 I think this shoe would be great for you, okay? I'm talking durable. It's again, built like a tank. And yes, it's snowing again in Denver. What are you gonna do, man? It's like, I can taste summer. It's on the horizon, but not today. Okay, what am I always saying? Beholding to no one. Meaning beholden to no running shoe company, all right? I'm willing to try any running shoe on the marketplace. Well, today we're taking out for the first time ever an under armor running shoe on this channel. For, you know, like right now I've got Nike tights on. I've got my Solomon socks. I've got my seal hat. What else am I wearing? Oh yeah, I've got my brand new under armor long sleeve. It's kind of something from the future. So anyway, here we go. Let's go try out under armor for the first time in my entire life. Here we go. Woo! It is chilly, I must say. Woo-hoo-hoo, freezing frigid temperatures in April. Oh my goodness. All right, hold on. Let me take this buff off. My son too buff. Okay, put that down there. We still got the Corona hair going on. All right, so freezing out first impressions of my first ever under armor running shoe, the under armor hover machine. We're gonna call it, we're gonna call it the machine. M-A-C-H-I-N-A is the name. And it does appear that 2020 is gonna be the year of testing out new shoes in the studio that I've never tried before. The Atreyu, remember it was that last week or earlier this week? And then VJ is sending me shoes as well. So stay tuned for brand new running shoe companies that just are not as common in the rotation. Remember the running shoe rotation vlog? Whether it's Hoka, whether it's New Balance, whether it's Nike, whether it's, let's see what else, A6 of course. On to that first impression. First of all, road neutral shoe, okay? Now, let's do the twist test, all right? I was doing the twist test inside before putting the shoes on. It's pretty, I'm gonna say on the firmer side, I don't wanna say rigid, but look at that twist. It's not twisting very much. Even the, I mean, I can barely bend this shoe, okay? So it's not loosey-goosey. It's not a sketchers shoe, all right? I'm just putting that out there right now. For that drop, we're looking at eight millimeters from heel to toe, 33 millimeters, stack height in the heel, 25 millimeter in the forefoot for that eight millimeter drop. And I did confirm it with the caliper. You see it there on your screen. For weight, we're looking at 10.4 ounces in men's size nine or 8.7 ounces in women's size eight. And there it is on your screen in my size. So here we go. Very heavy for a daily trainer, okay? Compared to really, I'm gonna say every other shoe I've tested thus far in 2020 for a road neutral shoe. Now trail shoes are usually in that weight range, but road shoes usually are not. So it is on the heavier side when it comes to the weight in the machine. And moving on to the upper, the top of the shoe. It's an engineered mesh. I couldn't really tell if it was breathable today. I think I was just so cold. I was just trying to get through the run. So, but it is an engineered mesh. I'll continue to test as I work toward 50 miles in the shoe and then let's see. So the eyelet chain, I did notice lacing up today. It just seemed a little wider compared to some other shoes that I've laced up recently. So, you know, not a big deal, but just a little wider through that eyelet chain. It does have the extra hole for the runner's knot. I believe it was the ultra shoes that I tried out last week that did not have the runner's knot hole. And if you're wondering what a runner's knot is, upper right hand corner, you can go check out that vlog from 2018. And then moving on to the heel counter. So, lots of padding through the heel counter. We're talking very plush. In fact, I'm gonna say the entire upper, including the tongue, which is a gusseted tongue, is a plush upper, meaning extra padding, extra cushion. It's not a minimalist upper by any means. And also on the heel counter, they did place an extra overlay here. All right, just to add a little more uniformity, a little more, again, I'm gonna say rigidity to that heel counter. It's not as, okay, it's not as rigid as the Asics glide ride. Like the Asics glide ride has a real serious overlay going on through the heel counter, but this machine, it actually has, it's mimicking that glide ride heel counter, but just not quite as much. And yes, a toe cap right there at the top of the shoe, at the front of the shoe to protect your toes, which I'm guessing, yeah, we'll add a little bit of durability, a little bit of longevity to the overall toe box durability. Okay, I think that's it for the midsole. So it's the Under Armour Hover Foam through the midsole. I'm not familiar with it. And gosh, okay, I was very concerned pulling the shoe out of the box. I'm just gonna say that we're talking, it's very, like it's stiff. I'm gonna say it's like a stiff shoe. It's, again, rigid. That might be going a little too far, but I gotta say, the ride today was pretty good through that midsole. Like it didn't feel, the landing was not hard on the pavement is what I'm trying to say. I was shocked actually. Also in the midsole, they've got this propulsion plate. It's not a carbon fiber plate. I think it's just, you know, a type of plastic. I'm not sure what type of plastic, but it's there through that midsole to help with your toe off. I felt good today. Like my legs are starting to come around for the marathon on Sunday. And I felt like my toe off, basically I felt snappy. I felt like my turnover was there. And I'm gonna say that propulsion plate under the forefoot was helping today on my first impression run through the midsole of this hover machine. And one last point on the midsole, almost forgot this insole or sock liner. Absolutely epic. Very well cushioned. Oh yeah, just like the Atreyu shoe from last week where they put the drop on the side of the shoe. Under armor, I guess kind of one up them. On the insole here, they have the stack height or the sock liner. They have the stack height and the weight in men size nine. Remember, as a reviewer of running shoes, that helps me so much just to not have to really do a ton of research, finding all the drop