Adidas Evo SL Review | What’s All the Hype About? Can It Do It All?

Who doesn’t love a running shoe that can cover a variety of needs? The Adidas EVO SL has quickly earned a reputation as a versatile trainer to race shoe, so we needed to put this to the test ourselves.The price point of this shoe is actually a bit mind blowing to me as we continue to see prices climb for similar shoes. The overall value of the feel and versatility is absolutely part of why this shoe has gained so much attention.

Beyond that, many of our heavier testers and back of the pack runners have said “hello this shoe feels like a fast shoe made for us”. While at the same time being a great shoe for any pace. With all that in mind, let’s talk about what the heck the EVO SL is!

This is a well priced lightweight running shoe that can handle long miles or pick up the pace. It’s one of our team’s favorites and can be found in many of our rounds ups:

• Best Non-Plated Race Day Shoes
• Best Men’s Running Shoes
• Best Marathon Shoes for Beginners
• Best Cushioned Running Shoes
• Best Running Shoes for Shin Splints
• Best Lightweight Running Shoes

Adidas EVO SL Overview

I refuse to add words to the title that feel unnecessary like Adizero, and I think that’s perfect because this shoe is all about about giving you just want you need and not more.

For awhile we started calling everything lightweight with some bouncy cushion a super trainer, but that takes away from what the shoe is actually meant to do. The EVO SL falls into the category of being plenty comfortable for easy long runs and still fully capable of picking up the pace for those marathon paced miles.The tier up from this version is the Adidas Evo Pro 2 that we recently reviewed as a true front of the pace race shoe.

This is a version with a small nylon plate (or shank) in the mid-foot that is still bouncy, still light and willcarry carry a lot of the middle of the pack through the marathon! While it won’t be the shoe you pick up to race your 10K for a PR, it’s absolutely enough for the half and full for the majority of runners.

Lighstrike Pro is their top of the line foam. It’s the lightest with the best energy return and we’re finding it here in a $150 daily trainer, that’s fairly unusual.

This TPEE foam is very durable, another feature we don’t always see in uptempo shoes. The durability and energy return are two of the reasons it’s been given the stamp of approval from heavy runners like Herm Runs.  Here the compressive force of a midfoot or heelstriker is going to actually increase the energy coming back, rather than absorbing and losing it like you do in most squishy high stack shoes.I wanted to try and describe the cushion well, so I put on 6 different shoes to run around the streets by my house and compare.

The Adidas EVO SL is not as bouncy as a carbon plated shoe and not as soft as a daily trainer. It’s a blend right in the middle that allows for that energy return, but if you’re used to something like the Nimbus or NB 1080 that are super soft it could feel firm.

The more runs in this shoe the better it feels, which is also an interesting feature of the foam. And one that made my first run feel fine, but my 5th run felt really nice. I can’t say I think about breaking shoes in any more, but in a way that’s what happened here.

While I’m not reaching for this shoe on the days I want to do 7:00min repeats, I did enjoy it on longer miles where I wanted to put in some pick ups. And in general, a lightweight shoe, with energy return on a long run is a really fabulous thing for the legs no matter the pace.

I also love that this doesn’t have an unnecessary rods or plate, but instead gives you a sleek and enjoyable ride for a variety of paces.

Unlike a standard daily trainer with a grippier outsole, this is going to look more like what you expect from a super shoe. The focus on cutting weight means things like a big rubber outsole need to be left off, though there is still a little Continental rubber.

Luckily this doesn’t detract from the durability of the shoe and it feels so stable that I’m not terribly concerned with using it on wet roads. I haven’t run in the rain, but hit plenty of water from things running down the street during morning yard watering.

Adidas EVO SL Fit

Lengthwise I was in my standard women’s size 11 with no issues. As noted there is good room through the midfoot, so I did snug up the laces a bit, but never found that my foot was swimming in the shoe.

I’d say this is neither a wide nor narrow toebox. I felt like I had plenty of room, especially if you compare it to carbon race day shoes which tend to really have a narrow fit.

The biggest issue with the EVO SL from nearly everyone is that the tongue is not gusseted. It’s a little thing we’ve gotten really used to and enjoy that it prevents is from sliding down the side of our foot while we run! But  you can resolve this largely by changing the default lacing.

By default you will see the laces cross under the tongue tab 2 times. You want to change it so that an additional top sections goes under giving you 3 areas of contact on the tongue. Even with this the laces are long enough to get to a heel lock lacing technique if needed.

The heel collar is very lightly padded, along with the tongue, again trying to keep weight down. Both are comfortable and we had no issues with rubbing.

While this shoe isn’t unstable, it’s also not a stability shoe. There’s no built in stability or arch support. Neither of these bothered me, but are notable depending on what you need in a shoe.

Similar Shoes to the Adidas Adizero EVO SL

Looking for other running shoes that don’t have that massive cushion? Here are some ideas:

Hopefully our Adidas EVO SL review gave you some insights to why this shoe has been getting so much attention. Have you tested? Love to hear your feedback as well!

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