. However, in general I’m not a huge fan of the upper of this shoe. I like the padding of the tongue and collar, but overall the upper lacks a bit of support. The ISO Fit lacing system I can’t really get the hang of yet, but maybe that’s just me. No matter how I seem to lace my shoes, there always seems to be a pressure point somewhere. The alternative is loosing up the laces, but that doesn’t lock my heel in firm enough, especially considering the fact that this shoe doesn’t have a full heel counter, it only has a supportive bridge along the top of the heel. And even the supportive bridge is too flexible. You can easily squeeze the heel counter together.
So, thus far I have a bit of mixed feelings about the upper, it is making me doubt this shoe a little bit since it is not supportive enough and too flexible. But the Everun material is really growing on me. It is cushioned, light and responsive and I like the rubber outsole of this shoe.
Full review of this shoe will follow.
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