HOKA Tecton X 3 Shoe

These are my favorite trail running shoes I have ever worn. I have owned and run through every iterant of the Tecton series and these are by far my favorite. The high stack and soft platform provide ample cushion and support for my ailing knees. The rubber, lugs, and tread pattern inspire confidence running, hiking, and scrambling through loose terrain. The carbon plate gives a snappy feel to every step. I love the addition of the knit gaiter as it keeps out more rocks, dust, and debris compared to earlier models. All in all this is a phenomenal shoe that I cannot recommend highly enough.

First off, I want to give Skyrun 5 Stars!! My Tectons shipped quick, were in immaculate condition (all the shoe stuffers and everything were in the shoes), and they even left me a personalized, handwritten note which was very thoughtful and appreciated!

Now to the shoes themselves.. I'm a HOKA fan and have done a ton of trail shoe YouTube watching lately. I do Ruck events and was looking for a solid carbon plated trail shoe. The Mafate X's just released and had me torn between them and the Tecton X3's. I'm glad I went with the Tectons. After just putting them on, I immediately rushed to write this review to hopefully help somebody who reads this. THEY FEEL AMAZING and are exactly what I hoped they would be. It almost feels like your foot is inside a soft recovery shoe designed for trails. I'm a taller, slimmer guy, so my foot is pretty regular in width and they are a good snug without over doing it. I would say if you have a wider foot to go with the wide option if available. They are true to size. I wear a 9.5 in every hoka shoe, I have older cliftons, newer mach 6's, and rocket x2's and the fit in a 9.5 in the Tectons is exactly that with a slightly BETTER fit. I was kind of unsure whether to go with the 9.5 or a 10 because the stormy skies colorway on the HOKA website is a female shoe but there are retailers who have men's versions. I'm glad I stayed true to size because the fit is great. If you do trails and wear multiple pairs of thick wool socks, I would say go up a half size if you don't want a super snug fit. I tried these on with a pair of creepers toe socks and I had plenty of comfortable room. I put on a pair of my goruck wool socks over the creepers and the fit was snug but not overbearingly snug. They still felt really great. Now if I was to wear two pairs of wool socks or something like that, I would say to to half size up. I typically wear a toe sock for distances of 5-10 miles and a toe sock with a thicker sock over it for distances of 10+ miles. Both felt really great in my true to size 9.5. I hope this review helps somebody on the fence!

The Tecton X 3 is a superb race/speed shoe. This thing runs FAST. I find that the midsole is supple enough to run comfortably for many miles and still gets loads of energy return all rounded out by the carbon "X" which adds a nice pop to the shoe. While it is a high stack shoe I have found it to be much more stable than other trail shoes with similar stack. As someone with a more narrow foot, I was able to tighten the laces to a comfortable amount and achieved great foot hold even on steep descents.

I found the fit to be medium-high volume with an average sized toe box and fit true to size.