and weight around the internet. So that is amazing. I love this sock liner. Very good build quality and good, good cushion through that sock liner. And moving on to the bottom of the shoe, the outsole. So it's these carbon rubber pods that are kind of elevated off of the bottom of the shoe. And there's a lot, okay, there's a lot of rubber on the bottom of this shoe. In fact, it's almost exclusively all rubber, which again, increases durability, but also increases the weight of the shoe, okay? So you got to kind of pick and choose what you want in your running shoe decision-making when purchasing a shoe. When you go into a running shoe store, look at the bottom and you have to ask yourself, okay, do I want a shoe to go past 500 miles, 600 miles? Or am I willing to sacrifice a little bit of longevity in the shoe in order to reduce the weight? Because the rubber on the outsole does increase the weight. And we'll get to the durability prediction here in a second, I am going to say real quick. I, in Colorado, it's a very arid climate. So I'm not concerned about running on wet pavement or wet cobblestone or whatever the case may be. But if you live in, let's say Ireland or where else, the Philippines or somewhere that gets a lot of rain, I think those places both get a lot of rain. The outsole rubber feels a little slick. I'm just gonna put it out, like it just, I don't know. Again, today I wasn't slipping around through the snow out there, but just keep that in mind, like it just doesn't feel like it's gonna get great grip on wet pavement. For my fit, went true to size, and everyone, I think I could pull off a half-size down. There's extra room through that toe box. So keep it in mind, it just, I actually kind of wish I would have gone a half-size down. Now, I wasn't slipping today. I wasn't slipping in the heel, I think because the heel counter is so plush, but plenty of room through that toe box. So I wonder what's going on there. Again, it's my first time in an underarmor shoe. For my positives and drawbacks, so positive, a durability, I'm gonna, okay, we'll get my durability right now. I'm gonna say at least 500 miles, I think you could get 600 or 700 miles out of the shoe because of the outsole rubber, and also just like, it's a tank. The shoe, that's a good way to put it. The shoe is a tank, it's gonna go the long haul. And also it felt responsive, okay? Even though it was a little heavy, it felt responsive today like I could get up and go. Possibly, I'll keep testing, but possibly because of that propulsion plate through the midfoot and under the toe box. And my one drawback is just that it's a heavy shoe, okay? Now, how will I use this shoe moving forward? I'm gonna use this shoe for daily training. When I'm looking for that 10 to 15 mile run range, a little too heavy for a long run for me. And then also I would use this shoe a little more so earlier in the training block when I'm not quite as concerned or interested in going faster on my just daily training run. So early in the training block, just putting the miles in, building that aerobic engine, that is when I would use this under armor hover machine. Now, who is this shoe best for? Just gonna say, if you're a bigger runner, let's say you're transitioning from rugby to running or transitioning from, I don't know, powerlifting to running. You're just like a bigger runner. I think this shoe would be great for you, okay? I'm talking durable. It's again, built like a tank. I think it could withstand. Or maybe you're a former basketball player or a tall volleyball player. I don't know, you're just a big runner. Like I'm not a big, I'm like five, six, barely. I'm not, I say I'm five, six, I'm more like five, five and a half, but I round up to five, six. So I'm not a big guy, but I could see the shoe doing really, really well for the bigger runner, okay? And then lastly price, $150. Now, you may have noticed on the sock liner, it says Bluetooth. So here's what's crazy, everybody. I'm not gonna do this. You know me, I keep my running simple. But if you want, you can connect this shoe to your phone through a Map My Run app using Bluetooth. I think there's like, I don't know. I think there's a little chip inside the shoe that will communicate to the app. And in real time, the shoe will talk to you through the app and give you tips on your, I don't know, I guess your stride. I actually, I don't, it's too much for me. I'm not gonna do it, but, so I think that bumped the price up just a little bit on this shoe to $150. For a daily trainer, I like the 130 to 140 range, okay? So a little pricey for me, but $150 again, maybe with a durability going way past, let's say 500 miles, if it can get up to six, 700 miles, then now we're talking, but $150 just a little pricey. I'm just wondering if they're bumping the price up because of that Bluetooth connectivity through from the shoe to an app. Absolutely insane, I won't be doing that, but I know a lot of people enjoy connecting their running to technology. So this shoe could be for you, all right? Sound good, everyone? Question of the day. Oh my goodness, two options here. Have you, if you're an under armor running shoe fan, what is your favorite under armor running shoe, let's say from the past 12 months, and why? Okay, that's point number one, or question number one, and question number two, integrating technology, like, you know, Bluetooth technology into running shoes, does that interest you at all? And it doesn't just have to be for under armor. I don't know, is there any other running shoe company? I think Nike is probably, I don't know, but is that like interest you at all? And if so, why, all right? Let us know down in the comments. It's probably part of the future of, honest, like the way the world is going, it's probably part of the future. All right, everyone, thanks for being here. Thanks for watching under armor, first impressions, craziness, and we're gonna toss it back right here to my first impression playlist, with all these shoes coming on the, onto the marketplace, Ultra, Atreyu, the Adidas Boston 9, you can find all those first impressions right there. All right, love you all. See beauty, work hard, and love each other. See you tomorrow.